El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel)

El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) (1962)

  • 95% of critics liked it
    (20 reviews)

  • 93% of users liked it
    (6,623 ratings)

The great screen surrealist Luis Buñuel co-wrote and directed this dark, bitterly witty satire. A group of people in formal dress arrives at an elegantly appointed home for a dinner party. However, once dinner is over and the guests retire to the drawing room, they discover that the servants have… More

In Theaters
Aug 21, 1967 Wide
Altura Films International

Critic Reviews

  • Bosley Crowther, New York Times

    My feeling is that his canvas is too narrow and his social comment too plain to keep our interest fixed upon his people and their barren stewing for an hour and a half.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    A macabre comedy, a mordant view of human nature that suggests we harbor savage instincts and unspeakable secrets.

  • Dan Jardine, Cinemania

    The comedy is as black as an 8 Ball.

  • Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

    A wickedly designed, satirical and quite possibly dangerous work.

  • Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis

    Absurdity is relative; it requires a reality (or something less absurd) to be contrasted with.

Read all 14 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Matthew S


    This movie criticizes the strangeness of etiquette with a hyperbolic tale of social rules gone wrong. No one can convince themselves to leave, apparently because no one else has left. Its not as though these rules of propriety have turned us into sheep, its that we were sheep to begin… More

  • familiar s


    A weird satirical piece of work that's thoroughly watchable & fairly enjoyable. Surrealistic movies are generally not my cup of tea, but thankfully, there's more to it here than merely surrealism.

  • Robert C


    I have to say that this is probably not eveyones "cup of tea"...but I really enjoyed it. Sure the basic premise has been done before to varying degrees...but you haven't seen this particular "morality tale" until you've seen it told as only Luis Bunuel… More

  • Stella D


    surrealist screwball comedy/horror. probably only buñuel could pull this off. it's complete nonsense but functions perfectly according to it's own absurd logic.

  • Pierluigi P


    Buñuel's disgust for the upper classes was never more evident than here. Surreal, intriguing, claustrophobic, and riveting film about the most primitive human behaviors. A must see.

Read all 12 featured audience ratings

Currently unavailable on Flixster

Also available on

Other Retailers

Not Available
Not Available
Not Available

Subscription Services

Not Available
Not Available
Not Available

Cast

See more (18)