Black Rock
LD Entertainment | Release Date: May 17, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
8
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New York PostSara StewartMay 16, 2013
This indie, female-centric riff on “Deliverance” is spare, smartly written and shot through with moments of twig-snapping tension. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundMay 13, 2013
Layered conflicts mount as this lean film treks on, and they're not limited to gender politics. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnApr 10, 2013
Black Rock never reinvents the rules, but it understands them just well enough to make its bloodless stabs at ingenuity stand out. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweApr 10, 2013
Working from a ruthlessly efficient script by husband Mark Duplass, Aselton effortlessly sets up the women’s reunion scenario before effectively flipping the action from drama to thriller. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJames RocchiMay 14, 2013
Black Rock isn't going to become the sort of classic that "Deliverance" was, but if you like your scares smart, and like them to happen to people you actually care about, then Aselton's island of friendship and fury is a nice place to visit. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 16, 2013
It's quite thin, but at least Black Rock plays its "kills" for more than stupid gamer's diversions. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMay 16, 2013
The male characters here are too thinly developed for this to be a top-notch survival thriller, but Ms. Aselton knows how to get the pulse pounding. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 14, 2013
The story and its violence are deeply silly, but there's something nervy and upsetting that distinguishes the film's incidental excitement. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd May 15, 2013
Ultimately, it’s hard to shake the sense that her picture is a character study bending itself, painfully and unnaturally, into the shape of a nightmare-in-the-boonies horror flick. Is this the only way films about female friendship can get greenlighted these days—by drenching themselves in genre tropes? Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMay 17, 2013
Aselton is clearly trying to broaden her reach as both actress and director beyond the rumpled indie comedy of "The Freebie," her directing debut, and the concept is there, but a movie like this needs a much more polished execution that Black Rock gets. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonMay 16, 2013
[Aselton's] disregard for her male characters causes Black Rock to spiral into dudette "Deliverance." Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoMay 16, 2013
It’s all a fair attempt, but Aselton isn’t going to make anyone forget Kathryn Bigelow. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 16, 2013
The dialogue is particularly bad, which is odd because the Duplass crowd typically excels at natural-sounding dialogue. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 14, 2013
A soundtrack of churning rock songs by the Kills is as close as this misfire gets to authentic grrrl power, borrowed as it is. Read full review
30
VarietyRob NelsonApr 10, 2013
Straining to be a distaff “Deliverance,” indie thriller Black Rock is unable to shock, much less convince. Read full review
30
Film.comAaron PeckApr 10, 2013
The screenplay is far too obsessed with the setup, and not at all concerned with making the villains even the least bit believable or scary. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedMay 21, 2013
Despite the sight of so much cheesecake romping naked through the woods like the girls have never heard of poison ivy, it’s the usual disreputable grindhouse schlock. Read full review
25
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMay 14, 2013
Rock is a poorly written and ineptly directed genre piece that lacks tension, suspense, fear, all those things that make’ a “thriller” thrilling. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMay 16, 2013
Black Rock is as dingy and dirty as the genre thrillers it appears to want to one-up. All it does, though, is bring everyone down. Read full review
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