Nightwatch

Dimension Films | Release Date: April 17, 1998

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

40	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Nightwatch is a horror for reasons that have nothing to do with suspenseful moviemaking. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Nightwatch spends so much time churning up eerie atmospheric effects that it doesn't have time to develop its preposterous story in which Martin finds himself accused of the murders. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh

Danish writer-director Ole Bornedal delivers up a stylish thriller whose murky, shot-through-pond-scum cinematography is its most distinctive feature. Read full review

Marc Savlov

It's gritty, nasty, predictably meat-and-potatoes suspense, but genuinely gonzo fun nonetheless. Read full review

Lisa Alspector

The filmmakers show habitual thriller viewers some respect by condensing the background story into iconic sound and image bites during the opening-credits sequence, suggesting they know we get the drill; this and the other stylish elements make it all the more disappointing that the movie's mediocre. Read full review

Roger Ebert

It's a visually effective and often scary film to watch, but the story is so leaky that we finally just give up. Read full review

Ron Wells

It comes off as an amalgam of everything that was cool in 1996, when we first saw the trailer. Read full review

Jack Mathews

Nightwatch is a seriously overcast B-movie with rote performances from everyone but Brolin, who gives James an edge of danger that says that if he isn't a killer, he will be. Read full review

James Berardinelli

If not for Bornedal's stylish approach to the material and a couple of effectively chilling sequences, Nightwatch would have been a complete waste of time and effort. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

It's rough when it works and rough when it doesn't. Much of the first hour is made up of slow patches, while the last 20 minutes are ugly and terrifying. Read full review

G. Allen Johnson

What we get are quirky characters who are such cartoons that they undermine the effectiveness of the scare scenes (Brad Dourif's turn as the weird doctor is an example) and well-composed camera angles that mean nothing. Read full review

Liam Lacey

With its glum litany of naked corpses and mutilations, and understated actors looking bluish under the morgue's fluorescent lights, Nightwatch drains the fun out of horror. [17 Apr 1998]

Leonard Klady

The new outing - which retains the essential twists of the original, a hit overseas that was never released Stateside - has been physically enhanced with American production values and a marquee cast, but much of the earlier film's humanity and mordant humor have been lost in translation Read full review

Ann Hornaday

Nightwatch is passable stuff for undiscriminating fans of the ickier-the-better genre; for the rest of us, it offers nothing new. [17 Apr 1998]

Jay Carr

Nightwatch quickly declines from creepy to silly. [17 Apr 1998]

Dave Kehr

Nightwatch is more stylish and well-plotted than your typical slasher film, but it doesn't quite stand out in a world where the horrific has become routine. [17 Apr 1998]

Shawn Levy

The film is shot (by Dan Lausten) with a credible creepiness, and it teems with clever touches. [17 Apr 1998]

William Arnold

The biggest failing of the film is that it's the lamest possible excuse for a whodunit. [17 Apr 1998]

Susan Wloszczyna

It's dreadful, despite a solid cast that includes art-house heartthrob Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, Patricia Arquette and Josh Brolin. [17 Apr 1998]

Stephen Hunter

Tasteless and without redeeming social value, and also dank with the stench of decomposition masked by not enough formaldehyde, Nightwatch is the best kind of movie pleasure, a completely guilty one. [17 Apr 1998]