It's really good.

| Jan 11, 2024

Vogt brings out the ugliness of childhood... and ramps it up with endless malice that slowly builds to horrific action.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 25, 2022

Sophistication. Depth. And an appreciation for old-fashioned emotion and unexpected heroism. It’s hard to frame The Innocents as a feel-good movie, but there’s much in it that’s ennobling as well as disturbing, and satisfyingly weird.

| Aug 17, 2022

Vogt, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of The Worst Person in the World and longtime writing partner of director Joachim Trier, revisits some of the paranormal themes explored in Thelma, Trier’s spooky 2017 drama.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 16, 2022

Harnesses the terrifying malice of bored kids and blurs the line between social drama and out-and-out horror.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 21, 2022

Mesmerizing because of its particular take on the banality of evil.

| May 20, 2022

Finally, a film for grown-up audiences who are sick of watching superhero movies and feel that cinema has been ruined by superhero movies but, all the same, quite fancy watching one last superhero movie as long as it’s a superhero movie for grown-ups.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 20, 2022

Is it a film about bullying or alienation, or about the extraordinarily powerful emotions of childhood, the things that are often kept secret from parents? There is room to choose.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 19, 2022

The Innocents is a nightmare unfolding in cold, clear daylight.

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 18, 2022

It’s straightforward to a fault, with all the intrigue of a cookie-cutter superhero origin story.

| May 14, 2022

The Innocents is a sophisticated and scary film that shines with authentic anger and unexpected empathy for its creepy kids.

| May 13, 2022

A complex piece of storytelling, both visually and narratively.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 13, 2022

Vogt, with his second feature, has crafted a disturbing and original heart-pounder all his own, uncommonly attuned to the perspective of unsocialized prepubescents.

| May 12, 2022

Childhood is hard, and childhood grudges run harder. The Innocents pulls no punches in turning that fact into horror.

| Original Score: B | May 12, 2022

[An] uncannily atmospheric movie...

| May 12, 2022

That restraint suggests that The Innocents could have been a disaster in the hands of mediocre child actors. Fortunately, that is not a concern in the slightest. The highlight of the film is undeniably its cast of actors under the age of 12.

| Original Score: B | May 12, 2022

One of the best and most honest portraits of what it’s like to be a kid in a dangerous world. Its young cast is shockingly terrific.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 11, 2022

It resists sensationalism while suggesting that the world of children is far more powerful, morally complex and violent than adults are even aware of, a notion both terrifying and fascinating.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 11, 2022

The acting by the children is outstanding, and Vogt certainly puts an original twist on the hidden-powers trope. But wow, parts of it are tough going.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 10, 2022

The Innocents is a provocative look at the fine razor line between good and evil and the darker side to innocence. The emotional authenticity heightens the horror, creating one of the most viscerally disturbing depictions of childhood in recent memory.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 9, 2022