Most critics respond positively to Hoard, with praise centring on Luna Carmoon’s unsettling, physically tangible direction and Saura Lightfoot-Leon’s uninhibited performance. The reviews repeatedly describe a film whose accumulated detail makes its characters’ surroundings feel almost touchable. Several find tenderness and emotional complexity beneath the abrasive scenes, particularly in the portrayal of Maria and Cynthia’s bond. Even some of the more reserved responses admire its strangeness and willingness to make viewers uncomfortable.
The spread is wide, however, and the main disagreement concerns whether the provocations serve the characters. Little White Lies finds them emotionally purposeful and free of cliché; The i Paper argues that the escalating shocks fail to make a meaningful point. Elsewhere, reservations cluster around an excessive runtime, meandering pace and elements that do not quite cohere. The consensus favours Carmoon’s distinctive approach, but there is considerably less agreement about her control of the story.