The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 21, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
16
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 20, 2018
The something extra comes with watching Black and Blanchett match wits, especially the former; he radiates his signature comic moxie with glimmers of the dramatic chops he demonstrated in movies like "Bernie" (2011) and this year’s "Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot." Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 19, 2018
At his best, Roth plunders elements from countless other tales of supernatural spookery — ominous spell books, shuddering tombstones, grown men and little kids shooting lightning bolts from their fingertips — and nudges them eerily close to genuine enchantment. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinSep 18, 2018
For all the gags flying around, and all the friendly insults batted between Blanchett and Black, the script lacks the sparkle and polish of many of the classic Amblins it so enthusiastically emulates. Read full review
60
Screen DailyNikki BaughanSep 18, 2018
Despite a fantastical premise and some truly eye-popping effects, The House With A Clock In Its Walls suffers from post-Potter fatigue; there’s simply nothing here, visual or thematic, that hasn’t been done before. Read full review
60
Total FilmJosh WinningSep 18, 2018
An engaging new direction for Eli Roth, who offsets the odd tonal hiccup with plenty of ghoulish delights. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 18, 2018
While not terribly original, it would be fair to call the movie inventive, like one of those eccentrics who’s constantly pestering the patent office with what he thinks are fresh ideas, only to discover that someone else got there first. Read full review
50
The PlaylistWill AshtonSep 25, 2018
The House With A Clock On Its Walls has its fair share of charms, but it doesn’t leave you spellbound. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaSep 24, 2018
The cast in House is exceedingly fancy, but they never seem to connect; Blanchett and Black are about as awkward a pairing as they sound on paper, engaged in two irreconcilable ways of going about their performances. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenSep 20, 2018
You get a sense [Eli Roth]'s struggling to rein in his penchant for gory frights, and for that reason “Clock” feels like a movie at war with itself. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshSep 20, 2018
Despite all the rich elements — the fantastic cast, the wonderfully detailed production and costume design, an oddball family story of black sheep finding each other — there's something missing from The House with a Clock in Its Walls. It's weightless, hop-skipping over necessary story-building, glossing over Lewis' warlock training as well as the personal histories of his guardians. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 19, 2018
By the end, the 105-minute movie feels another third as long. You’ll probably respect the effort. But you’ll be more than happy to leave The House With a Clock in Its Walls. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneySep 18, 2018
I’ve never enjoyed any of Roth’s grisly R-rated movies, but at least those had a distinct vision and style. If only his kid-friendly haunted house movie was as original, it could’ve been a surprising treat. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 18, 2018
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is at its best when it foregrounds the adults and gives Black and Blanchett ample time to bicker with one another. Read full review
42
The VergeTasha RobinsonSep 23, 2018
The book is a charmingly quaint, deeply eerie supernatural mystery about grief, necromancy, and the apocalypse. The movie version is a shrieking CGI carnival full of poop jokes and barfing pumpkins. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 20, 2018
Too hectic to be scary, and with a plot that’s regularly bogged down in optimistic franchise-building spadework, The House with a Clock in Its Walls never quite grasps what made its inspirations tick. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 19, 2018
It is reasonably inoffensive, a bit like the recent Goosebumps, in which Black played a comparably defanged role, but it looks as if it was produced by some computer programme, devised by accountants and market researchers. Read full review
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