Most critics come away frightened and pleased. Fourteen of eighteen reviews are positive, and several call Damian McCarthy’s third feature his most accomplished. The praise settles in the same places: Adam Scott’s cranky, slowly unravelling novelist, whom more than one reviewer calls perfectly cast; the hotel itself, singled out for its production design and its haunted escape-room nastiness; and McCarthy’s control of tension, with the editing, the sound and the jump scares drawing repeated mention. Several also find it funnier than his earlier films, and kinder to its lead.
The reservations cluster on the plotting. A number of reviews find the mystery overstuffed and the second half diffuse, with story threads left dangling; Variety and The Hollywood Reporter make this their central complaint. NME enjoys the first half and finds the second aimless. The sole outright dissent comes from Little White Lies, which sees only familiar jump scares and generic family trauma. The scores run from 40 to 90, a wider spread than the average suggests.
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IndieWire
29 April 2026 · Katie Rife
90*
Damian McCarthy's third feature hones the Irish writer/director’s horror style to a sharp and terrifying point. It is a hair-raising, often exhilarating Irish horror tale.
The critic highlights smart plotting, nimble editing, evocative sound and Scott's frigid performance in an exceptionally chilling horror that blends artistic integrity with entertainment.
McCarthy makes good on his promise as one of contemporary horror’s most distinctive voices. The film threads the needle between old-school scares and a richly layered character piece that functions as a meditation on the filmmaker’s perspective as a storyteller.
The critic calls it potentially the scariest hotel horror since The Shining, with scream-inducing jump scares and stylish widescreen sequences. They single out the casting of Adam Scott and the effective suspense for praise.
The critic finds the film delivers a full evening of scares, chills, wicked jokes and haunted escape-room hijinks on top of an affecting personal quest. They single out the marvellously creepy hotel setting and some of the most gooseflesh-raising art direction in recent horror cinema.
The critic calls it a supremely creepy hotel-from-hell horror with strong atmosphere and jump scares, though the overstuffed mystery leaves some narrative loose ends.
McCarthy delivers a surprising happy ending and moment of grace for the protagonist after two bleaker films in his unofficial trilogy. The critic singles out the sentimental yet satisfying conclusion and the film's handling of trauma for praise.
The critic praises Adam Scott's performance in this self-mocking but macabre tale of a writer in a creepy hotel, highlighting the director's chutzpah and skill at suspense. They single out the finely tuned build-up and Scott's downbeat unraveling for praise.
The critic praises McCarthy's surreal horror-comedy for finding a human story of self-forgiveness amid creepy grotesquerie and black comedy in a haunted Irish hotel setting.
The critic finds it an enjoyably eerie rural horror with efficient jump scares and an amusing gruesome premise involving a witch in a honeymoon suite. They single out the eccentric black-comic shocker and the wacky hermit character for note.
30 April 2026 · NYT Critic’s Pick · Jeannette Catsoulis
70*
The critic finds the film an effective folk horror that benefits from its cheeky approach to the uncanny, turning potential scares into giggles, and praises Adam Scott’s perfectly cast performance as the cranky novelist. It suggests hope over cynicism and is McCarthy’s most accomplished feature.
The review describes the film as an overstuffed supernatural horror with many frightening threads that feel disjointed, though buoyed by Adam Scott’s level-headed turn and proficient atmosphere instead of gore. It calls the film effectively unnerving but convoluted compared to the director’s more focused prior work.
The film is neither completely ho-hum nor wholly satisfying. The critic praises the mounting tension and creepy hotel production design but complains about the diffuse script that piles on story points without adequately explaining the mystery.
The critic finds the film unoriginal and overly familiar, relying on generic jump scares and sentimental family trauma without delivering anything novel or memorable.
The critic calls it a haunting low-key horror gem and McCarthy’s best film yet, a ghost/witch story that sneaks up with emotional depth on loss and humanity’s horrors. They single out Adam Scott’s subtle, shattering lead performance and the film’s matter-of-fact folk-horror tone mixed with dark comedy.
The critic praises it as a very satisfying, fun, and well-executed scary movie that delivers on expectations with genuine terror and some levity. They single out McCarthy's mastery of tension, jump scares, sound, and Adam Scott's performance.
The critic finds it a pleasantly macabre campfire ghost story with atmospheric dread and strong visuals, but notes some telegraphed jump scares and contrived subtext. Praises the pulp fairy tale qualities and nihilistic dark.
The critic enjoys the first half's balance of chills and laughs, effective scares and Scott's performance, but criticizes the second half for becoming aimless, confusing, and clichéd ending, ultimately calling it hokum that earns its title.
Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate
