movie review bird box

Last year, Netflix dropped the high-budget “ Bright ” just before the holidays and it turned out to be a pretty massive sci-fi hit for the company, even if critics hated it. So, apparently, futuristic action movies are now going to be what the company gives us for Christmas every year. How’s this year’s cinematic sci-fi stocking stuffer, “Bird Box”? It’s imperfect, but you probably won’t be returning it.

Undercooked metaphors about motherhood and a mishandled climax aside, there’s enough to like in Susanne Bier ’s “Bird Box,” premiering on Netflix after a limited theatrical release today. Most of its strength emerges from a well-directed ensemble, one able to convey the high concept of a nightmarish situation without losing their relatable humanity. Lazy critics and viewers will compare it to “ A Quiet Place ” (I’ve already seen it called “A Blind Place”), but this is a piece that actually draws more from “ Stephen King ’s The Mist,” another tale of the paranoia that invades a group of strangers when they’re dealing with both the unknown and the worry that they may never again see the outside world or fully understand what’s hiding in it. I’m a sucker for King-inspired things, and this one hits that chord well enough to be worth a look over your Christmas break. In particular, Sandra Bullock does typically solid work, buoyed by a great supporting cast that includes the should-be-a-star Trevante Rhodes , Jacki Weaver , Danielle Macdonald , Sarah Paulson , and John Malkovich .   

Based on Josh Malerman ’s novel, “Bird Box” intercuts between two time periods—about five years after the end of the world and in the first days when everything collapsed. It opens in the nightmarish present, but actually spends more time in flashbacks with Malorie (Bullock), an expectant mother unsure about whether or not she’ll form a connection with her baby. She expresses as much to her sister Jessica (Paulson) on the way to a meeting with her obstetrician, as the two discuss reports of mass suicides on the other side of the world. And then “whatever” is happening over there comes home as people start to hurl themselves out of windows and into oncoming traffic. These early scenes of absolute chaos are well-handled by Bier and honestly terrifying. She captures complete chaos on what appears to be a relatively limited budget, realizing the power of stark imagery—a woman bashing her head into a glass window or another calmly getting into the driver’s seat of a burning car—over the CGI overload we so often see in post-apocalyptic movies.

What is driving the mass suicides? Anyone who is outside “sees something,” although what they see is left marvelously undefined. Whatever it is causes their eyes to go all psychedelic and they take their own lives. (Well, most of them do. But that’s for later in the movie.) A small band of survivors takes shelter, including the irascible Douglas (Malkovich), also-pregnant Olympia (Macdonald), excitable Charlie ( LilRel Howery ), and inevitable love interest Tom (Rhodes). As they run of out of supplies and realize that they’re going to have to get to a store somehow, distrust grows. And no one can quite agree on whether or not they should ever answer the door.

The “survivors” material is intercut with the present-day material of Malorie and two children called only Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair) on a journey down a treacherous river. They wear blindfolds and are reminded constantly by Malorie that they better not take them off—no matter what they hear. The fact that we only see Malorie, and what anyone who’s seen a movie can presume are her and Olympia’s children, adds a sense of dread to the flashback material. Everyone else in the flashbacks is probably going to die.

And they do, but “Bird Box” is not your typical horror movie. It’s refreshingly devoid of big action sequences and CGI, relying more on the fear experienced by its characters than actual supernatural interactions. In a sense, it’s a reverse haunted house movie, one in which it’s not the one house that’s haunted but everything outside of it. How long could you survive with a group of strangers who are increasingly distrustful of each other as rations run short? Bier directs her cast expertly, allowing them nice little character beats that lesser directors would have ignored.

Most of the problems with “Bird Box” come back to a thin screenplay, one that too often gives its characters flat, expository dialogue and then writes itself into a corner with a climax that’s just silly when it needs to be tense. I haven’t read the book on which “Bird Box” is based, but it seems like the kind of thing that could work significantly better on the page, where our imaginations can run even more wild regarding what the characters are “seeing” and the scope of the mass suicides. Eric Heisserer’s script works better when it sticks to the basics, locking us in what could be the last safe place on Earth and allowing us to ask how we’d behave in such a nightmarish predicament. And it does that just enough to find beats that are honestly tense and terrifying. Happy holidays, everybody. 

