The Man in My Basement
Release Date: September 12, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The TimesKevin MaherSep 11, 2025
It’s a discomforting film and a potentially eerie experience for all viewers. The villain appears to be personal compromise and the moral lapses ignored on a daily basis in the name of getting by. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 11, 2025
It’s an eerie, disquieting experience. Read full review
60
EmpireBarry LevittSep 17, 2025
Though The Man In My Basement juggles a few too many ideas, Nadia Latif has crafted an unnerving thriller with dynamite performances from leads Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins.  Read full review
60
Paste MagazineJim VorelSep 15, 2025
For far too much of its bloated runtime, it becomes an incomprehensible slideshow of trauma and weakly executed horror imagery, only occasionally revealing the far more effective, character-driven psychological thriller it’s clearly yearning to be. Read full review
60
Next Best PictureSara ClementsSep 7, 2025
It wants to speak to the hauntings of history, the burden of Black inheritance, and the strange ways guilt manifests. But the film’s ambition often outpaces its clarity. At its best, it captures the surreal pain of being tethered to a past you never asked for. At its worst, it’s a philosophical fog. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 6, 2025
The devil isn’t just on the screen, it’s in the details, and Latif’s film can’t pull those together. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonSep 11, 2025
Streamlined a little, it would have made for a rich text. But as it is, it’s too much to wade through. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 6, 2025
Watching these two performers grapple with a text as rich as Mosley’s only leads one back to wishing the film around them trusted them enough to take more risks and to really go somewhere other than the first floor. Read full review
50
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiSep 6, 2025
A great cast and patience will prove only somewhat rewarding, even if the journey to get there is shaky and more than a bit confusing. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSep 6, 2025
The film proves at least somewhat compelling, with director Latif providing enough tension and chilling visuals to keep viewers engaged. Read full review
50
The Daily BeastNick SchagerSep 6, 2025
Rife with symbolic weight, the action is thematically jumbled, and worse, it takes so long establishing its scenario that it never develops a sense of urgency and madness. Read full review
42
The PlaylistWarren CantrellSep 9, 2025
The Man in My Basement is a slow burn, to be sure, and though things come out fully cooked, there’s little flavor and more flash than sizzle. Read full review
40
VarietySiddhant AdlakhaSep 6, 2025
The result is a tale made up of numerous endpoints and thematic conclusions, whose dots don’t feel meaningfully connected, and whose situational oddities rarely yield excitement or intrigue. Read full review
30
TheWrapChase HutchinsonSep 6, 2025
Each empty bump in the night lands with a dull thud. Even a terrifying dog that becomes crucial to the film has a bark that’s worse than its bite. Read full review
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