Bird Box
Netflix | Release Date: December 14, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
12
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 27, 2018
If you told me Bird Box was based on a Stephen King story — yep, I could see that. It’s that chilling. That suspenseful. And oh yes, that scary. Read full review
82
TheWrapYolanda MachadoNov 13, 2018
Bullock’s performance is brilliant — she takes all these internalized fears and crafts a character who has already disconnected from emotion. Throughout the films, she challenges what “maternal” means in circumstances this dire. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaDec 18, 2018
Bird Box is scary, but it also feels very human. Read full review
75
IGNMatt FowlerJan 3, 2019
It's Sandra Bullock and the ensemble that heap some heft into this standard scorched Earth story. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattDec 5, 2018
As Bird time-jumps between the claustrophobic action of the house and a desperate sort of jailbreak, director Susanne Bier (The Night Manager) keeps the mood taut and defiantly in the moment. Read full review
75
IndieWireMichael NordineNov 13, 2018
Bier’s direction is coolly efficient, which fits the material to a t — anything more ostentatious would just feel wasteful. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzDec 19, 2018
Bird Box could easily be reduced to, “It’s A Quiet Place meets Blindness crossed with The Happening!” And that high-concept pitch wouldn’t exactly be wrong. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiDec 14, 2018
Many sections of Bird Box don’t hold up to a second’s scrutiny; the conceit’s silliness and convenient scare tactics make Shyamalan’s take on infectious-suicide horror seem downright subtle by comparison. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoDec 13, 2018
Most of its strength emerges from a well-directed ensemble, one able to convey the high concept of a nightmarish situation without losing their relatable humanity. Read full review
60
EmpireLinda MarricJan 1, 2019
Contrivances and clichés abound, but Bird Box still manages to be a compelling, high-concept idea thanks to Bier’s faultless direction and impressive cast. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 12, 2018
The haunting, hypnotic, palm-sweating score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross promises way more than the film delivers. By the way, the birds in the box are meant to set off alarms when the monsters approach. They see way more than we do, which is part of the problem. Why should birds have all the fun? Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 13, 2018
This is a wannabe shocker with a clever premise that doesn't really get down and dirty or betray the base instincts of a born horror filmmaker. Read full review
58
The PlaylistJonathan ChristianJan 3, 2019
There is some fun to be had with Bird Box. Despite its sporadic eye-roll moments, the film is charming. It’s the epitome of a rainy day movie – a flick that you can watch wrapped in a blanket with a hot cup of cocoa when it’s too dreary to leave the house. Read full review
50
VoxAlissa WilkinsonDec 23, 2018
It’s entertaining enough to be worth watching for fans of the genre or of Bullock, who turns in a strong performance as a woman who has motherhood thrust onto her in a world loaded with peril. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangDec 13, 2018
Bier plunges herself into mainstream horror filmmaking with a gusto that doesn’t always offset her lack of precision. For visceral intensity, she never tops the early scenes of mayhem and mass panic; slow-building, artfully modulated tension in close quarters seems beyond the movie’s interest or purview. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAisha HarrisDec 13, 2018
The squelching of promise is not my worst (cinematic) fear, per se. But it’s still disappointing. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeDec 12, 2018
In the end, Bird Box’s most significant shortcoming is that it’s just too inert and unfocused to work as sci-fi horror. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 13, 2018
Heisserer’s script endeavors to give Bullock a rich psychological backstory to play — something to do with her reluctance to accept motherhood and the redemption she experiences in accepting that role — and the wonderfully self-reliant actress plays that arc earnestly enough. But there’s no getting around that this is a monster movie without a monster. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 13, 2018
Outside of its admiration for mothers, Bier’s film seems to only vaguely hint at other ephemeral ideas, and as a result Bird Box is a curiously hollow experience. Read full review
42
ConsequenceRandall ColburnDec 25, 2018
There’s a fundamental problem here, one of conception, not of execution. Read full review
40
The TelegraphEd PowerJan 3, 2019
Bird Box begins with considerable promise but is soon revealed to have feathers for brains. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 18, 2018
There are certain pleasures here, mostly in the cast of characters. Malkovich’s misanthropic egoist is chief among them. And Bullock makes for a fierce and relatable Mama Bear. But as for tension, there’s precious little. Read full review
35
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 10, 2019
There’s Bullock, doing something good and interesting. Though it does ultimately prove frustrating and sad, watching her so desperately grasp for a finer film—one that lies just beyond what Bird Box allows us to see. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaDec 23, 2018
You don’t appreciate the art of a good genre contrivance until you see one pulled off poorly. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedDec 17, 2018
Implausible even for an overly ambitious sci-fi monster flick, it also begs, borrows and steals every effect, idea and image from other people’s horror movies that were much better the first time around. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 12, 2018
The effort behind Bird Box was to make something better than a standard horror movie, but the result is dull and half-hearted. It’s not serious enough or important enough to transcend the horror genre, but neither is it visceral enough to hold up as a regulation horror movie. Read full review
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