47
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 78The Daily BeastNick SchagerThe Daily BeastNick SchagerIn a genre overly taken as of late with “elevated” trauma scares, its gritty, skillful menace is a breath of fresh air.
- 60VarietySiddhant AdlakhaVarietySiddhant AdlakhaThe film often does too much, reaching for too many different sources for its attempted thrills and chills, which results in a mostly scattered experience. However, it has a couple of notable strengths. The first is its handful of tense moments.
- 58The A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganThe A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganFor all of the horror subgenres crammed into Hold Your Breath, it never conjures sufficient scares.
- 50ObserverOliver JonesObserverOliver JonesAll of this furious, empty noise keeps reminding you that you’re watching a cheesy horror film that is not confident enough in the story it’s telling to avoid succumbing to old tricks.
- 50RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoIt’s anchored by a typically strong Sarah Paulson performance, to be sure. But “Hold Your Breath” is nonetheless a frustrating work, a sequence of powerful scenes that aren’t tied together with enough tension to make us care. It’s a film filled with moments but no momentum.
- 40ColliderShaina WeatherheadColliderShaina WeatherheadSarah Paulson breathes life into a so-so script, but the film's slow pace and lack of strong horror hold it back.
- 40The GuardianBenjamin LeeThe GuardianBenjamin LeePaulson’s commitment is unwavering, and it’s refreshing to see her in genre material a little more grounded than what the various American Horror Stories have given her, but she’s an actor in search of better material and, sadly, Hold Your Breath means that search is ongoing.
- 40Screen RantMae AbdulbakiScreen RantMae AbdulbakiWhen a film is trying to tell three stories at once, it’s bound to get tied up in its own narrative misgivings, and Hold Your Breath is certainly culpable of that.
- 25The PlaylistAnkit JhunjhunwalaThe PlaylistAnkit JhunjhunwalaHold Your Breath is a strange beast—there aren’t enough thrills for horror heads nor any blood and gore for slasher fans. Even as straight drama, it isn’t entirely successful.