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Panic Room (2002)

tomatometer

77

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 180
Fresh: 138 | Rotten: 42

Elevated by Fincher's directorial talent and Foster's performance, Panic Room is a well-crafted, above-average thriller.

71

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 10

Elevated by Fincher's directorial talent and Foster's performance, Panic Room is a well-crafted, above-average thriller.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 210,615

My Rating

Movie Info

A well-regarded spec script by A-list screenwriter David Koepp became this stylish thriller from director David Fincher. Jodie Foster stars as Meg Altman, a single mother of an diabetic preteen daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart). Meg's going through an unhappy divorce that forces her and Sarah to move into a new home. They choose a deluxe New York brownstone that coincidentally boasts an unusual feature: a "panic room," a vault-like hidden space capable of literally sealing itself off from the

R, 1 hr. 52 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

David Koepp

Sep 17, 2002

$95.3M

Sony Pictures

Cast

All Critics (182) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (144) | Rotten (42) | DVD (44)

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

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Fincher mounts some clever, tense sequences in which the trio devises increasingly threatening strategies to force Meg and Sarah out of the panic room, only to be matched with improvised ingenuity from behind the vault door.

July 20, 2002 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

... one of the most ingenious and entertaining thrillers I've seen in quite a long time.

April 1, 2002 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Foster nails the role, giving a tight, focused performance illuminated by shards of feeling.

March 31, 2002 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's difficult to work up a strong case of the heebie-jeebies when you keep getting thrown out of the movie by all the atrocious acting.

March 31, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a treat for the eyes and ears.

March 29, 2002 Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Extreme suspense, graphic violence; not for kids.

December 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

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.

September 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

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

May 3, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com

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

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

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

July 2, 2008 Full Review Source: IGN Movies | Comment
IGN Movies

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

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

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

March 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Ultimately, this is just a big, dumb, commercial suspenser - but it's one of the best for ages, reminding us that it is still possible to make a high quality piece of popcorn entertainment.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Fincher is such a technically brilliant director that he can elevate a genre film--a suspenser about a damsel-in-distress--above its melodramatic trappings. The confined space (whole movie is set within a house) is no big challenge for him.

October 5, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Never averse to glistening darkness, meaty metaphor or grandiloquent technical display, Fincher is also surprisingly at home with hokum.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Panic Room is a very scary film, well made and lovingly dark, and it illustrates how terrified we are of becoming the victims we see on TV.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

The panic room itself is a provocative concept and it says something about modern society, but I'm not sure if it deserved its own movie.

May 18, 2005 Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | Comment (1)
Bangitout.com

The rich in Panic Room are under siege, and the overgrown fortress of their self-indulgence seems helpless to defend itself.

December 6, 2004 Comment
Looking Closer

The film has some nice psychological development and stimulating moral conflicts, but it is basically a bite-your-nails suspense film and makes no bones about it.

October 14, 2004 Full Review Source: Movie City News | Comment
Movie City News

Director David Fincher stuffs the film with showy camerawork, including a trip into a keyhole, down drainpipes and through air vents.

June 25, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | Comment

The DVD provides enough substantive insight into the contemporary Hollywood filmmaking process.

April 14, 2004 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Panic Room

Burnham: I spent the last 12 years of my life building rooms like this specifically to keep out people like us "It was supposed to be the safest room in the house."David Fincher has always and will always be a stylish director and that is one of the reason I love his movies. With Panic Room, he uses his style with a

November 3, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

Panic Room is a well crafted, plotted and directed thriller. David Fincher has always made good films, and Panic Room proves that he is a fine director. Panic Room presents an intricate plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The story is superb, the cast is terrific and the suspense is unrelenting. The film

September 30, 2011
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for Panic Room

May 31, 2011:
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The adaptation will be produced for the "Panic Room" director's new company, Panic Pictures.

March 1, 2007:
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Foreign Titles

  • La habitación del pánico (ES)
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