Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: December 29, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Fred Leuchter is just one deluded figure, but by the end of this great and chilling sick-joke documentary he stands as a living icon of the banality of evil. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
More reverie and meditation than reportage. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Morris's unique blend of realism and surrealism gives the film great resonance as a portrait of one eccentric individual and, more important, a study of the morbid proclivities that run beneath the surface of our supposedly civilized society. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Using archly staged interviews and reconstructions that draw attention to the components of the documentary form, Morris does justice to the complexity of hot-button issues by suggesting several layers of subtext at once, portraying the articulate Leuchter as both rational and prone to rationalize. Read full review
90
TNT RoughCutDon Kaye
What's fascinating about Morris's riveting portrait is the notion that monsters can be born not just out of overwhelming evil, but pure egotism and stupidity -- much more mundane, yet still dangerous. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Seems more like a subtle, elegiac tone poem than an indictment of human banality and the evil that men do. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Brings the viewer up close and personal with the face of evil. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
With his coolly objective moon's-eye view serving a story that's bizarre by even his long-established career standards, the great documentarian Errol Morris examines the perils of vanity - though others will understandably make more sinister interpretations. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Morris' most gripping film since "The Thin Blue Line," is the year's scariest movie. Read full review
88
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Segues from the merely quirky into the bizarrely unthinkable. Read full review
81
Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson
Lacks scope and doesn't resonate grandly as a portrait of an American underbelly like Morris' earlier works do. But it still packs a wallop. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Errol Morris' characteristically distanced documentary is empathetic without being especially sympathetic. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
The fascinating film equivalent of a humane execution. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Extraordinary documentary. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Morris, instead of evoking the solemnity that surrounds most films that touch on the Holocaust, has directed Mr. Death as the blackest of comedies. Read full review
80
Film.comErnest Hardy
Morris seduces us into stepping into Leuchter's world of delusion and ego. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
(Morris's) strangest and most disturbing portrait yet. Read full review
70
Film.comJohn Hartl
(Morris) sees Leuchter's story as more personal, more about one individual's self-absorption and folly, than an indictment of a particular system. Read full review
70
NewsweekAndrea C. Basora
At the heart of all Morris's films -- from "The Thin Blue Line" to "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" -- is a fundamental belief in the unreliability of truth. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Leuchter is such a riveting, disturbing and finally pathetic character that his story hardly needs embellishing with Morris' fancy visuals and ominous mood music. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A strange piece of work, perhaps closer to an imaginative portrait or an experimental fiction that borrows elements from real life than a traditional documentary. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Mr. Death, which is shot through with one dark absurdity after another, emerges as a cautionary tale if ever there was one. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Morris, who more or less invented the ironic documentary, seems to struggle here for an appropriate tone even as he allows Leuchter more than enough rope to hang himself. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
The director's beautiful detachment suggests a kind of cowardice. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
An affecting film, but it just may not be everyone's cup of cyanide. Read full review
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