Panic Room - Movie Reviews (2025)

Though a bare-bones home invasion movie with a few memorable twists, a decent screenplay, and a solid cast, what still makes it outstanding in the genre is its gripping direction and meticulous focus that grants it another layer beyond the basics.

Full Review | Dec 1, 2023

Where’s David Fincher’s head these days? Whooshing through keyholes and coffee pots, I guess.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Sep 17, 2022

Led by strong performances top to bottom and a clear-eyed understanding of what it aims to be, “Panic Room” is a straight genre movie but with enough Fincher flourishes to give it an extra kick.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 24, 2022

Mainstream Hollywood thrillers have never quite reached the compelling, creepy and claustrophobia-inducing heights of Panic Room again...

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 8, 2022

Panic Room is among Fincher's most straightforward genre exercises, it's not really interested in subverting or challenging or upsetting anything...but that doesn't mean it doesn't have anything on its mind.

Full Review | Dec 22, 2020

Panic Room is one of those thrillers you'll enjoy and get really into on your first viewing, but probably won't be dying to watch again.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 17, 2020

Yet more top-shelf terror from director David Fincher, the man behind such popular pulse-pounders as Seven, The Game and Fight Club.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 19, 2020

Leaving you utterly dissatisfied...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 3, 2019

How did Fincher - a director who is very good at supplying thrills to thrillers, whatever his other strengths or limitations might be - end up shepherding such a leaden film?

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 30, 2014

Extreme suspense, graphic violence; not for kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 27, 2010

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 17, 2010

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

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 3, 2009

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

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 29, 2009

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

Full Review | Mar 27, 2009

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

Full Review | Jul 2, 2008

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 14, 2007

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

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2007

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

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.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 5, 2006

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

Full Review | Jun 24, 2006