Venom
Dimension Films | Release Date: September 16, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
25
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
5
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Smartly directed by Jim Gillespie from a script by various hands, Venom is from Dimension Films and follows its stylish, energetic and darkly amusing horror movie tradition. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Although, in the end, this is basically just a moss-strewn remake of his 1997 hit, "I Know What You Did Last Summer," director Jim Gillespie appears invigorated, sending his capable young cast into a series of nicely staged suspense sequences. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A competent concoction of familiar ingredients, smothered with gothic mood and served up with a generous helping of teenagers: skewered, slashed and stabbed. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin Chang
Acquits itself well enough. Gratuitously gory and derivative to the core, Venom manages to deliver some effective frights in between large swaths of voodoo gibberish. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAnita Gates
Venom certainly can't be called a good movie, but within its genre it's perfectly palatable. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Gillespie showed a real knack for '80s-style retro horror with "I Know What You Did," and while a few sequences here have the familiar-but-enjoyable framing and stylization of an old EC horror comic, his material defeats him. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
This misbegotten horror film deserved to go direct to video. Or cable. Or oblivion. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
The final showdown between sole survivor and killer is sufficiently well done that you wonder why the rest didn't measure up. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
Sadly, the concept of dialogue is totally lost on the makers of Venom, a laughably bad example of teen-scream movies. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Could there be a more inappropriate time to release a cheesy horror movie about evildoing in Louisiana. Read full review
25
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
This insipid take on the teens-in-peril formula, with a snake-bit ghoul chasing kids around the bayou, is truly a fangless task. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsRobert Dominguez
A witless, derivative slasher flick. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
All hopes for suspense and plot twists are snuffed out about as quickly as the film's black characters. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeJanice Page
If ridiculous, hackneyed, gratuitously violent slasher movies aren't your thing, don't go near Venom with a 10-foot snake pole. Read full review
25
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Shot as "Backwater" and test-screened as "The Reaper," this film contains a couple of bracingly mean sequences, but it cleaves so closely to the slasher-movie formula that it can't muster up any suspense at all. Read full review
25
PremiereRyan Devlin
A clichéd and flat out boring film that doesn’t even approach the mediocrity of director Jim Gillespie’s 1997 pic in the same genre, "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyScott Brown
A mud-simple horror trudge set in a swamp colony of Abercrombie models. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Reprises all the tedium of slasher flicks. Read full review
10
Film ThreatMichael Ferraro
Sadly, the death scenes are so unimaginative and the gore is so minimal that you might miss it if you blink. Read full review
0
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
You'll feel so much better just sending your $9.50 to the Red Cross then catching "I Know What You Did Last Summer" one more time on television. Read full review
0
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Venom isn't worth a critic's venom, but a brief condemnation is in order. Read full review
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