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

• Trevante Rhodes as Tom
• Sandra Bullock as Malorie
• LilRel Howery as Charlie
• John Malkovich as Douglas
• Danielle Macdonald as Olympia
• Sarah Paulson as Shannon
• Atticus Ross
• Trent Reznor
• Eric Heisserer

Writer (novel)

• Josh Malerman

Cinematographer

• Salvatore Totino
• Susanne Bier

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Common Sense Media Review

Violent sci-fi thriller has chaos, gory deaths, swearing.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Bird Box is a violent, suspense-filled, often-gory end-of-the-world movie about a woman (Sandra Bullock) and two children who are trying to survive a presence that causes anyone who looks directly at it to commit suicide in gruesome ways. While the "presence" is never seen, its…

Why Age 16+?

Suspense and fear play throughout. Although monstrous creatures or beings are un

Profanity includes multiple instances and forms of: "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "

A naked couple is briefly seen having sex. The main character and her lover kiss

Some alcohol is consumed; one principal character drinks heavily, gets drunk.

Any Positive Content?

Heroine is loyal, courageous, compassionate, and perseveres; back story shows he

Demonstrates the power of parental commitment and bravery. In the face of monstr

Parents need to know that Bird Box is a violent, suspense-filled, often-gory end-of-the-world movie about a woman ( Sandra Bullock ) and two children who are trying to survive a presence that causes anyone who looks directly at it to commit suicide in gruesome ways. While the "presence" is never seen, its existence results in many gory, blood-soaked sequences. There are shootings, stabbings, hideous accidents, zombie-like humans in attack mode, fiery explosions, and more. Plus, the main characters are in dire peril as they undertake a long, harrowing ride down a river -- while blindfolded. You can also expect frequent swearing, including "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," and more. A nude couple is briefly glimpsed having sex, and a loving couple kisses and embraces. Characters drink, one very much to excess. Based on a novel by Josh Malerman, this thriller/horror film isn't for kids.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Violence & Scariness

Suspense and fear play throughout. Although monstrous creatures or beings are unseen, their presence (seen and heard only as raging wind) incites mayhem, pandemic suicide and deaths, gore, and destruction. Many deaths take place in close-up shots: (i.e., scissors to neck; car explosion, point-blank shooting). Bodies, some bloody, are strewn in multiple settings, from a variety of violent causes. Children are in danger from unseen monsters on a river with turbulent rapids, human predators.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Profanity includes multiple instances and forms of: "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "goddamn," "hell," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A naked couple is briefly seen having sex. The main character and her lover kiss, embrace, and begin to make love.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Role Models

Heroine is loyal, courageous, compassionate, and perseveres; back story shows her evolution as a formidable, loving parent. Ethnic diversity throughout.

Positive Messages

Demonstrates the power of parental commitment and bravery. In the face of monstrous evil, humanity has the potential to survive.

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents Say (55)
• Kids Say (144)

Based on 55 parent reviews

One Very Short Sex Scene around 35:00 mark

Interesting idea for horror, what's the story.

Painter Malorie ( Sandra Bullock ), mid-pregnancy and unsure about becoming a mother, is thrust into a global nightmare in BIRD BOX. A deadly force threatens the planet. Unseen but lethal -- anyone who looks in its direction is impelled to commit suicide by any means -- the evil presence is destroying the population. Chaos prevails. Blindfolds, as protection, take center stage. Finding interim refuge in a house inhabited by other desperate people, Malorie gives birth. Her housemates include: Douglas ( John Malkovich , an alcoholic prophet of doom; Cheryl ( Jackie Weaver ), a resilient senior; an unsophisticated Olympia ( Danielle Macdonald ); and Tom (Trevante Rhodes), who may be the one person Malorie can count on. Director Susanne Bier intercuts the cataclysmic events to which one after another of the principals fall victim, with scenes five years in the future when Malorie and two children, Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair) race down a river in a final, valiant attempt to survive.

Is It Any Good?

