The Front Roomhas become A24’s lowest-rated movie of 2024 on Rotten Tomatoes.Written and directed by Max and Sam Eggers, the brothers ofThe WitchandThe Lighthousedirector Robert Eggers, in their feature film debut. The newA24 horror filmfollows a newly pregnant woman forced to take in her sinister mother-in-law who tries to take control of her child. Brandy leads the cast, returning to horror 26 years afterI Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring alongside an ensemble cast that also includes Kathryn Hunter, Andrew Burnap, and Neal Huff.
Leading up to its theatrical release on September 6, reviews have been published and the horror movie’sRotten Tomatoesscore has been revealed.The Front Roomhas debuted with a Tomatometer score of 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 34 reviews at the time of writing. The score should fluctuate as more are published, and has already fluctuated up from 44% earlier in the week, but at the time it is A24’s lowest-rated movie of 2024 on Rotten Tomatoes, and it will likely remain so.
How The Front Room’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Compares To Other 2024 A24 Movies
It’s A24’s First Rotten Score Of The Year
It has been a strong year for A24, asevery one of their films released in 2024 beforeThe Front Roomhas a Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. The indie studio started the year strong withProblemista(86%),Love Lies Bleeding(94%), andCivil War(81%) all receiving considerable critical acclaim. Their firsthorror film of 2024 wasI Saw the TV Glow(84%), which received acclaim from critics for its unique visual style and emotionally impactful story. The dramasTuesday(76%) andJanet Planet(84%), while overlooked by audiences, were also received reasonably well by critics.
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A24’s strong year for horror continued with therelease ofMaXXXine(73%) this summer. Though it has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the Ti West trilogy behindX(94%) andPearl(93%), it is still generally seen by critics as a fitting and thrilling conclusion to the series. However, it isthe new dramaSing Sing(98%) that holds A24’s highest Rotten Tomatoes score of 2024. With much praise for Colman Domingo’s powerful performance,Sing Singis also likely A24’s best chance of receiving attention this awards season. Below, see a breakdown of A24’s 2024 scores so far:
86%
94%
81%
84%
76%
73%
98%
The Front Room
50%
The Front Roomis not only A24’s lowest-rated movie of 2024,it is also their only Rotten score if it stays below 60%. Reviews are mostly mixed, with many praising Kathryn Hunter’s strong performance, but criticizing the film’s uneven tone, lack of depth, and underdeveloped story. While some appreciate its campy horror elements, others find it frustratingly incoherent, with missed thematic opportunities and an unsatisfying narrative structure. While the 50% score indicates that half of critics gave it favorable reviews, this is nevertheless the lowest proportion yet this year for the typically well-received independent production company and distributor.
Will The Front Room Remain A24’s Worst-Reviewed Movie Of 2024?
The Company’s Upcoming Movies Are Strong Prospects
There are quite a fewupcoming A24 moviesthat have yet to be released in 2024 that could end up earning a lower score thanThe Front Room. However, they come from a wide variety of creatives both in front of and behind the camera that have strong Rotten Tomatoes track records, which would seem to indicate thatFresh scores may be in their futures. Below, see a breakdown of their upcoming 2024 slate, the key creatives behind each movie, and the Rotten Tomatoes scores for each title that has already received early reviews from festival screenings:
N/A (documentary)
63%
100%
Nicole Kidman
93%
The four upcoming titles out of seven that have already received scores are all considered Fresh, thoughY2K’s score is admittedly borderline. It seems probable that the others will maintain those Fresh scores as more reviews are added, andprecedent shows that the remaining three titles are all strong contenders for good reviews. For instance, John Crowley’s previous collaboration with Andrew Garfield, 2007’sBoy A, earned a Certified Fresh score of 87%, while Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have earned Fresh scores on three out of five of their past collaborations, namelyA Quiet Place,The Boogeyman, andHaunt.
Because of this, in all likelihood,The Front Roomwill remain the worst-reviewed A24 movie of the year. However,its 50% score is still not particularly Rottenby the standards of the libraries of many major studios and distributors. In the past few months alone, major releases from various distributors have received far worse scores, including Lionsgate’sThe Crow(23%) andBorderlands(10%), Sony Pictures’Harold and the Purple Crayon(25%), and New Line and Warner Bros.‘The Watchers(32%).
Cast
The Front Room is a psychological horror film directed by the Eggers Brothers. Set in a single location, it revolves around a young, pregnant woman caring for her ailing grandmother, whose secrets and dementia create a tense and eerie atmosphere. The film stars Brandy Norwood and Kathryn Hunter, and explores themes of family, memory, and the supernatural.
