---
title: "Penny Dreadful: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/penny-dreadful/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/tv/penny-dreadful"
critics_score: 75
critics_reviews: 9
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."
---

# Penny Dreadful (2014): what the critics said

Critics' score 75 from 9 reviews: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative.

## The AV Club — Sonia Saraiya

Rating A-. 8 May 2014. 

The show impresses with its slow, atmospheric buildup and long, intense scenes that draw out fear and wonder rather than rushing explanations. It offers a moody dark fantasy with extraordinary performances and cinematic sensibilities that evoke the era's dirt and horror.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/penny-dreadful-is-a-penny-delight-1798180392)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Tim Goodman

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2014. 

The critic calls it a creative horror amalgamation with real potential to reimagine classics, praising the fresh mixing of familiar characters like Frankenstein and Dorian Gray with new ones in Victorian London. It is weird, enthralling, scary, intriguing and entertaining, with strong character work and direction.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/tv-review-showtimes-penny-dreadful-702313/)

## Vulture — Matt Zoller Seitz

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 May 2014. 

The series is a wonderful surprise and handsomely produced hybrid of supernatural horror and historical drama. Its greatest virtue is its sincere approach without irony or air quotes around the characters and situations.

[Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2014/05/tv-review-showtime-penny-dreadful.html)

## Empire — William Thomas

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 17 September 2014. 

The critic finds the series pulpy but smart, with a big-game hunter and clairvoyant hunting vampires in Victorian London. Events move slowly, but it is splendidly lurid and Eva Green is fantastic in her paranormal scenes.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/penny-dreadful-review/)

## The Guardian — Filipa Jodelka

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 2014. 

The series is a ghoulish affair that piles on Victorian gothic tropes including vampires, reanimated corpses and monsters in a lavishly shot package. It delivers eight hours of delectable horrors held together with grave looks, though it teeters between daft and solemn.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/may/17/penny-dreadful-filipa-jodelka-review)

## The Times

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 May 2014. 

The show brings together every nightmare available to the Victorian mind including ghouls, vampires and reanimated corpses. The leads stand up well amid the onslaught of mythologies, though the Frankenstein reveal feels like an error.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/tv-review-penny-dreadful-xf5jh2v69df)

## Variety — Brian Lowry

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2014. 

The critic finds it solidly entertaining, well cast and oozing with atmosphere, a shrewd genre choice for the network. It builds a dense mythology around classic literary figures but has slightly uneven production values and generic monsters.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-penny-dreadful-1201172141/)

## The Independent — Ellen E Jones

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2014. 

The well-cast gothic horror with lush sets and genre tropes like body snatchers and blood fails to make a gripping start due to a missing over-arching storyline. The constituent parts are high quality but reanimating them into a whole proves tricky.

[Read the review](http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/penny-dreadful-sky-atlantic-tv-review-a-well-cast-gothic-horror-ticks-all-the-genres-boxes-but-still-9405542.html)

## Den of Geek — Tony Sokol

Rating 4/5. 12 May 2014. 

The premiere is a stylish monster mashup that whets the appetite with strong atmosphere and suspense, introducing a compelling cast of literary monsters and characters. It excels in visual storytelling and performances but has not yet fully delivered on dread.

[Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/penny-dreadful-night-work-review/)

---
© 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/tv/penny-dreadful.md