Sandra Bullock, sympathetic and a force of nature here, in combination with other solid performances, terrific direction, and abundant blindfolds, makes a conventional tale suspenseful and effective. Though the filmmakers have attempted to provide some degree of optimism by the end of Bird Box , the five years during which nothing has been able to stem the onslaught of the terror isn't very reassuring. Suspension of disbelief is a necessity, as is not looking too closely at some of the plot elements; however, the unceasing tension and rooting interest for the heroic folks makes it a thrilling ride -- only for mature teens and grown-ups.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Bird Box. The actual monster/creature/presence is never seen in this movie. How did the filmmakers let you know it was near? Why was it as scary, or even scarier, than seeing a visual image? What is the impact of media violence on kids ?

How does Bird Box illustrate such character strengths as courage , perseverance , teamwork ?

What's the difference between an "end-of-the-world" movie and a "dystopian" movie? Why do you think both genres appeal to audiences, especially teens? What are your favorites?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 13, 2018
• On DVD or streaming : December 21, 2018
• Cast : Sandra Bullock , Trevante Rhodes , John Malkovich
• Director : Susanne Bier
• Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Adventures , Brothers and Sisters , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Character Strengths : Courage
• Run time : 124 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence, bloody images, language, and brief sexuality
• Last updated : February 18, 2023

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Bird Box Reviews

It seems more occupied with delivering short term anxieties via separate sequences, like driving a car blind or two births occurring side by side, than refining the overall product to leave a lasting impact.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 14, 2024

Bullock is the one that really shines here, she does an outstanding job and her performance made me realize how much I miss seeing her on-screen. She has a certain kind of charisma and presence...

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 9, 2024

Bird Box toes the line. It holds your attention. It lets your imagination run wild, and sparks a ticker of running questions while you're engrossed with what's happening on screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 10, 2023

There's a lot to like about Bier's direction, though some of screenwriter Heisserer's adaptation choices don't always work. Thankfully Bullock and the mass death sequence are great, even if the film essentially has to do a soft reboot afterwards.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 14, 2023

“Bird Box” runs the gambit from riveting to predictable to kinda silly. At the same time it’s never boring and the performances are always worth watching.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 19, 2022

...it's perennial Every-gal Bullock who ultimately is the VIP...

Full Review | Oct 26, 2021

To survive, they live in a world without sight of the outside world. That premise inevitably invites comparison to A Quiet Place. In Bird Box, the concept does not work nearly as well.

I love Susanne Bier's movies for their conscious humanity, and that's the quality that separates this from many similar movies about the end of the world and the collapse of civilization.

...the denouement of Bird Box has a particularly intriguing twist.

The taut pacing and overall tension keep you invested.

Susanne Bier is a filmmaker with an innate ability to mine the painful truths of the human experience.

Silly un-scary mash-up of ten things better things before it

Full Review | Jul 2, 2021

More than anything, this is a display of what movie stars can do. Bullock's time bomb performance, always tamping down the scream she clearly wants to let out, is riveting. The film she gifts it to is not much to see.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 29, 2021

I'm not gonna lie this film actually left me in tears, it was beautiful, it was strong, and it was direct and that ending. Wow.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 18, 2020

The acting really sells the premise, chiefly from Bullock, imparting a striking sincerity that prevents the sci-fi/horror elements from being frivolous.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 5, 2020

With an extremely interesting premise, Bird Box becomes a meaningless film filled with disappointing moments. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Aug 30, 2020

...Bird Box does give visual and dramatic life to a fairly widespread conviction at present in certain upper middle class circles, in Hollywood and elsewhere...

Full Review | Aug 5, 2020

While it's no 4-star instant classic like "A Quiet Place," which did it first and did it better, far be it from me to nitpick a viral hit.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 24, 2020

Bird Box is as horrific as it is captivating...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 17, 2020

Should have been called "Bird-brained."

Full Review | Sep 12, 2019

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‘Bird Box’ Review: The End of the World Is Riveting. Sometimes.

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By Aisha Harris

• Dec. 13, 2018

The enigmatic title may be “Bird Box,” but in the first flashback of this occasionally riveting sci-fi thriller, the banter between the sisters Malorie (Sandra Bullock) and Jessica (Sarah Paulson) keeps returning to horses. Jessica, a breeder, chats enthusiastically about her stud as she drops by to visit Malorie, a pregnant recluse who spends her days painting in her studio. During Malorie’s checkup at the hospital, Jessica even imagines how great it would be if she herself existed in equine form.

