Taut and tense, Panic Room represents a smaller scale effort from director David Fincher that is no less meticulously crafted than his previous films.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 7, 2025

It may not be a "top tier" Fincher film, but this popcorn thriller is hugely entertaining and deserves more respect. It's a great time at the movies.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 2, 2025

Beneath Panic Room’s polished surface lurks a story teeming with texture.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 28, 2025

Though a bare-bones home invasion movie with a few memorable twists, a decent screenplay, and a solid cast, what still makes it outstanding in the genre is its gripping direction and meticulous focus that grants it another layer beyond the basics.

| Dec 1, 2023

Where’s David Fincher’s head these days? Whooshing through keyholes and coffee pots, I guess.

| Original Score: C- | Sep 17, 2022

Led by strong performances top to bottom and a clear-eyed understanding of what it aims to be, “Panic Room” is a straight genre movie but with enough Fincher flourishes to give it an extra kick.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 24, 2022

Mainstream Hollywood thrillers have never quite reached the compelling, creepy and claustrophobia-inducing heights of Panic Room again...

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 8, 2022

Panic Room is among Fincher's most straightforward genre exercises, it's not really interested in subverting or challenging or upsetting anything...but that doesn't mean it doesn't have anything on its mind.

| Dec 22, 2020

Panic Room is one of those thrillers you'll enjoy and get really into on your first viewing, but probably won't be dying to watch again.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 17, 2020

Yet more top-shelf terror from director David Fincher, the man behind such popular pulse-pounders as Seven, The Game and Fight Club.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 19, 2020

Leaving you utterly dissatisfied...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 3, 2019

How did Fincher - a director who is very good at supplying thrills to thrillers, whatever his other strengths or limitations might be - end up shepherding such a leaden film?

| Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 30, 2014

Extreme suspense, graphic violence; not for kids.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 27, 2010

Valuing logic over brutality, David Fincher's claustrophobic ride also touted the real-world practicality of keeping quiet over the cinematic kicks of a loud thriller. It's like "Wait Until Dark" with helplessness that's emotional, not just physical.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 17, 2010

Apart from one plot twist too many, "Panic Room" is a seamless suspense-thriller with a top-notch cast.

| Original Score: B+ | May 3, 2009

There are so little things you can do with this story and a lot of it is pretty contrived.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 29, 2009

A thinking-man's women-in-jeopardy picture, Panic Room does about as much as humanly possible with its deliberately restricted one-setting premise.

Full Review | Mar 27, 2009

David Fincher directs a nail-biter starring Jodie Foster about a mother and daughter who defend their house against a brutal home invasion.

| Jul 2, 2008

[Allows] Fincher to shine as the skilled, stylish director that he is.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 14, 2007

After his mind-bending, exhilarating Fight Club, director David Fincher takes on a more conventional Hollywood thriller.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2007