Medusa Deluxe
A24 | Release Date: August 11, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 14, 2023
At a time when too many movies feel cautious and constrained, Medusa Deluxe is gloriously uninhibited and gaudily diverting. Read full review
80
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyJul 26, 2023
Whether Medusa Deluxe quite convinces us that it needed to be a one-shot exercise, it’s carried off niftily — the electric performances, from a super-alert, bristling cast, giving a feel of live event to the action, framed in Academy ratio. Read full review
80
CineVueChristopher MachellJun 15, 2023
With a tightly-woven plot, dazzling cinematography and a razor-sharp cast of characters, Medusa Deluxe is Brit neo-noir at its knotty best. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentJun 8, 2023
Thick with sharpened scissors, and barbers with barbed tongues, Medusa Deluxe is a unique take on the whodunnit mould, and a hell of a debut from British filmmaker Thomas Hardiman. Read full review
78
Paste MagazineAnna McKibbinAug 9, 2023
As a feature film debut this is a miraculous venture, one that feels glamorous and big while still relishing in the sparks that emit from talented actors finding new and interesting ways to fill an empty space. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeAug 14, 2023
Hardiman’s feature debut is ambitious, even if the overall structure doesn’t always work, and the mystery isn’t as engrossing as it maybe should be. Yet, for all its flaws, it makes up for it in style and its wild cast of characters. Read full review
67
The PlaylistChristian GallichioAug 15, 2023
If anything, the murder is tertiary to the gossipy takes and fanciful camera work — this film is built around vibes, right down to its pulsating score by the electronic musician Koreless and its dancehall end credits. Read full review
67
IndieWireMarisa MirabalSep 29, 2022
An arresting and visually stunning achievement, Medusa Deluxe breaks the framework on storytelling and sheds the skin of a subculture in the process. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeAug 17, 2023
Medusa Deluxe is saved from its own potential waywardness by a series of stellar performances. The cast animates the strange, disquieting world of beauticians who describe their craft in profound, almost holy terms. Read full review
60
VarietyGuy LodgeJul 26, 2023
This kinetic if not-quite-novel presentation doesn’t entirely patch over the weaknesses of Hardiman’s script, with its exhausting whirl of characters more colorful than they are shaded, and plotting that eventually runs out of compelling diversions from the matter at hand. Read full review
60
Little White LiesCheyenne BunsieJul 26, 2023
With Medusa Deluxe, Hardiman makes a directorial debut that successfully injects a fresh, vibrant perspective into the murder mystery genre while still employing the dark dread that stands as its trademark. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeJul 26, 2023
Without a doubt, it is an impressive debut from director Thomas Hardiman, even if his script doesn’t quite pull off a first-class whodunnit. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 11, 2023
Dazzlingly impressive from a technical perspective but frustratingly dull from a narrative one, Medusa Deluxe is an ambitious but uneven experience. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEric HendersonAug 8, 2023
Few, if any, single-shot movies ever justify the conceit. In fact, most of them do their material a disservice through the distraction that emerges naturally from the trickery. Read full review
50
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 8, 2023
With no twists or clues to keep things lively and volatile, one’s mind instinctively begins to ponder how things are being precisely timed, where the other actors are moving to in the background, and the many other behind-the-scenes logistical challenges inherent to such an endeavor. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 9, 2023
As you try to piece the various bits of information together, the whole thing starts to seem less like a movie and more like an exercise — a one-shot wonder doubling as a one-note narrative. There’s lots of hair there in Hardiman’s debut, but no there there. You leave feeling more teased than the models’ wigs. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJul 26, 2023
Mainly, though, the problem lies with a screenplay that fails to create suspense, or even to persuade us to care who killed a brilliant but unpopular hair stylist. Still, credit to the hair and costume design team for a collection of extravagantly silly creations. Read full review
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