There’s probably a would-be metaphor waiting to reveal itself in these scenes — maybe it is the screenwriter Eric Heisserer’s way of clearly contrasting Jessica as the free-spirited sibling and Malorie as the cynical one who harbors zero desire to become a mother. (Malorie grumpily describes her own pregnancy as having a “condition.”) But like much of the characterization found in this movie from the Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier ( “After the Wedding” ), the horse-related theme is severely undercooked.

“Bird Box,” an adaptation of Josh Malerman’s novel, jumps between two timelines under the premise “What if M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Happening,’ in which people mysteriously begin killing themselves, had blindfolds?” The opening scene is the present, with Malorie brusquely instructing two children, Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair), about the treacherous journey on which they are about to embark down a river in a canoe. Once outside, they must never take off their blindfolds, or They. Will. Die.

Bullock, accustomed to playing no-nonsense characters on life-threatening missions, effectively conveys the sense of urgency.

The second timeline unfolds five years earlier, with the sudden arrival of a mysterious entity taking the form of the worst fears of any person who locks eyes with it, leading the victim to commit suicide. Leaving the hospital, Malorie finds mass hysteria — car crashes, fires and explosions in the streets — and seeks refuge with other strangers in a house on the corner.

The house is a hodgepodge of types: John Malkovich is Douglas, the crotchety neighbor whose only priority is himself; Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out”) is Charlie, a supermarket employee who just so happens to be writing a novel about the end of humanity; and Tom, Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight”) is the strapping, sensitive war vet who connects with Malorie. Danielle Macdonald plays Olympia, a woman who, like Malorie, is pregnant, but extremely happy about it. Jacki Weaver and BD Wong are here, too, though they have even less to do, with barely any back story or distinguishing traits.

As the survivors hole up in the house, the usual end-of-the-world conflicts arise: Do they let in others suddenly banging on the door for help? Can anyone be trusted?

Is surviving actually living ? (Non-spoiler: Nope.)

Some saving graces: the disturbing set piece in which the creature first descends upon the city and, later, a genuinely unnerving scene in which Malorie leaves Boy and Girl behind in the canoe so she can replenish supplies.

Yet too often “Bird Box” walks right up to the edge of pure suspense and disappoints — the need for characters to be blindfolded or otherwise limited in sight presents the perfect opportunity to put audiences in their shoes and really dig into the threat of the unknown, à la “The Blair Witch Project.” Instead, those moments are chopped up anxiously, the camera frequently cutting wide to reveal what the characters are up against.

By the final act, there are birds instead of horses, and Malorie’s purpose as an individual is explicitly realized in the most obvious of ways. The squelching of promise is not my worst (cinematic) fear, per se. But it’s still disappointing.

An earlier version of this review misstated a character’s role in the movie. The character Douglas is a neighbor, not the owner of the home in which some of the characters hide.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [email protected] . Learn more

Bird Box Rated R for extremely graphic depictions of suicide. Running time: 2 hours 4 minutes.

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Summary A woman and a pair of children are blindfolded and make their way through a dystopian setting along a river.

Directed By : Susanne Bier

Written By : Eric Heisserer, Josh Malerman

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Bird Box Review: A Story About Post-Apocalyptic Parenthood

Sandra Bullock gives a powerhouse performance in Netflix's deftly directed film about pregnancy and parenthood at the end of the world.

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While this era of #PeakContent may be overwhelming, it’s also an incredible gift. It brings us movies like Netflix’s Bird Box , an adaptation of the 2014 novel by Josh Malerman which in turn provides Danish director Susanne Bier ( The Night Manager ) and lead actor Sandra Bullock a chance to tell a different kind of genre survival story than we’re used to seeing in the mainstream. A cross between Room and A Quiet Place , Bird Box  follows mother Malorie (Bullock) as she works to keep her children alive in a world in which the human population has been decimated by an unseen supernatural force that preys on sight, sending those who see it into an urgently suicidal state.

Adapted for the screen by Eric Heisserer ( Lights Out, Arrival ),   Bird Box is both a tale of apocalypse  and  a post-apocalyptic drama. Its frame tale follows Malorie and her two children, named Girl and Boy, in the post-apocalypse as they attempt to make the dangerous 20-mile trek down a river to a sanctuary promised by a voiceover in a walkie-talkie. Oh yeah, and they have to do it blindfolded.

