8 Movies Critics Love That Regular People Just Shrugged At. Pick a Side, I Already Did.

Critics clapped. Audiences checked their phones. Eight movies with a huge gap, and movie guru picks a side every time. Mostly the critics' side. Sorry.

Number one got a D+ CinemaScore and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fight me.

1. 8
   Drag Me to Hell (2009)6.5

   Critics win. Raimi having this much fun is the point.

   92% on Rotten Tomatoes, B minus from opening crowds. Sam Raimi built a cackling funhouse and people graded it like homework. It still made $90.8 million worldwide.
2. 7
   Noah (2014)4.4

   Audiences win this one. Rock giants were a choice.

   75% on Rotten Tomatoes, a C CinemaScore, and a reported $125 to 160 million budget. It grossed $359.2 million worldwide, so people came. They just left confused.
3. 6
   Longlegs (2024)5.9

   Audiences win. The trailer was scarier than the movie.

   85% with critics, C+ CinemaScore. Nicolas Cage goes full weird and Maika Monroe holds it together, but the back half deflates. Still, $128 million worldwide on a reported $10M.
4. 5
   Annihilation (2018)6.4

   Critics win, and it isn't close.

   88% on Rotten Tomatoes, C CinemaScore, only $43.1 million worldwide on a reported $40 to 55 million budget. Audiences shrugged at the boldest sci-fi of 2018. Their loss, honestly.
5. 4
   Barbarian (2022)6.6

   Critics win. I am never booking a rental again.

   92% on Rotten Tomatoes, C+ from audiences. Zach Cregger made it for a reported $4 to 4.5 million, pulled $46.2 million worldwide, and swerved hard. People hate a swerve.
6. 3
   The Witch (2015)6.5

   Critics win. Slow is the point, not the problem.

   91% on Rotten Tomatoes, a C minus CinemaScore. People wanted jump scares and got old English farm dread plus a young Anya Taylor-Joy. $40.9 million worldwide on a reported $4M.
7. 2
   The Blair Witch Project (1999)6.1

   Critics win on history. Audiences win on rewatching it.

   86% with critics, C+ CinemaScore. A reported $60K budget turned into $248.6 million worldwide. It basically invented a genre. It's also three people yelling about a map.
8. 1
   Hereditary (2018)7.3

   Critics win. That D+ is the most wrong grade ever.

   90% on Rotten Tomatoes, 87 on Metacritic, D+ CinemaScore. Toni Collette gives a career performance while opening crowds wanted a haunted house ride. $90.4 million worldwide on a reported $10M.

$726 says someone in the comments admits they hated Hereditary, then watched it twice.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it