78
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The Film StageLeonardo GoiThe Film StageLeonardo GoiShot by Jenkin on 16mm color negative with a 1970s clockwork Bolex and scored with post-synch sound, the film looks and sounds as a relic unearthed from one of the island’s caves. A chest stashed with stories in turns seductive and chilling, woven into a tale that will keep on unfurling, in an endless and confounding maze.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt is not exactly a horror film, despite some spasms of disquiet, but an uncanny evocation of how, when left utterly on our own, we spiral inwards into our memories, dreams and fears.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinIt wouldn’t be quite right to describe Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men as a horror film. Rather, it’s the kind of thing the victims in a horror film might watch, just after pulling it from the cellar of a derelict harbour cottage, and shortly before succumbing to some blood-curdling maritime curse.
- 80The IndependentClarisse LoughreyThe IndependentClarisse LoughreyEnys Men is so rich with symbolism that there’s a real satisfaction to be gained from rifling through the clues.
- 80EmpireJohn NugentEmpireJohn NugentMesmerising and mystifying, in equal measure. Enys Men confirms Mark Jenkin as one of the most exciting, original cinematic voices in the UK right now.
- 75IndieWireLeila LatifIndieWireLeila LatifAs much as Jenkin’s film is hypnotic and strikingly realized, in the final half hour it runs out of tricks up its sleeve.
- 63Slant MagazineJosh WiseSlant MagazineJosh WiseEnys Men might have been called A Blueprint for Revival: an attempt to restore to horror something that Jenkin feels has been lost. If only it didn’t lack the power to truly frighten us, it may have flourished.
- 50VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangVisually and sonically, Enys Men is utterly intoxicating, but a lack of any nourishing interplay between form and content makes it feel like getting drunk on an empty stomach, alone on an island where everything happens at the same time, and nothing really happens at all.