With Daniel Isn’t Real, Mortimer stands by his choices and doesn’t wobble. The result is a film that’s harmonious and undiluted, if prickly and divisive.

| Mar 26, 2024

Slowly morphing from a character study of a man coping with trauma and mental illness into a dark and twisted horror... Adam Egypt Mortimer’s thrilling film and Patrick Schwarzenegger’s performance are the real deal.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 11, 2022

Daniel Isn't Real is entertaining throughout and features very solid performances from its young cast, but it doesn't quite pack the punch it thinks it does.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 16, 2021

A visually and aurally stunning descent into madness that contains a number of confronting and challenging readings. The homoerotic tension between Daniel and Luke makes this a modern queer horror classic.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2021

We've danced this dance before and part of the fun is trying to parse what is objectively real and what is only subjectively so - a task made deliberately difficult by how closely the film cleaves to Luke's increasingly erratic point of view.

| Jul 14, 2021

A film which navigates sensitive issues with care, intellect, imagination, and brutality at times, this second film from Adam Egypt Mortimer is a stunning ride through university life (and Hell).

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 9, 2021

Sometimes on a wild ride less is more tension is key and the details can sometimes confuse the message.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Oct 14, 2020

This is an hallucinatory ride with a striking sense of style and a sweat-inducing atmosphere, a ride that'll keep you off your balance in a way that's both uncomfortable but very hard to tear away from.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 28, 2020

Daniel Isn't Real was introduced as 'a cross between Drop Dead Fred and Hellraiser'; if you are immediately wondering how that could ever play out, then rest assured, this is as good an approximation as you are likely to get.

| Jul 16, 2020

This movie is a beautiful and sad look on mental illness and learning to cope. From a more metaphorical sense of its plot, to the beautiful cinematography - it's just a perfect film.

| Jul 12, 2020

Daniel Isn't Real immediately puts the viewer on edge.

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Jul 1, 2020

Think "Drop Dead Fred," only mean and way more psychedelic.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 26, 2020

The actual physics of 'Daniel's' rules become less interesting the more they are explained, but for its bulk, the film is a nightmarish exploration of dark, ultra-masculine influences on the impressionable mind.

| Apr 21, 2020

A sharp, frightening, excellently acted horror movie with big ideas. And for the most part it capitalizes on all of them.

| Apr 2, 2020

Daniel Isn't Real is a sturdy genre effort worthy of a wider audience.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Apr 1, 2020

Daniel Isn't Real disturbingly creates a landscape of mental illness that materialises the horror for those suffering, and the exhausting yet unseen battle that continues raging within the mind.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 29, 2020

Daniel Isn't Real is a shocking force to be reckoned with. The film is disturbing, fantastical, and all-around an hour and 40-minute ride that thrills beyond expectation.

| Original Score: 9.5 | Mar 27, 2020

A truly original directorial vision brought to life with visual flair and narrative verve.

| Feb 24, 2020

[its] destination often feels undecided, but backed by terrific performances from the entire cast and some nightmarish ideas, Mortimer delivers an initially understated psychological horror that morphs into something much more monstrous.

| Feb 14, 2020

Adam Egypt Mortimer's second feature ... offers a novel convergence of mental health issues, toxic masculinity and occultish vibes.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 13, 2020