Jessabelle
Lionsgate | Release Date: November 7, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
5
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisNov 6, 2014
While this Blumhouse production may be a less ruthlessly efficient scream machine than, say, its corporate sibling "Ouija," it is much more atmospheric and benefits from a winning central performance from Snook. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeNov 5, 2014
There isn’t a single jump scare in this thing. On the other hand, it would be nice if Jessabelle tried a little harder. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 10, 2014
It’s a strange spectacle: a horror film that spends as much time dismantling suspense as it does building it. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartNov 5, 2014
The script’s by Robert Ben Garant, also behind last year’s scary-movie spoof “Hell Baby,” and this one teeters right on the edge of laughable, with its V.C. Andrews-like series of goth twists. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweNov 15, 2014
The too-infrequent scare techniques, however, are mostly by the book, rarely developing sufficient dread to heighten the film’s rather unremarkable climax. Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangNov 15, 2014
Jessabelle serves up a murky and underwhelming cauldron of Southern-fried voodoo-horror claptrap. Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasNov 6, 2014
Director Kevin Greutert, who cut his teeth on the Saw series (editing the first five and directing Saw VI and Saw 3D), whips up some generic Louisiana atmosphere, but his PG-13 shock effects are ineffectual, and he’s eventually given over entirely to a story that twists into melodramatic knots. The takeaway from all this: Sometimes less is more. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniNov 7, 2014
An ineffective, derivative, and awkwardly executed mash-up of ghost flicks and voodoo movies. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyNov 7, 2014
Steeped in Southern Gothic melodrama, Jessabelle is interesting in some of the small details, and in its strong sense of the Louisiana bayou atmosphere, and then it completely falls apart when it starts being a horror film. Read full review
30
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergNov 6, 2014
Jessabelle is depressingly rote. Read full review
30
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlNov 4, 2014
Greutert's savvy enough to sprinkle some white folks among his houngans and mambos, but Jessabelle still plays out as Haitian traditions ruining the life of a nice-ish white lady. Read full review
30
TheWrapInkoo KangNov 4, 2014
Unfortunately, it's just when Jessabelle looks like it might transcend its haunted-house trappings that the Southern Gothic clichés rear their tortured, screaming heads. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineNick McCarthyNov 5, 2014
Rather than commit to exploring Jessabelle's existential crisis, the filmmakers opt to pile on the clichés straight until the rotten denouement. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanNov 5, 2014
There are few scares here, but plenty of mild grossness. The absurd ending ties up the mystery in a way that’s sure to annoy both supernaturalists and realists. Read full review
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