The other half of the story is told in flashbacks, mainly to five years prior when the apocalypse first began. We meet Sacramento-based modern artist Malorie, unenthusiastically pregnant with only her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson) for support. Malorie’s struggles to accept the reality of this intimately life-changing event are thrown on the backburner when viral mass suicide strikes, throwing the world into collective chaos.

The depiction of the end-of-world event is particularly well done. Unrelenting and disturbing in its emotional impact, it reaches a horrific crescendo that balances the desolate desperation of the frame tale’s dystopia. The viewer iis never shown the horrors that those affected are wintessing. Instead we see only the horrific results as people behold their loved ones single-mindedly killing themselves. People can’t turn away… but they must if they have any hope at survival. 

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further reading: Interview with Bird Box Director Susanne Bier

The flashback narrative soon settles into a character-driven horror as Malorie becomes part of a group of survivors barricaded inside one Sacramento home. This is where most of Bird Box ‘s strong supporting cast comes into play, with John Malkovich, Rosa Salazar, Danielle MacDonald, Lil Rel Howery, BD Wong, Jacki Weaver, Tom Hollander, and Taylor Handley all playing morally complex and unpredictable variables thrown into this end-of-the-world social scenario. Through this mini, end-of-the world morality play, the audience is left to imagine where they might fall on the scale of self-serving to community-oriented when faced with the end of the world.

Bird Box also ets a lot of steam from a subversion of how we generally imagine survivors in our mainstream stories. Pregnant, middle-aged artist Malorie is far from the burly, muscled men or even young, stoic teen girls we usually see making it through the apocalypse or dystopia. Traditionally  when pregnant women show up on screen , especially in stories like this one, they are solely a plot device and/or a symbol of the future we are trying to preserve. They are characters to be protected or saved. Not only do pregnant women rarely get to do the saving, they often don’t even get to have a fully-developed perspective on the end of the world. A classic example of this is in Children of Men , in which  young, black mother Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) is sidelined to tell a story about motherhood, fertility, and immigration from white male martyr Theo’s (Clive Owens) point-of-view.

further reading: Bird Box Creatures Explained

Refreshingly, Bird Box  gives a much more complex depiction of pregnancy and motherhood. Malorie is one of two pregnant characters in the film (the other played by rising star Danielle MacDonald, recently seen in Netflix’s  Dumplin’ ), and the two distinct characters have very different relationships to the concept of motherhood and pregnancy. Past that, the way other characters respond to Malorie as a pregnant woman is not divorced from the additional, protective consideration pregnant women (especially white, well-groomed pregnant women) often get in our society, but, because Malorie is the protagonist, she isn’t defined by that consideration. She is more than a symbol of the future we are trying to preserve.  In one of the film’s best moments, Malorie picks up a shotgun and aims it at the first new stranger who asks to come into the relative safety of the house, surprising both us and her fellow houseguests. It is also foreshadowing the kind of survivor and mother Malorie will become.

Bird Box is less articulate in its exploration of post-apocalyptic motherhood. With fewer scene partners in this desolate dystopia, and most of them five-year-olds, we get less of a sense of who Malorie is as a mother and person past broad strokes. Malorie is a Sarah Connor-type, choosing survival over tenderness, determining those qualities as mutually exclusive in a way that these types of stories so often tend to. In this way,  Bird Box falls into a trope-y trend of feminist storytelling that conflates qualities characterized as traditionally masculine, such as emotional stoicism and aggressiveness, with strength. Still, it is somewhat refreshing to see Bullock’s Malorie characterize those qualities, while Trevante Rhodes’ Tom prioritizes empathy, gentleness, and caring. We get flashes of Tom challenging Malorie’s assumptions about strength and survival, but the movie never fully commits to this interrogation.

