You Should Have Left
Universal Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): June 18, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
17
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
IGNKristy PuchkoJun 18, 2020
There's a throbbing theme at You Should Have Left's core about what it means to be a man. But if subtext isn't your jam, you can kick back, switch off, and enjoy the eerie thrills and jolting scares of this satisfying horror-thriller. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 18, 2020
It’s low-key in tone and not a splatter fest, even remotely. You Should Have Left is horror for a thinking audience. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 17, 2020
The movie won’t disturb your dreams, but it grabs hold of you and keeps tugging. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 17, 2020
Bacon holds it steady, setting up residence in an uneasy, unwell character, unconcerned with making him likable or worth rooting for — the kind of person who gets left behind, and with good reason. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 19, 2020
It’s all rater less than the sum of its parts, but the first two thirds of You Should Leave” impress and engross. It’s a pity we don’t get to see it with an audience. Because if there’s one thing that amplifies tiny frights, it’s other people overreacting as if they’re scared out of their wits. Read full review
60
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Jun 25, 2020
You Should Have Left works when it’s a streamlined campfire ghost story, but the unnecessary bells and whistles weighs it down. Still, it’s just good enough to work as a timewaster for genre fans. Read full review
60
Screen RantHannah HoolihanJun 18, 2020
You Should Have Left often feels like a watered-down version of The Shining, but Koepp still manages to maintain interest in its mind-bending story. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJun 18, 2020
While the film gets points for bucking tradition and trying to portray its scenes of fright mostly in bright daylight (shot with sharpness by cinematographer Angus Hudson), the scares just aren’t very scary. It doesn’t help that the pacing never feels right, with long stretches of the film focusing on things that would’ve been better served by being truncated. Read full review
60
CNNBrian LowryJun 18, 2020
There's an unintended kick, in the current moment, watching a movie designed to make you want to flee the confines of a house. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJun 17, 2020
Koepp and his cast successfully convey how afraid the family becomes once it's clear they're being supernaturally prevented from leaving the house. But that's not the most original idea upon which to build a franchise, and it's clear from both third-act exposition and the pic's final scene that the filmmakers want just that. Read full review
55
TheWrapSteve PondJun 17, 2020
Sure, it’s creepy as hell and very stylish to boot, but You Should Have Left essentially plays like a scaled-down Blumhouse riff on “The Shining,” only with slightly shorter hallways and considerably less ambition. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 23, 2020
The movie does an effective job with all the expected horror movie tropes – things that go bump in the night, shadows that don’t move the way they should, images in mirrors, etc. – but the basic narrative loses its way around the time that Amanda Seyfried is sent packing. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJun 18, 2020
The tension escalates quite effectively, but the payoff feels weak, because the thing — or person, or whatever — that we’re supposed to be most scared of is hardly as scary as the buildup. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 18, 2020
At least Bacon commits, putting all of Theo’s hangups on display and treating his scenes with Seyfried—including a humdinger of a subdued fight about Susanna’s own secrets—like the stuff of a genuine marriage drama, not mere emotional context for a ho-hum thriller. He makes Theo a real character, even as Koepp uses him more like a Rorschach test everyone would interpret the exact same way. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJun 18, 2020
David Koepp is a fatally un-obsessive craftsman, one who’s fashioned a horror film that resembles a tasteful coffee table book. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 18, 2020
You Should Have Left will, however, make you seriously rethink your next Airbnb rental. And maybe even push you to watch "Mortdecai," just to see what a real horror looks like. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaJun 17, 2020
Unfortunately, the movie’s thriller elements amount to pale reflections of many other works. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 17, 2020
Even at 93 minutes, the material feels thin, and so does its moral message. But the movie's goofy, blunt-edged claustrophobia may also be its greatest gift to viewers: the chance to be grateful that the only ones haunting our own homes right now are us. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJul 2, 2020
If it never quite delivers on its promise of cheesy scares, neither does it really try for true psychological thrills with enough conviction. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJun 21, 2020
If Koepp as a writer had leaned into those elements he sets up early, then maybe Koepp as a director could have done more with them. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 19, 2020
Enter at your peril…of major eyeroll strain. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJun 18, 2020
You Should Have Left should have left our nerves frayed and our dreams haunted but instead, it leaves us cold. Read full review
38
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 19, 2020
The film begins at ugh and ends at dang. You don’t yell at the screen so much as yawn at it. An intriguing plot then turns into a telltale heart that doesn’t pulse. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 18, 2020
Everything here feels timid and toothless, lacking in true atmosphere or genuine scares. Read full review
30
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJul 6, 2020
You Should Have Left is a perfect example of how "forgettable" horror cinema is somehow more tedious than something that goes out in a blaze of failed ambition. Read full review
30
The New York TimesMaya PhillipsJun 19, 2020
Koepp and Kehlmann’s screenplay fails to properly set the groundwork for the film’s final twist, instead dropping egregious and poorly incorporated hints on the sluggish march to a telegraphed conclusion. And the direction, too, feels languid, almost mechanical, with rote terrors and tones robbed from horror movies past. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 18, 2020
It might have worked as a drama, but as horror, it’s a disaster. Read full review
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