Captivity Reviews

Captivity is a horror film directed by Roland Joffe about a model (Elisha Cuthbert) and a young man (Daniel Gillies) who awaken to find themselves captured and confined in a cellar. As their kidnapper drives them psychologically mad, the truth about their horrific abduction is revealed.

1. Metacritic Metascore: 24 out of 100, "Destined to be better remembered for its grisly billboard imagery than for its relatively tame torture-porn tropes, Captivity is a thoroughly nasty piece of work that nonetheless earns credit for generating modest suspense after a predictable but effective plot twist around the 50-minute mark."

1. Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 7%, Rotten, "Lacking scares or psychological insight, Captivity is a distasteful entry in the 'torture porn' subgenre."

The film's subject marketing campaign was the source of major controversy. Several controversial images on promotional materials were released in Los Angeles and New York City where they were featured on billboards and taxicabs. The images depicted the kidnapping, torture, and presumable murder of a female character. After the controversy, Lionsgate forced the removal of the advertisements in both cities.

• Variety: Captivity Review
  • ""Captivity" is a thoroughly nasty piece of work that nonetheless earns credit for generating modest suspense after a predictable but effective plot twist around the 50-minute mark."
• TV Guide: Captivity Review (2/4)
  • "If critics offended by the rise of the horror-movie subgenre derisively tagged "torture porn" need a prime suspect to haul before a morality court, the first 20 minutes of this brutal kidnapping thriller from Roland Joffe (the fiend who cast Demi Moore in the 1996 adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER) should do the trick."
• The A.V. Club: Captivity Review (Grade: D)
  • "Captivity has the compulsory quality of a straight-to-DVD movie—and considering the fast-fading torture-porn movement, that's no doubt the destiny of similar offerings to follow."
• Premiere: Captivity Review (1/4)
  • "This thoroughly irritating little film would be an excellent case study on the adage "Too many chefs spoil the broth, particularly if one or more of the chefs is a complete incompetent," if its awfulness were in any way noteworthy."
• The Boston Globe: Captivity Review
  • "A torturously unpleasant and pointless horror film."
• New York Post: Sitting Through Torture (1/4)
  • "IF you want to see the sexy blonde from "24" (Elisha Cuthbert) held captive in a dungeon by a psycho and subjected to various disgusting torments, then rush to see "Captivity." Alternately, seek psychiatric help."
• Los Angeles Times: Captivity Review
  • "The vile billboards heralded it, the controversy stoked it, and now it's loose in public: "Captivity," the latest in check-in-but-don't-check-out torture films. A spirit-sapping exercise in female degradation fantasy, it was directed by Roland Joffé, who has seen his career go from bewailing "The Killing Fields" of Cambodia to slobbering over the hell-maze of a hooded kidnapper/murderer."
• ReelViews: Captivity Review (0/4)
  • "There is no requirement that a feature leave a viewer feeling good about himself, the world, or anything else. Cinematic endeavors should not, however, send audiences home in search of a shower to skim away a slimy, degraded feel."
• The Austin Chronicel: Captivity Review
  • " I've always been a huge genre fan (Cannibal Holocaust and Punishment Park are still my ideal drive-in double-bill), but this is just soulless, hateful, and ultimately as freakishly monotonous as death by natural causes. "
• FilmCritic.com: Captivity Review (2/5)
  • "Ultimately, however, the film lacks any sense of fun or danger, two things that tend to inform the best of the horror genre, if not straight-up avant-gardism."