Bird Box  does lose momentum in the third act after the flashbacks move much closer to our protagonist’s present, and we’re stuck solely in the post-apocalyptic world. The tension between apocalypse and post-apocalypse, between “then” and “now,” between civilization as we know it and something else, is lost. The film wraps up a little too quickly, giving the viewer little time to dwell on what Malorie has or hasn’t learned about survival, love, and community. Though Malorie’s character is less fleshed out in the post-apocalyptic frame tale, Bullock fills in many of the character gaps from the script with her dynamic performance. Bier’s direction is excellent throughout, just as confident depicting apocalyptic chaos in the overrun streets of Sacramento as she is communicating the lonely desperation of Malorie floating blind-folded down a river with two small children in tow–never forgetting the emotional factors in either situation.

further reading: Bird Box Ending Explained

Bird Box is a story about the anxieties and responsibilities of parenting in a world that may be falling apart, and in a time when the future seems less certain than ever. It’s all wrapped up in a taut, post-apocalyptic package, a deftly-done genre first for Susanne Bier. This movie is a symbol of what Hollywood looks like now that women like Sandra Bullock are finally able to use the star power and industry know-how they’ve built up over decades to make new kinds of stories.

Bird Box releases on Netflix on Friday, Dec. 21.

Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek . Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt .

Kayti Burt | @kaytiburt

Kayti is a pop culture writer, editor, and full-time nerd who comes from a working class background. A member of the Television Critics Association, she specializes…

‘Bird Box’ Review: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Remember A Quiet Place, which created a post-apocalyptic world in which aliens would pop out and kill you if you made a single sound? Bird Box is pretty much the same story, except it’s looking at the creatures from another planet that will end your days on earth. Lay your eyes on one of these extraterrestrials, and you immediately want to kill yourself — throwing yourself in front of a car, or bus, or whatever is handy. You can see how this strong premise would work for a while … until, well, it doesn’t.

Based on the bestseller by Josh Malerman, this adaptation teases us with monsters we never actually witness. Not because we’d all commit suicide if we did; more likely it’s because we wouldn’t be that scared. That’s the trap director Susanne Bier finds herself in. Working from script by Eric Heisserer ( Arrival ), the Danish 
Oscar winner for In a Better World needs to rely on the group dynamic among survivors to generate suspense. At that, she’s only partly successful.

It helps a lot that the resourceful Sandra Bullock — a genuine movie star who actually knows how to act — can command the screen. We meet her character, Malorie, first in extreme closeup, reading the riot act to two five-year-olds (Julian Edwards and Vivien Lyra Blair) about keeping their eyes wide shut. From there, we flash backwards to see how the world got itself in this fix. That’s when the reluctantly pregnant heroine, along with eight other survivors (don’t ask what happened to her sister played by Sarah Paulson), runs for cover into a house owned by a suspicious, loathsome creep named Douglas (played by John Malkovich as if to the manner born). A blindfolded car trip to the grocery story for supplies supplies the film with its best blast of nerve-frying tension. Malorie bonds with Olympia (Danielle Macdonald, of Patti Cake$ ), who is also pregnant, She learns to trust Tom, an Iraq war veteran played by Moonlight ‘s Trevante Rhodes. The two develop a romantic attraction, which seems unlikely given the life-or-death circumstances.

But, hell, this is Hollywood and audiences may go with the flow when Netflix debuts Bird Box in theaters this week ahead of its release on the streaming service. The less said the better about plot developments, which use every twist they can get (the end is a doozy). The haunting, hypnotic, palm-sweating score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross promises way more than the film delivers. By the way, the birds in the box are meant to set off alarms when the monsters approach. They see way more than we do, which is part of the problem. Why should birds have all the fun?

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‘bird box’: film review | afi 2018.

Back in the spring, in A Quiet Place, the characters had to keep their mouths shut because the monsters had super-acute hearing. Now, seven months later, everyone has to wear blindfolds if they’re outside or else what they see will induce them to immediately commit suicide. Throw in a touch of George Romero and you have Bird […]

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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Back in the spring, in A Quiet Place, the characters had to keep their mouths shut because the monsters had super-acute hearing. Now, seven months later, everyone has to wear blindfolds if they’re outside or else what they see will induce them to immediately commit suicide. Throw in a touch of George Romero and you have Bird Box , a “class” horror film by virtue of star Sandra Bullock and art house director Susanne Bier but one that diminishes in joltage as the number of castmembers contracts. Premiered at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles, this is a wannabe shocker with a clever premise that doesn’t really get down and dirty or betray the base instincts of a born horror filmmaker.

