37
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisEntertainment WeeklyClark CollisWhile this Blumhouse production may be a less ruthlessly efficient scream machine than, say, its corporate sibling "Ouija," it is much more atmospheric and benefits from a winning central performance from Snook.
- There isn’t a single jump scare in this thing. On the other hand, it would be nice if Jessabelle tried a little harder.
- 50New York PostSara StewartNew York PostSara StewartThe script’s by Robert Ben Garant, also behind last year’s scary-movie spoof “Hell Baby,” and this one teeters right on the edge of laughable, with its V.C. Andrews-like series of goth twists.
- 40The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasDirector Kevin Greutert, who cut his teeth on the Saw series (editing the first five and directing Saw VI and Saw 3D), whips up some generic Louisiana atmosphere, but his PG-13 shock effects are ineffectual, and he’s eventually given over entirely to a story that twists into melodramatic knots. The takeaway from all this: Sometimes less is more.
- 38RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleySteeped in Southern Gothic melodrama, Jessabelle is interesting in some of the small details, and in its strong sense of the Louisiana bayou atmosphere, and then it completely falls apart when it starts being a horror film.
- 30TheWrapInkoo KangTheWrapInkoo KangUnfortunately, it's just when Jessabelle looks like it might transcend its haunted-house trappings that the Southern Gothic clichés rear their tortured, screaming heads.
- 30Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlGreutert's savvy enough to sprinkle some white folks among his houngans and mambos, but Jessabelle still plays out as Haitian traditions ruining the life of a nice-ish white lady.
- 30The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergJessabelle is depressingly rote.
- 25Slant MagazineNick McCarthySlant MagazineNick McCarthyRather than commit to exploring Jessabelle's existential crisis, the filmmakers opt to pile on the clichés straight until the rotten denouement.
- There are few scares here, but plenty of mild grossness. The absurd ending ties up the mystery in a way that’s sure to annoy both supernaturalists and realists.