Time of the Wolf
Palm Pictures | Release Date: June 25, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
VarietyScott Foundas
Haneke demonstrates profound insight into the essence of human behavior when all humility is pared away, raw panic and despair are the order of the day, and man becomes more like wolf than man. Read full review
100
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
In today's digital bog of empty light and marketing deceptions, this is what early-millennium Euro art-film masterpieces feel like--lean, qualmish, abstracted to the point of parable but as grounded as a gravedigging. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There are no zombies out of ''28 Days Later'' to alleviate the slow creep of realistic doom in this chilly, tense corker. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
One of the most harrowing and plausible visions of apocalypse since George A. Romero's 1968 zombie shocker, "Night of the Living Dead." Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Haneke has become known as a dour modern master of cinematic pain, and in this movie he scrubs civilization down to the root level. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Haneke is still a masterful director, and his authority carries this well-acted and attractively shot account of a family from an unnamed city trying to survive in the sticks after an unspecified catastrophe. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
At its best, the film sustains the heightened tension of great science fiction, dropping in on a frightening new world that's just this side of familiar. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Time of the Wolf is tough medicine, to be sure. Yet, the movie builds to a note of cautious optimism that is as stirring as it is unexpected. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This is one of Haneke's least powerful films, although the excellent cast is interesting to watch. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Time of the Wolf is grounded so deeply in the reality of society gone awry that the anxiety faced by Isabelle Huppert's character as she struggles to keep her family together transfers onto the audience and never leaves. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Haneke's images are so bold and riveting and the characters' emotions are so raw that the lack of a few details doesn't matter. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Nightmare-inducing. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
You can feel frightened and disturbed by this movie without being especially moved by it. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Moviegoers expecting a conventional sci-fi fantasy will be disappointed; Haneke never explains the vague disaster, nor does he offer any definitive solution. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverStaff (Not credited)
While it's sometimes tedious viewing, the film proves the perfect complement to this year's hyper-explained "The Day After Tomorrow;" it's utterly free of cheap melodrama and visual razzle-dazzle, concentrating instead on the souls of plausibly human sufferers. Read full review
60
Film ThreatChris Wiegand
In the somewhat muted lead role, Huppert really is a marvel. Read full review
60
Washington PostStephen Hunter
More than watchable, if less than compelling. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's a much more interesting and engrossing film than its somewhat nefarious reputation may indicate -- though, granted, elements of it are very hard to take, and it finally leaves you feeling pretty down and out. Read full review
40
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Haneke leaves the future of the human race ambiguous. Or would have left it so if his allegory had worked. But the film is such a pat construction, so dingily shot in heavy light, so dependent on our cooperation without earning it, that we are more aware of the exercise than affected by it Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
I would rather have a more interesting group of desperate people to spend my post-apocalyptic time with. Read full review
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