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Netflix will offer this up as one of its holiday gifts Dec. 21.

The Bottom Line Not all it might have been.

Bier, whose 2010 Danish thriller In A Better World won the Oscar for best foreign language film, serves up an entirely dire world here, one in which people who are normal one minute go bonkers and kill themselves the next. No one knows what’s going on or why this is happening, but an early line of dialogue sums it up, even if it wouldn’t serve as the ideal advertising tagline: “If you look, you will die.”

In the resulting chaos, close to a dozen people wind up cloistered in a private home, hiding away and intent upon letting no more strangers inside. In the short time that they retain TV service, they learn that what’s happening locally is also occurring globally, so they’re trapped and must brace for an onslaught of zombies or whatever they are, just like the characters in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

One big difference, however, is that the mass attack on humanity is intercut with scenes of Bullock’s Malorie, some time in the future, guiding a small metal boat blindfolded, no less, down a wild river in the company of two little kids, who are similarly sight-deprived. Malorie’s level of sightless boating expertise may, in fact, be unprecedented, and certainly becomes so when they hit the rapids much later on. In any event, this signals that only these three will survive the pressure cooker of the house in which most of the action takes place.

The home in question is that of Douglas (John Malkovich), a hardliner who resents the intrusion of strangers, no good Samaritan he. All the same, the guests he tolerates for well over an hour of screen time represents a notably diverse group. Bullock’s Malorie is a loner and a painter whose sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson) may also be her closest friend. It won’t be too long before Malorie gives birth to her first child, and the same goes for the frightened Olympia (Danielle Macdonald, the star of Patti Cake$ ). Among the others seeking shelter are Tom (Trevante Rhodes), a young Iraq War vet who takes an interest in Malorie no matter her condition; Charlie (Lil Rel Howery), a most amiable young sci-fi writer; and Greg (BD Wong), very likely the sharpest person in the room.

When a number of the survivors safely make it to a local supermarket and have their way with what’s on the shelves, Douglas seriously proposes just staying there, as they’ll then have plenty to eat for a very long time. But even that is only a relative advantage, as food (and, more to Douglas’ needs, booze) will run out at some point and they’ll be prisoners in the house in the meantime.

The film does succeed in building a feeling of oppressive claustrophobia and a last-stand mentality; the idea that you will become contaminated and very shortly thereafter bring upon your own death merely by casting your gaze upon the world is a creepy one, to be sure. At a couple of points, however, evident exceptions to the rule pop up, grungy individuals who have somehow escaped automatic death in ways that remain unclear. The fate of the entire world similarly remains uncertain, although there is an echo of Fahrenheit 451 to the conclusion.

As has long been her wont, Bullock again portrays a strong woman who will not be denied, one who will move heaven and Earth and do whatever it takes to survive an arduous task demanding great endurance. It’s probably not coincidental that the screenwriter, Eric Heisserer, working from Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel, had previously written the female-centric sci-fi yarn  Arrival, which similarly held back information other writers might have felt compelled to provide.

Ultimately, no matter how high-minded a view of the material Heisserer and Bier may have held, this is deep-dish popular material that feels shortchanged in terms of suspense, scares and thrills. For her part, Bullock seems to have placed a foot in each camp, as she has done on occasion in the past, but she’s rather underserved by a writer and director perhaps uncertain about how to maximize the piece’s genre potential while simultaneously keeping it smart.

Salvatore Totino’s sharp cinematography represents a solid plus, but most helpful of all is the atypical, ominous and vastly mood-enhancing score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Venue: AFI Film Festival

Opens: Dec. 21 (Netflix)

Production: Bluegrass Films, Dylan Clark Productions, Chris Morgan Productions

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Jackie Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Hollander, Colson Baker, BD Wong, Pruitt Taylor Vince

Director: Susanne Bier

Screenwriter: Eric Heisserer, based on the novel by Josh Malerman

Producers: Dylan Clark, Chris Morgan, Clayton Townsend

Executive producers: Sandra Bullock, Susanne Bier, Ainsley Davies, Alexa Faigen, Ryan Lewis, Eric Heisserer

Director of photography: Salvatore Totino

Production designer: Jan Roelfs

Costume designer :Signe Sejlund

Editor: Ben Lester

Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Casting: Mary Vernieu, Michelle Wade Byrd, Jina Jay

