Regression
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: February 5, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
4
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandSep 26, 2015
This carefully-crafted tale of collective psychosis, satanic ritual abuse and pseudo-science, starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson, is satisfying as a compact, if over-cautious, horror-tinged psychological thriller. But it's most interesting beneath its polished, doomy surface, where complex concerns about the cultural origins of our fears are skillfully explored. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyC. Molly SmithFeb 10, 2016
While Regression does, for the most part, deliver simmering suspense — and with Watson and Thewlis together, it’s fun (and weird) to see a mini-Harry Potter reunion — the script often falls flat, and the film sometimes leans too heavily on the score to telegraph an ominous tone. Read full review
42
The Film StageJohn FinkFeb 11, 2016
The material is simply too thin to support a 106-minute-long version of this story without veering into boredom as the path to the confession is a tediously predictable one. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinOct 27, 2015
Amenábar is no stranger to psychologically vivid thrillers with ghostly overtones, but Regression feels depressingly like journeyman work. Read full review
40
Screen DailyLee MarshallSep 26, 2015
If some of this loud horror material looks frankly absurd, that’s only, Amenabar would no doubt argue, because it reflects the hackneyed, trick-or-treats way in which we give form and body to our night fears. Fine, but for a thriller to thrill, such didactic admonishments are not enough. Read full review
40
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 18, 2015
Though performed with some perspiring conviction by Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke — as a confessed victim of cult abuse and the agnostic cop investigating her case — the pic is neither disquieting enough to take seriously, nor lurid enough for fright-night indulgence. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDrew HuntFeb 4, 2016
It spends a lot of time considering the fear of knowing, which may explain why Alejandro Amenábar didn’t seem to know what kind of film he was making. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 9, 2016
Perhaps a story like this needed to be a drama. Or maybe, with its constant, almost comical shifting of blame, a dark satire. Instead, it’s wound up as the worst of all possible alternatives: a disposable genre movie that cannot scare, convince, or enlighten. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleFeb 5, 2016
Well-intended seriousness dismantles Regression, a not-exactly-horror horror movie that's also a mystery with no mystery. Read full review
30
The New York TimesGlenn KennyFeb 5, 2016
The movie is ultimately a tepid and frustrating experience. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloFeb 10, 2016
One can make a creepy demonic horror movie, or one can make a sorrowful exposé about a real-world phenomenon that destroyed multiple families, but it’s exceedingly difficult to make both at the same time. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 27, 2015
It’s a crunching disappointment: a dull, crass, formulaic and frankly misjudged chiller. Read full review
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