Overlord
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: November 9, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiNov 9, 2018
If Overlord was a video game, it would be a great one. It just happens to be a movie, and it’s a great one of those too. It hits all old-school genre tropes so hard that they make new noises, and infuses cheesy grindhouse thrills with all the “you are there” intensity of a great interactive experience. Read full review
85
IGNRafael MotamayorSep 28, 2018
Overlord may not be the Call of Duty: Zombies movie you were expecting, but it is a damn entertaining film about the horror of war, and the thrills of a zombie invasion. Read full review
83
The Film StageMike MazzantiNov 19, 2018
Overlord is a pure hell fest, unabashed in its fashioning of tattered grindhouse attire and yet never cheeky in its delivery. Read full review
83
The VergeBryan BishopNov 16, 2018
It’s big, nerve-wracking, and utterly ridiculous at times — but it is a hell of a lot of fun along the way. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 9, 2018
A surprisingly well-made mash-up of old-fashion war movie tropes and proudly disgusting horror-flick shocks. It’s a ton of fun. Read full review
83
IndieWireKaleyn CorriganSep 23, 2018
A subliminal commentary on the science of human behavior through a supernatural lens, “Overlord” manages to satisfy expectations of pure escapism even as it digs deeper, and it’s a welcome alternative to so many movies that don’t even try. Read full review
80
Time OutJoseph WalshNov 8, 2018
Be prepared for blood, guts and gore. The violence, both in the high-octane opening scenes and the more monstrous body horror, is squirm-inducing at points, bolstered by Jed Kurzel’s thundering score. Don’t be fooled by its B-movie trappings: Amid all the carnage, Overlord has more to say than you might think. Read full review
80
Film Journal InternationalMaitland McDonaghNov 8, 2018
Overlord, produced and presumably overseen by J.J. Abrams, is good, bloody fun, with all the polish and production value that come with not being a low-budget exploitation movie. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKimber MyersNov 8, 2018
If you took “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” mashed it up with some gonzo grindhouse pics, doused it in shaken-up cans of original Four Loko and then lit it on fire, laughing while it burned, you might begin to approach the craziness that is Overlord. Read full review
75
ConsequenceDan CaffreySep 30, 2018
There’s little camp or gimmickry to be found, which is refreshing for a sub-genre whose films so often resort to bad jokes and kitsch violence. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshNov 8, 2018
It is significant that in this vision of revisionist revenge, the ones who prevail against the Nazis are those who would be marginalized and targeted by them — along with their allies. For all its bloody cacophony, Overlord doesn't lose sight of its heroes. Read full review
70
Screen DailyDemetrios MatheouNov 5, 2018
What it lacks in novelty, subtlety or character, it partially makes up in sheer abandon. This is a big, loud, violent, gleefully gory sledgehammer of a film with, crucially, a careful tongue in cheek. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 23, 2018
Pairing some of the spirit of schlocky Nazisploitation fare with a top-flight young cast and better-than-solid filmmaking, the movie is more mainstream that the midnight fare it sounds like on paper, if only by a bit. Horror fans should cheer. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloNov 8, 2018
It’s reasonably good, creepy fun, provided you’re not troubled by fleeting, uncomfortable thoughts like “Hey, that screaming bloodthirsty mutant monster could theoretically be a reanimated Anne Frank.” Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsNov 9, 2018
Realistically, Overlord is a simple mechanism to deliver squib packs and swear words, a function that the film's creators accomplish despite their otherwise unremarkable story's choppy pacing and general humorlessness. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 8, 2018
It’s an intense and sharp opening that would impress Spielberg, if he could hear the dang thing. Nearly the entire movie is torpedoed by its cranked-to-11 sound mix, with a good chunk of dialogue drowned out by whirring airplanes and myriad explosions. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyNov 19, 2018
The film suggests Inglourious Basterds dumbed down, pumped up, and ditching all pretension. If only it played like a spirited B-horror hybrid we could all get behind, instead of a ghoulish effects trip for the Resident Evil crowd. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBilge EbiriNov 8, 2018
As seen in the film’s terrifying opening and its gruesome climax, Avery deftly orchestrates some grisly, intense set pieces. He delivers on the thrills, even if the story leaves something to be desired. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearNov 8, 2018
It’s the rare U.S.-Army-versus-Nazi-zombie-supersoldiers movie that, even when it lays on the psychotronic elements, still feels like it’s too mild by half. Read full review
60
EmpireBen TravisNov 5, 2018
Overlord injects a healthy dose of schlock into familiar war-movie tropes to create an entertainingly grungy hybrid, but it never quite kicks into overdrive. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaNov 9, 2018
Despite the heavy context and historical precedent, there’s not a whole lot on Overlord’s mind, and a gestured-at “defeating the monsters makes us monstrous” philosophical thread ends symmetrically but pointlessly. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 9, 2018
One pitfall of building your movie out of recycled materials is always going to be pacing. When every character is cardboard, every scene is preordained, you have to get more pop out of the performances and move this damned thing along. Read full review
50
VarietyAmy NicholsonSep 24, 2018
Even at its most suspenseful, when Jed Kurzel’s cello score stabs at the eardrums, Overlord feels familiar, a collage of cinematic nightmares checking off its influences. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerNov 7, 2018
Remove the horror aspects, and Overlord is ham-fisted and oddly unimpressive. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushBritt HayesSep 24, 2018
As a piece of moral commentary cloaked in a sci-fi gimmick, Overlord is uninspired. As an action thriller, it’s just aggressively boring. Maybe because it exhaustively recycles imagery from any number of genre films that came before it...or because the action sequences are bizarrely monotonous, save for the occasional bit of gory VFX. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenNov 8, 2018
Zombies. Nazis. Clichés. Insane violence. Overlord delivers a whole lot of much too much. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMichael OrdoñaNov 8, 2018
The enjoyment one wants from GIs fighting these creatures is stunted by the film’s lack of energy and imagination. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 7, 2018
There is something deeply crass about this facetious nonsense, and everyone involved in this film might want to reflect that Nazi medical experimentation during the second world war did in fact happen, under circumstances other than these. It was a very real thing, not just a death-metal horror movie gag. Read full review
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