Take Me to the River
Film Movement | Release Date: March 18, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
IndieWireIbad ShahJan 31, 2015
The darker undertones of the family are handled with surprising nuance considering the first-timer behind the camera. The movie deals in open secrets, implications, and unsettling histories; a sense of alienation haunts virtually every scene. Read full review
90
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMar 23, 2016
Take Me to the River isn’t a horror movie, but then it’s not not a horror movie, either. It’s a slowly tightening vise, all about suspicion and hostility and resentments and what people aren’t talking about when they talk to each other. A stunning debut feature from writer-director Matt Sobel, Take Me to the River is Polanski, with cicadas. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesJohn HartlMar 31, 2016
Wonderfully confident and strange, Take Me to the River marks an auspicious directing debut for Matt Sobel. There’s not a stale moment in it. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelApr 1, 2016
The movie pivots from what I expected it to be: a family drama about an outsider, as the opening conversation suggests. Instead, it becomes an eerie mood piece about secrets buried deep in a family's fabric. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMar 31, 2016
Despite outstanding performances, the characters lose subtlety as they grow more extreme, and their secrets when spelled out become anticlimactic. Maybe with a little more mystery, the evil would seem less banal. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayMar 17, 2016
With just a few minor tweaks, Take Me To The River could play as a moody supernatural horror picture, with Logan as the dangerously curious hero being warned away from an evil he shouldn’t confront. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 24, 2016
Take Me to the River reaches its end sadder and wiser if not satisfactorily complete as a psychodrama. But Sobel thrives on the unevenness, and it gives his admirably off-putting wade into fractured-family waters its own specialized charge. Read full review
70
VarietyRonnie ScheibJan 31, 2015
The superlatively acted indie promises more than it delivers, but chillingly evokes sufficient primal dread. Read full review
67
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 31, 2015
Sure to baffle some, it’s a weird movie that isn’t actively weird, but what’s striking about the picture is Sobel’s point of view and confidence. While the movie is amorphous and porous, it’s clear this is exactly what the filmmaker is going for, and that’s certainly bold for a first timer. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephen HunterMar 31, 2016
The menace never becomes palpable, whether because of illogical plot lines or questionable casting. The stakes are so high, but the suspense never rises to the occasion. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 15, 2016
A quietly disturbing slice of Southern Gothic that isn’t Southern at all. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 31, 2015
Despite its sharp visuals and evocative sense of place, the unevenly acted film never quite builds enough atmospheric dread to distract from its characters' somewhat implausible behavior. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldMar 17, 2016
Mr. Sobel’s film skates past any persuasive sense of motivation. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneMar 18, 2016
It's difficult to believe in Ryder's gullibility, if not willingness to be caught in his uncle's strange web of provocations. Read full review
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