What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Warner Bros. | Release Date: October 31, 1962 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The TelegraphRobbie Collin
The ultimate camp-Gothic bitchfight. Vastly entertaining. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
As in the best Hitchcock movies, suspense, rather than actual mayhem, drives the film. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
It's a black-and-white shocker, a crazed psycho-melodrama, a pitch-black show-biz satire, a warped meditation on the traumatizing effects of child stardom, and a gothic tale of familial dysfunction as its dysfunctioniest. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderDon Druker
Aldrich's direction and dynamite performances from the two old troupers make this film an experience. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJames Powers
Whatever else it may turn out to be, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is certainly one of the most fascinating and unusual cinema items of the year, and one that will capture a huge amount of publicity and comment. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Sour as month-old milk and with a tang of off-screen animosity in its mouth, Robert Aldrich's melodrama is still hysterical in every sense of the word. Read full review
80
The GuardianMike McCahill
The film remains fascinatingly warped: an extended study in decaying flesh, set to a score mordantly trying to break into Hooray for Hollywood. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineBudd Wilkins
That undeniable off-screen friction only helps grease the wheels of the film’s compulsive forward momentum, supplying a crackling energy to scenes wherein, among other gothic horrors, pet birds are served up for supper with relish. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Once the inept, draggy start is passed, the film’s pace builds with ever-growing force. Read full review
70
The Observer (UK)Philip French
This frightening, darkly comic picture is much influenced by Sunset Boulevard. Read full review
70
Film ThreatStaff (Not Credited)
Producer/director Robert Aldrich acknowledged the two performers’ “monstrous” potential – and by unleashing them face-to-face, he became a ringmaster. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
I can't help thinking that the most interesting things happen in the precredit sequence - the fraught childhood, Blanche's sinister "accident" - but it's still vivid, barnstorming stuff. Read full review
60
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Though far from Aldrich’s best, it still makes for an amusing and enjoyable romp, with Davis’s schizophrenic ravings deepened by the poignant awareness the director shows of loss, ageing and faded glory. Read full review
60
CineVueJoe Walsh
Once seen, Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is hard to forget, as it charts the sad path of many a former child star to the backwaters of the Hollywood hills. Read full review
40
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
The feeble attempts that Mr. Aldrich has made to suggest the irony of two once idolized and wealthy females living in such depravity and the pathos of their deep-seated envy having brought them to this, wash out very quickly under the flood of sheer grotesquerie. There is nothing particularly moving or significant about these two. Read full review
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