80
Sandra Hüller, a young German stage actress making a harrowing feature debut, invests Michaela's terrified, possibly schizophrenic outbursts with unholy conviction.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
100
Requiem, the new film from German director Hans-Christian Schmid, is absolutely astonishing. See it if you possibly can.
90
Stunningly played story of faith vs. family.
80
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Requiem is a moving study of a tortured young woman more at peace with medieval ritual than with modern medicine.
88
Bogumil Godfrejow's raw cinematography and Huller's poignant, close-to-the-bone performance transform what might have been a morbid curiosity into an entirely enthralling, quietly terrifying experience.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
In its subtlety, complexity and dexterity, Requiem is a notably original work.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
While "Exorcism" focused on a murder-trial battle between the priest and a prosecutor, Schmid's film beautifully details the behavior, events and socio-religious pressures that lead to the decision to perform such an extreme ritual.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Requiem is drawn from an incident that was also the basis for last year's demon-seed hit, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose."
75
Though its heroine's mysterious seizures and blackouts are terrifying in the way they undermine her quest for self-determination, Requiem isn't a horror movie so much as a thwarted coming-of-age story, like "Carrie" without the bloody reckoning.
75
Anybody who's ever seen a movie about exorcism knows that, in cases like this, the first thing to do is call 1-800-PRIEST, which the family does.