Critic Reviews

• Guy Lodge, Variety

  This effortfully quirky pic refuses to settle for mere ineptitude, adding casual misogyny and pronounced racism to its rap sheet.

• Trevor Johnston, Time Out

  Exasperation eventually morphs into unrelenting pain, and there's not a single, solitary laugh to be had.

• Neil Smith, Total Film

  Smart nods to Psycho, Kubrick and German expressionism suggest Mills has done his homework, which is perhaps to be expected from his lineage.

• Donald Clarke, Irish Times

  There is a watchable film hiding within this largely depressing, annoyingly repetitive audiovisual dirge.

• Shaun Munro, What Culture

  An embarrassing vehicle for its lead and the worst ad for Y-fronts in years.

• Alison Jones, Birmingham Mail

  Something of a curate's egg, the film seems to be a little bit of everything and not enough of anything...

• David Sexton, This is London

  There is a complete failure of tone in this film, from begining to end.

• Allan Hunter, Daily Express

  There's no shame for Pegg who throws himself into it with manic commitment.

• Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail [UK]

  At one point, the film-makers attempt to up the horror with a blatant rip-off of the Psycho shower scene. It serves only to emphasise Hitchcock's mastery.

• Xan Brooks, Guardian [UK]

  So spectacularly bungled that it leaves the viewer in a state of advanced petrification.

• Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph

  Simon Pegg is an incredibly likeable actor who seems determined to appear in as many unlikeable films as possible, but even taking into account recent debacles such as Burke and Hare, this represents an alarming new low.

• Jack Jones, Little White Lies

  A Fantastic Fear of Everything isn't nearly as psychedelic or as funny as it needs to be.

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  Strikingly designed and directed, this offbeat film feels like a one-man stage show as the entire story's told through an internal monolog.

• Tim Evans, Sky Movies

  Things only pick up in the final reel with Alan Drakes's 80s rock fan and community police officer given full rein to deliver the best jokes so far. But it's too late.

• Emma Dibdin, Digital Spy

  Mills must as least be credited with a vision that feels more or less entirely unique.

• Olly Richards, Empire Magazine

  It's always trying to do something unusual. It has a great lead in Pegg. What it doesn't have is an ending or a clear reason what it wants to be.

• James Mottram, The List

  While the wheels start spinning in the film's overly drawn-out launderette sequence, they pretty much come off by the final act, when the pacing sags like an old mattress.

Read all 17 critic reviews