The Road
Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
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  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    May 10, 2012
    90
    The dead are unquiet and the living are terrified in The Road, a powerfully atmospheric blend of ghostly encounters, horrific situations and missing-persons mysteries from the Philippine director Yam Laranas.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    May 11, 2012
    75
    Director/co-writer/cinematographer, Yam Laranas, still delivers a maximum of suspense and horror, working wonders with a small budget.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    May 9, 2012
    75
    Moving fluidly between gory sight gags and implied, insinuating terror, The Road is a movie made to be seen after midnight, preferably in a mildly dilapidated theater with a full house.
  4. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    May 12, 2012
    70
    Laranas does cultivate a mood of distinctive menace and mystery, not to mention a convoluted and ambitious chronology.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    May 10, 2012
    70
    The film's three-pronged narrative does a fair job of laying a spooky groundwork for the revelatory emotional sadism that lies behind most acts of evil; it just takes a bit of clunky exposition to get there.
  6. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    May 10, 2012
    70
    Yam Laranas doesn't leave it at that. In his low-budget, creepy thriller, he spells out why and how this particular path is so deadly, as well as what led to the crimes and supernatural horror that seem to frequent the place.
  7. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Mark Holcomb
    May 8, 2012
    70
    Call it a haircut of "Psycho" with ectoplasmic additives, The Road still has a whispering menace and visual grandeur all its own.
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: Rob Nelson
    May 10, 2012
    60
    This low-budget shocker eventually pays off, displaying just enough narrative ingenuity to compensate for a cinematically crude and logistically sketchy deployment of the requisite blood-and-guts mayhem.
  9. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Ed Gonzalez
    May 7, 2012
    50
    For a spell, the film gets by on its unpretentious flair for atmosphere, even its disconcerting nonsensicality.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. ryinca
    5
    I'm not sure I understand what all the hype is around this movie. It was mildly entertaining, but if there is anyone that was truly surprised by the ending, I'd have your head checked. My wife and I figured it out by the end of Part II and honestly didn't find the scare tactics all that original. Check it out if you want, but don't go expecting the next Cabin in the Woods or Hostel.… Full Review »
  2. MegWhiteley
    9
    The Year of the horror films, The Innkeepers, The Cabin in the Woods, and The Woman in Black and now the Road, other classic of the horror movies. The trama is really interesting, the development is great, this movie is incredible.… Full Review »
  3. ILHM
    8
    Filipino director Yam Laranas mixes atmospheric terror with outright shocks in his latest feature, THE ROAD. An unsolved missing persons case is re-opened when three teens disappear off of the same fateful road twelve years later. What the police will discover is more horrifying than anyone could have imagined, with a string of deaths spanning over two decades! Once Laranas has established his dark, oppressive mood, he never lets up, and follows through with a steady stream of haunting images that will chill you to the bone. The story unfolds in three seemingly unrelated stories, which have been carefully tied together in the end to reveal the sinister secret behind each of the mysterious deaths. Laranas takes a timely approach in introducing each new set of characters, allowing his talented cast to bond with the audience before they meet their inevitable demise. The end result is a well-told ghost story that easily stacks up against its Japanese equivalents JU-ON and RINGU in the terror department.… Full Review »
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