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
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleSep 19, 2018
So it comes as no small shock that The House With a Clock in Its Walls may very well be one of the best spooky movies to ever operate under a PG rating. The man known for taking things too far also appears to know exactly where to stop. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerSep 20, 2018
A fantastical adventure, dandy ode to weirdos, and accessible anti-war allegory for all ages, especially 10-year-old boys. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAnthony Ray BenchSep 27, 2018
This is absolutely Eli Roth’s best film. It’s scary, poignant, thrilling, and just a ton of fun. Read full review
80
SlateMatthew DessemSep 20, 2018
Roth and screenwriter Eric Kripke’s adaptation of The House With a Clock in its Walls is a bullseye, perfectly balanced between funny and scary. Read full review
79
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 18, 2018
The House With a Clock in Its Walls is easily Eli Roth’s best motion picture, and that’s not an attempt to damn the film with faint praise. It’s a spooky and amusing piece of family-friendly Halloween cinema, sharply produced and mostly effective, told with skill and panache. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiam LaceySep 20, 2018
Roth, in restricting himself to the polite requirements of a kid-friendly movie, keeps his darker instincts in check, making this more a movie about set design than emotions. Read full review
75
Film Journal InternationalStephen Whitty Sep 19, 2018
A few minutes into The House with a Clock in Its Walls, you realize Eli Roth knows what he’s doing—and that means carefully mixing the scares and stillness for a horror comedy that’s made-to-order for certain monster-loving 10-year-olds. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeSep 19, 2018
The fantasy and horror sections of The House With A Clock In Its Walls, including a scene where our core trio must fight reanimated jack-o’-lanterns, are full of wonder. Some of them — and this is a sentence we never thought we’d write about an Eli Roth movie — downright sparkle. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpSep 26, 2018
As delightful as relentless CGI monster mayhem is—and there’s plenty to go round as The House with a Clock in Its Walls rolls through its final act—it’s the lovely character work that makes the story memorable. Roth and his cast pack a surplus of exuberance into a children’s fantasy mold that’s by now grown musty. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergSep 20, 2018
The movie has the pleasingly demented texture of early Tim Burton. It bears the logo of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin company and is seen from a Spielbergian child’s-eye view. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlSep 19, 2018
Since the movie is in such a hurry, we’re not given much chance to soak in this strangeness. Making up for it: Black is paired with Blanchett, who plays a neighboring witch in smashing violet skirt ensembles; the two rat-a-tat insults at each other like a vaudevillian comedy duo. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterHarry WindsorSep 18, 2018
As a family film in that vein it largely succeeds, buoyed by Black’s typical exuberance, Blanchett’s typical slyness and a richly evocative rendering of a Rockwellian suburb sprinkled with goofer dust. Less interesting, as is the way with many audience-avatar YA protagonists (sorry, Harry), is the main character, and Vaccaro’s rather hyper-articulated performance doesn’t help. Read full review
68
IGNWitney SeiboldSep 19, 2018
An exciting and scary final act makes up for a middling kid horror fantasy that is marked by a slow start and an inappropriately comedic tone. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 18, 2018
Black, no surprise, steals the show, manically hamming it up like Harry Houdini on laughing gas, while Roth tries to keep the breakneck pace of his phantasmagoria going. As someone who was growing bored with Roth’s gory shockfests, I say: “Welcome to the kiddie table, Eli.” Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsSep 20, 2018
Basically watchable. Read full review
63
Washington PostJane HorwitzSep 19, 2018
“House” sometimes loses track of convoluted plot points and skimps on exteriors. But it does a fine job of capturing the childlike wonderment that suffused those earlier films. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 19, 2018
Unlike the Harry Potter movies, The House with a Clock in Its Walls fails to find the sweet spot for cross-generational appeal. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoSep 19, 2018
Tricky territory to navigate, but it ultimately lends some genuine poignancy to the story’s familiar accidental-family themes. If there’s someplace Roth makes a mark, it’s here. Read full review
More From This Movie

57 Critic Reviews

5.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 63 Normal
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL