The Stanford Prison Experiment
IFC Films | Release Date: July 17, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
HitfixDrew McWeenyFeb 1, 2015
Using real transcripts, and with the involvement of Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who was the psychologist who designed the project in the first place, Talbott and director Kyle Patrick Alvarez have opted to aim for something authentic and honest. Read full review
91
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezFeb 1, 2015
Alvarez’s clinical but deeply engrossing execution of the drama is mesmerizing in its directness. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJul 16, 2015
The ensemble shines in demonstrating the complexities of the individuals who either endure or exploit this system of abusive power dynamics. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 30, 2015
The Stanford Prison Experiment is the kind of movie that raises as many questions as it answers. It’s also the kind of film where you want to budget some time for discussion afterward. You won’t be able to shake this one off easily. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 15, 2015
A gripping dramatization, The Stanford Prison Experiment puts its audience in the same position as the head researcher, Dr. Philip Zimbardo: We watch with equal fascination and dread as a group of fresh-faced undergraduates adapt with scary speed to the roles they’re assigned. Read full review
80
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJul 16, 2015
The experiment’s methodologies and meanings have been analyzed endlessly over the years, and the film doesn’t delve deeply into these interpretations and critiques. It doesn’t need to; this stark and riveting version of events speaks for itself. Read full review
80
TheWrapJames RocchiJul 16, 2015
Disturbing, honest and compelling, The Stanford Prison Experiment turns a well-known story into must-see storytelling, depicting the ugly truth through gorgeous filmmaking. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanFeb 1, 2015
Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez deserves all the praise in the world for the way he cranks up this pressure cooker script. The Stanford Prison Experiment begins with giggles but ends in full psychological break. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinFeb 1, 2015
For all its flaws it’s a rich, thought-provoking film which, while challenging, is not without humor and visual pleasures, particularly in the restrained but bang-on period production design. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelJul 31, 2015
Watching these young men brutalize each other is troubling enough, but perhaps the film's most interesting angle is how the experiment changes more than its subjects. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianJeff BakerJul 31, 2015
Kyle Patrick Alvarez, whose previous movie was the filmed-in-Oregon "C.O.G.," stages the many torture scenes in a tight, claustrophobic way that works to heighten tension. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 30, 2015
It never should've been OK'd in the first place and never should've gotten past the first day. This has a mixed effect on the movie itself, which inevitably fights against its own sense of dulled outrage and methodical role-playing. But it's pretty gripping all the same. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 23, 2015
As Zimbardo, Billy Crudup adopts an implacable facade, and for a while we don’t know what we’re seeing — a humanitarian on the brink of discovery, an ambitious monster who has found the winning ticket, or a young professor in way over his head. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJul 16, 2015
Even with some familiar faces, The Stanford Prison Experiment feels like an honest-to-goodness documentary — a high compliment for a movie based on an infamous college project. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJul 15, 2015
The film spirals steadily downward through humanity’s worst impulses as the guards, led by Angarano’s character, explore the free rein they’re given to torment the powerless. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJul 13, 2015
The formalism fashions effective textural shortcuts to behavioral understanding that the remarkable cast fills in with chilling, convincing finesse. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 20, 2015
It is remarkable, however, that The Stanford Prison Experiment works as well as it does, and for as long as it does. Crudup and the young cast (particularly Angarano) deserve much of the credit. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJul 14, 2015
Even simply sticking to the facts, the film is a painful watch. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerOct 2, 2015
The acting is uniformly strong and the camera work is winningly claustrophobic, but the film is one note. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayJul 30, 2015
The film can be appreciated, if only as a showcase for its assured, emotional attuned performances, as a convincing time capsule and period piece, and as a chance to reconsider one of the more well-known and still-influential studies of its era. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 14, 2015
A very good cast headed by Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano and Tye Sheridan stars in The Stanford Prison Experiment, a film as straight-forward and clinically chilling as its title. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangFeb 1, 2015
The problem is not that this film is upsetting (it should be), but that it ultimately seems more interested, and skilled, at dispensing regular shocks than fresh insights. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 5, 2015
What we witness onscreen is horrifying and deeply disturbing (as it should be), but a little more context might help us to not feel so marooned. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid EhrlichJul 21, 2015
A vividly told but crushingly literal dramatization of an event that’s in every psych textbook published during the last 40 years, Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s new film is compelling and useless in equal measure. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonJul 17, 2015
Unfortunately, The Stanford Prison Experiment is a dramatization, and no matter how much it may adhere to the well-documented specifics of Zimbardo’s work, it is a massive failure. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJul 22, 2015
Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s film underserves its cast of up-and-comers (Thomas Mann, Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan), allows the usually solid actor Michael Angarano to go astray with a scenery-chewing role and buries Crudup in fretting and sanctity. Worse, the experiment’s inherent drama is exacted with a tin ear and a cheesy style. Read full review
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