---
title: "The Exterminating Angel: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-exterminating-angel/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-exterminating-angel"
critics_score: 80
critics_reviews: 11
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Exterminating Angel (1962): what the critics said

Critics' score 80 from 11 reviews: 10 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative.

## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez

Rating 4/4. 7 September 2003. 

Gonzalez sees the film as a wicked, sharply critical portrait of bourgeois dependence and social hypocrisy. He praises Buñuel’s darkly comic, sadistic staging of the guests’ confinement and unraveling.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-exterminating-angel/)

## Film Comment — Mark Harris

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 

Harris presents Buñuel’s surrealist film as a timeless success. The standfirst singles out its surrealist premise of aristocrats unable to leave a room.

[Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/cinema-67-revisited-exterminating-angel/)

## The Guardian — Rob Mackie

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 31 August 2006. 

Mackie praises the film as a funny, vicious dissection of civilisation. He singles out its surreal juxtapositions, barbed dialogue and collapsing pomposity as the source of its comic bite.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/sep/01/dvdreviews.shopping)

## Time Out — TM

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 

The review is strongly positive, describing Buñuel’s film as brilliant and disconcertingly funny. It singles out the surrealist joke at the heart of the premise for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-exterminating-angel)

## Radio Times — David Parkinson

Rating 4/5. 

Parkinson describes the film as a searing, pessimistic condemnation of bourgeois convention and morality. He praises its brilliantly played cast and the way the nightmare dinner party conveys its unsettling argument.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-jxci8k/the-exterminating-angel/)

## Empire — David Parkinson

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 5 April 2006. 

Parkinson finds the film defiantly surreal and difficult to decipher, but ultimately a superb example of its kind. He praises its satirical exposure of bourgeois privilege and the primal instincts beneath social manners.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/exterminating-angel-review/)

## Los Angeles Times — MARK CHALON SMITH

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 25 April 1996. 

The critic finds the film a sharp, entertaining broadside against social hypocrisy and religion. He praises Buñuel’s surreal humor and the way repeated events expose the guests’ stilted lives.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-25-ca-62747-story.html)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1961. 

The review finds the film an unusual, powerful, and solid dreamlike parable. It especially praises the ensemble acting and Gabriel Figueroa’s cinematography.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1961/film/reviews/el-angel-exterminador-1200420200/)

## RogerEbert.com

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page content is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No specific praise or complaint is available from the supplied text.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-exterminating-angel-1962)

## Paste — Steve Dollar

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 27 February 2009. 

Dollar praises the release as a showcase for Buñuel’s darkly comic, surreal style. He singles out the trapped dinner guests’ descent into chaos and the film’s strange, unsettling imagery.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/article/the-exterminating-angelsimon-of-the-desert)

## Eye for Film — Andrea Mullaney

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 20 February 2007. 

Mullaney finds the surrealist satire compelling and more than watchable, despite its unclear logic. She especially praises the film’s striking photography, expressive faces, and use of shadows.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/exterminating-angel-film-review-by-andrea-mullaney)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-exterminating-angel.md