The themes of <i>In Flames</i> are stark and blunt, the execution anything but. It’s a slippery and hallucinatory experience that never lets its ghostly trappings overpower the very real dangers it depicts.

| Original Score: 4 | Sep 4, 2024

In Flames is a compelling portrayal of the lives of Pakistani women and the ghosts that haunt them in a male-driven society.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 3, 2024

The many textures and mysteries don’t always fit together. Indeed, the movie is better when it trades in real-world patriarchal controls and abuses rather than things that go bump in the night.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 13, 2024

While In Flames fulfills its promise of thrills, it also offers a story brimming with heart.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 12, 2024

In Flames brings a lightness of touch to a psychological thriller that compels you to root for its characters, not because they are heroic, or because they do something remarkable to save themselves, but because they are simple...

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 8, 2024

From the first beat of the film to the last, Kahn creates a sonnet — an ode to the women of his birth country.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jul 5, 2024

Zarrar Kahn evokes the hectic, crowded life of the city and the emptiness of the countryside and coast with an unromantic sense of realism.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 3, 2024

A clever, complex tale of patriarchal oppression in modern-day Karachi, In Flames bears all the usual hallmarks of a grounded social drama – but it also comes with ghosts and fancies itself as a horror.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 30, 2024

The film steers admirably clear of cheap frights, skilfully ratcheting up an atmosphere of unease and keeping the viewer hooked through its astonishingly authentic performances.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 30, 2024

Riveting central performances.

| May 30, 2024

In Flames raids the box of generic horror tropes but fails to generate any notable scares. Instead, Pakistani-Canadian director Zarrar Kahn’s feature debut musters a vaguely brooding sense of unease.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 29, 2024

Overall, surprise is not the film’s strong suit, but as a visually rich vehicle for social commentary In Flames has plenty of tricks to play, which Zarrar Kahn deploys elegantly if not always subtly.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 23, 2024

In Flames is skilfully executed, its uniqueness lies in its evolution into a narrative of female empowerment, highlighting the bond between mother and daughter as they confront the insidious evils of a patriarchal society.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 23, 2024

Nawal centres the story and holds the screen admirably; conveying emotional subtleties and depths, often without words, and this feels like a glimpse of a world that’s usually hidden.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 22, 2024

The approach is so personal that the film never feels like a political treatise. But it certainly is one.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 21, 2024

A tour de force meld of harsh reality and harsh fantasy.

| May 14, 2024

It wasn't until In Flames that I felt less shame in my loneliness.

| Original Score: 7/10 | May 9, 2024

There are some things we must learn to live with, to find a means of existing in spite of things that hurt us. Such is the story of In Flames.

| May 7, 2024

stays true to a more restrained approach that suggests more than it shows, often through the unnerving soundtrack and a roving camera whose drifting away from the main action always portends the presence of something frightful

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 25, 2024

The blend of horror and social commentary feels tipped toward the latter, underserving the former. Still, it’s nonetheless a powerful examination of women in Pakistan, a critique of its patriarchy, and an immersive look through the eyes of its characters.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 17, 2024