Audience vs. critics
The psychological thriller It Comes at Night (1 ¼ stars on 0-5 scale) is a rare example of the public getting it very right and the critics getting it completely wrong, except for this modest critic, of course. The film is at 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes but received a D grade from audiences on CinemaScore. Apparently the public was able to look past the competent editing, decent performances and relatively smart grasp of “genre” tricks to see that this film is a whole bunch of absolutely nothing that’s been done 100 times before.
Blade Runner 2049 (4 ¼ stars) represents the opposite. An enormous disappointment at the box office, it’s a darling with critics, and deservedly so. See it before it disappears from cinemas.
As I respect every article you write, I loved the headline on this one. However, cannot agree with your result.
I find that the reason that “It Comes at Night” received a low grade from audiences and not critics was due to the advertising. The film was pushed to the public as a horror film. However, This is not a horror film. It is a claustrophobic look at a family destroying itself from within. I heard the same critique of The Witch.
This is just my three cents, which may mean less than your buck and a quater review.
Interesting take. I would partially agree with you, and I think that bad marketing somewhat doomed Blade Runner’s chances at the box office too.