122 minutes

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• movie review

Movie Review: ‘Bird Box’

Netflix brings the star power to the streaming side of movies with ‘Bird Box,’ featuring Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Sandra Bullock in a strong performance in the lead role of the film.  Add in Academy Award nominee John Malkovich and a harrowing tale based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman, and we’ve seemingly got a recipe for a “home run” type of film.  Or do we?  Similar to the

The story opens on Bullock’s character, Malorie: she’s giving firm instructions to two young children about the obstacles they are about to face in a downriver boat ride, about obeying her every command, and about leaving their blindfolds on, no matter what happens.  Flashback to “five years earlier,” and Malorie is traveling to a prenatal doctor’s appointment with her sister, who has alerted Malorie to the news stories about mass suicides in Europe and Asia – people who seemingly fall under some sort of spell and hurt themselves to the point of their own death.  As the duo leave the scheduled appointment at the hospital, it becomes clear that the self-harm issue has made its way to the US, as the city around them erupts into chaos.

Malorie manages to get to get holed up in a large house with a handful of other survivors, and much of the remainder of the “flashback” sequence is spent showing their struggle for survival and attempting to come to terms with what’s going on around them.  The “working theory” that evolves is that there are some type of creatures on the loose outside – they can’t come inside, but if you look at them or see them outside, you are instantly driven insane, culminating in suicide.  A small group of people seem to have “immunity” to this, but their symptoms instead focus on getting all other humans to look outside and “see the beauty.”

Interspersed through all of this are moments of Malorie’s journey down the river with the two children, and eventually the two timelines sync up as the film nears its conclusion. It’s not a major spoiler to tell you that this is  not a film that provides all the answers to the questions it poses in neat, easy-to-understand ways.  It’s a very open-ended conclusion, so be forewarned, as this type of cinematic climax does not please all the people all the time.

Visually, the film is presented in a fairly minimal presentation, but due to the type of tale we have here, it works very effectively.  The death/suicide scenes are just gruesome enough to drive the horrific point home.  Unlike the creatures in, say, ‘ A Quiet Place ‘ (a film that ‘Bird Box’ has much been compared to recently, and rather unfairly at that), the menace of ‘Bird Box’ is always present but is only seen in fleeting glimpses and mostly-off-camera moments.

The acting is stellar, with not only the inclusion of Bullock and Malkovich but also from a supporting cast that features such recognizable names and faces as Sara Paulson, Lil Rel Howery, BD Wong, and more.  Bullock leads the way as a very believable young woman who finds herself pregnant when she doesn’t necessarily want to be.  Much of the journey of the film is hers to take emotionally, as she tries to come to grips with not only the seeming end of the world, but also with her ability or lack thereof to become a caring mother figure.

This, unfortunately, is also where the movie takes several missteps.  The focus is put so squarely on Malorie that all other characters aren’t given enough screen time to make the viewer care about them, and they ultimately are nothing more than empty shells of “story filler.”  The biggest issue comes at the expense of the primary interpersonal revelation of the film: Bullock’s Malorie is traveling a path so forcefully to become a good mother figure, that it almost feels like it necessitated the end-of-the-world scenario just to get here there.  Are 6 billion-ish lives the price to pay for one pregnant woman to finally get to feel motherly?

When it’s all said and done, you’ll probably see what I see: a phenomenal cast, a great premise, but poor execution and questionable focus on what’s truly important in the plot all combine to end up making ‘Bird Box’ feel like a decidedly average film.

• Sandra Bullock

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor

Tony Schaab is a freelance pop-culture writer in addition to being an award-winning author and best-selling review critic, with his book series “The G.O.R.E. Score: A Review Guide to All Things Zombie” being an 8-time #1 best-seller (Amazon Kindle, Pop Culture chart, 2012-2019). Working as a DJ and Master of Ceremonies since 1999, he has performed MC/DJ work for the NFL, MTV, NBA, Wizard World Comic Con, PGA, IndyCar, and countless private events. Tony lives in Indianapolis with his 14-year-old daughter, 6-year-old son, and rambunctious rescue dog. Learn more about Tony at TonySchaab.com and chat him up on Instagram or Facebook @TonySchaab.