Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Apt Pupil

EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Entertainment / Tristar Pictures

Apt Pupil reviews
51
7.6 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Brandon Boyce
Stephen King (novel)

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 23, 1998
DVD: April 13, 1999

Running Time: 111 minutes, Color

Origin: USA / Canada / France

Summary

RATING: R for scenes of strong violence, language and brief sexuality

Starring Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Bruce Davison, Elias Koteas, David Schwimmer, Joshua Jackson, Mickey Cottrell, and Michael Reid MacKay

A dark drama about a sixteen-year-old honor student who recognizes an old man living in his hometown as a hunted Nazi. Compelled to reveal the secrets of his death camp past to earn the boy's silence, the German fugitive derives a sinister scheme to implicate the teenager in a dangerous psychological game. (Sony)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

This brutal film borders on the brilliant. Beautifully structured and edited, with a chilling central performance by Ian McKellen and an exceptional score by John Ottman, who also edited the picture, it churns up emotions and leaves the viewer feeling stunned and depleted.

Read Full Review >
80

Empire Kim Newman

Not all the plot developments ring true, but moments carry a real chill - even in a coma, McKellen can terrify a fellow patient almost to death - and it has more than enough thought-provoking material to command your interest.

Read Full Review >
75

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's scariest as a parable about the evil that exists in the hearts of adolescent boys.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Brought off with such skill and commitment that there isn't any time to snicker at its obviousness.

Read Full Review >
70

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Both actors play their roles so trickily that tensions escalate until the horror grows unimaginatively gothic.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Largely free of generic horror-movie elements, such as exploitative torture and murder scenes. Those it does contain draw attention to the difference between the conventions of psychological drama and those of pulp horror.

Read Full Review >
67

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's not perfect King, but it is jarringly close, which these days remains pretty much all one could hope for.

Read Full Review >
60

Los Angeles Times Jack Mathews

Despite the riveting performances of Renfro and McKellen, we're left with classic horror-movie sociopaths, evil-doers without conscience, or much to say about the nature of evil.

Read Full Review >
60

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Do director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Brandon Boyce really mean to suggest that the roots of genocide lie in homosexual desire?

Read Full Review >
60

Variety Todd McCarthy

A creepy, well-acted story of contagious evil, Apt Pupil has more than enough chilling dramatic scenes to rivet the attention but suffers from some hokey contrivances and underlying insufficiencies of motivation.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

No matter how you judge it -- as a strict morality play or simply a psychological thriller -- Apt Pupil just doesn't make the grade.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

When bodies are buried in cellars and cats are thrown into lighted ovens, the film reveals itself as unworthy of its subject matter.

Read Full Review >
50

Newsweek David Ansen

In the end, artifice overwhelms art. Apt Pupil is too serious to work as a genre movie, and too contrived to be taken seriously. [12 October 1998]

50

Film Threat Merle Bertrand

A creepy, if disjointed exploration of the nature of evil. But compared to its predecessor, it's also a bit of a disappointment.

Read Full Review >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about Apt Pupil is the lack of sustained tension generated by director Bryan Singer.

Read Full Review >
50

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Scares, to be sure, which is certainly one promise on which it delivers. But the film offers little insight into what it seems to be saying is essentially a mundane fact of life: When one devil leaves the world, there is always another one waiting just outside the door.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This sensationalistic tale doesn't delve very far into the issues it raises.

Read Full Review >
40

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Ultimately the movie disintegrates due to its own clumsiness. It's far too coincidence-driven to be believable.

Read Full Review >
30

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Heartless piece of ill will.

Read Full Review >
30

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

McKellen is fine, of course, but the film as a whole offers about as much insight into evil as Ming The Merciless in a “Flash Gordon” serial.

Read Full Review >
30

The New Yorker David Denby

Overwrought and unpleasant nonsense.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Margret H. gave it a5:
Worst novella turned book ever.

R Dalvi gave it an8:
Under-appreciated gem by Singer. McKellen is very nice and Renfro is surprisingly good. Very taut and brilliantly done thriller.

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use