Season of the Witch
Relativity Media | Release Date: January 7, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
28
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
11
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
55
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJan 6, 2011
Season of the Witch is barely even a Nicolas Cage movie. He wanders through the picture, zombified. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 10, 2011
You know I am a fan of Nic Cage and Ron Perlman. Here, like cows, they devour the scenery, regurgitate it to a second stomach found only in actors and chew it as cud. It is a noble effort, but I prefer them in their straight-through Human Centipede mode. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovJan 7, 2011
Though it slows down in the back half, the opening acts of Season are reasonably entertaining. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJan 6, 2011
The pretty good stuff comes early, when Nic and Ron, weary of wasting women and children, suffer an attack of conscience and desert the Crusades. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott BowlesJan 6, 2011
A mishmash of horror and history genres that's not as bad as its trailers but ultimately is dragged down by, of all things, its star. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJan 6, 2011
The best thing about it is Claire Foy's performance as the seething, caged is-she-a-witch?. Foy, like a Brit Kristen Stewart, has an entrancing sparkle of disdain. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 7, 2011
It would take a lot more than holy water to rescue Season of the Witch from mediocrity. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichJan 7, 2011
It's "Centurion Deux" without the second-coming-of-Carpenter pretense, though you still wish the trashiness were more distinctive. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyNick PinkertonJan 6, 2011
The makeup department's glommed-on plague pustules are fantastic, but the concession to modern technology in a badly rendered last-act CGI demon, cut and pasted from a Diablo II screen-grab, is so eminently lame as to cure all fear of hellfire. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttJan 6, 2011
Cage supplies energy but no depth in his portrayal of a disillusioned knight. Ditto that for Perlman, who never feels comfortable in the sidekick role so he pretty much goes through the (exaggerated) motions. Read full review
40
EmpireDavid HughesJan 6, 2011
Does to the medieval era what Cage's Wicker Man did to Anthony Shaffer. Hokum and not in a good way. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJan 11, 2011
Cage appears as a knight of the Crusades, slogging across the continents, slaying infidels and unbelievers and anyone else who gets in his way. There isn't a minute when it looks like he's having fun. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 10, 2011
Season of the Witch teeters on the edge of slipping into the "so bad it's good" camp, but ultimately ends up being merely bad. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithJan 7, 2011
A movie that appears to have been shot entirely on leftover sets from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallJan 7, 2011
As usual, Cage alternates between leaden line readings and thunderous outbursts, making his accomplished costars Ulrich Thomsen and Stephen Campbell Moore look even better. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJan 6, 2011
The entire film seems to be happening on the other side of a dirty window - good news for the dreadful computer-generated effects, if not for our eyes. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenJan 6, 2011
Season of the Witch is at its worst when it tries to be a straight-ahead action-adventure film. The early sequence set against the epic battles of the Crusades is almost brazenly bad with its unconvincing "300"-style special effects. Read full review
30
SalonAndrew O'HehirJan 6, 2011
Off the top of my head, I'm guessing that Season of the Witch claims a place in the top five all-time bizarre and pointless homages to art cinema. Read full review
30
VarietyAndrew BarkerJan 6, 2011
Both overblown and undercooked, Season of the Witch is a fine example of a film that would've been great fun if only its creators had a sense of humor about the wild brew of absurdity they had percolating. Read full review
25
Washington PostMark JenkinsJan 10, 2011
The movie proceeds in near darkness, perhaps to obscure its shoddy special effects, but the pervasive gloom is less discouraging than star Nicolas Cage's indifferent performance. Read full review
25
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreJan 10, 2011
The best you can say about this hooey is that at least he had the King of the Bs, Ron Perlman, along for a few sidekick laughs. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisJan 10, 2011
After a while, the movie tires of the witch business and trots out a plot twist that permits the effects department to spend money. Some moviegoers might find the bait-and-switch funny. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 7, 2011
The real plague is the movie, a sci-fi hodgepodge of bad history and worse special effects. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonJan 6, 2011
The film looks dispiritingly cheap and, as if in response, most of his cast seems half-committed at best, as if they're counting the moments until they can move on to a bigger picture. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJan 7, 2011
At least "Witch" offers Perlman's easy, early-hominid charm, and a semi-suspenseful rickety-bridge scene. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJan 11, 2011
Things do not end well, least of all for the audience. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 6, 2011
Mr. Cage's knight ends up playing second banana to a digital devil. Welcome to the January dead zone. Read full review
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