Inspect Movie

Enter a Rotten Tomatoes movie slug to inspect the stored movie, batches, snapshots, and reviews.

The Damned

Movie ID: 1169

RT slug: the_damned_2024_2

RT URL: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_damned_2024_2

Upload Reviews for this movie

Release year: 2025

Runtime: 89 mins

Wide release date: 2025-01-03

Limited release date:

Festival premiere date:

Streaming release date: 2025-01-21

Tomatometer final: 90%

Audience score final: 50%

Genres: Horror

Directors: Þórður Pálsson

Writers: Jamie Hannigan

Producers: Conor Barry, Emilie Jouffroy, John Keville, Kamilla Hodol, Nate Kamiya, Theresa Steele Page, Tim Headington

MPAA rating: R

Executive Producers:

Created: 2026-08-15 12:42:43

Updated: 2026-08-15 12:42:43

Synopsis

Eva (Odessa Young), a 19th-century widow is tasked with making an impossible choice when, in the middle of an especially cruel winter, a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing post. Eva and her crew must choose to either rescue the shipwrecked or survive the winter with their last remaining food. Facing the consequences of their choice and tormented by their guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they are all being punished for their choices.

Consensus

Heavy on mood and existential terror, The Damned's patient approach to horror pays off with cerebral chills.

Latest Snapshot / Canonical Review Totals

Canonical reviews: 78

Canonical fresh: 70

Canonical rotten: 8

Canonical calculated Tomatometer: 90%

Latest snapshot UTC: 2026-08-15 12:17:39

Snapshot Tomatometer: 90%

Snapshot review count: 78

Snapshot fresh count: 70

Snapshot rotten count: 8

Source note: Imported from manual review paste batch #2804 (full_snapshot)

Companies

Company Role
Vertical distributor
Elation Pictures production
Wild Atlantic Pictures production

Cast

Billing Name Character
1 Odessa Young Eva
2 Joe Cole Daniel
3 Lewis Gribben Jonas
4 Siobhan Finneran Helga
5 Francis Magee Skuli

Movie Import Batches

Batch ID Status Mode Created Notes
1185 processed 2026-08-15 12:42:43 Processed successfully into movie_id=1169 using update_mode=merge_non_empty.

Review Import Batches

Batch ID Local Snapshot UTC Snapshot Entered % Entered Count Status Notes
2804 2026-08-15 07:17:00 (America/Panama) 2026-08-15 12:17:39 90% 78 processed Mode=full_snapshot. Processed 78 row(s); 0 row error(s). Parsed unique reviews in this batch=78, fresh=70, rotten=8, tomatometer=90%. Net new reviews added=78, fresh=70, rotten=8. Current canonical totals=78 reviews, 70 fresh, 8 rotten, tomatometer=90% (89.744%). Entered review count matched parsed batch count (78). Entered tomatometer matched parsed batch value (90%).

Latest Canonical Reviews (max 100)

ID Critic Outlet Fresh? Score RT Time Raw Approx Published UTC Quote
243928 Paula Vázquez Prieto La Nación (Argentina) Fresh 3/5 2026-02-08T02:49:35.000Z 2026-02-08 02:49:35 The strategy of The Damned is fairly predictable, but working in its favor is an aesthetic that forgoes cheap shock in favor of a steadily mounting sense of unease, one that takes Eva's mind as its point of entry. [Full review in Spanish]
243929 Diego Batlle Otroscines.com Fresh 3/5 2026-02-02T21:42:49.000Z 2026-02-02 21:42:49 The film is dazzling...However, in its 89 minutes...it falls somewhat short in its dramatic development and its foray into period horror (at times it feels like a watered-down Robert Eggers). [Full review in Spanish]
243930 Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Fresh B 2025-05-14T05:11:14.000Z 2025-05-14 05:11:14 Young's commanding performance is most effective when the pic stays the course without becoming repetitive.
243931 John Serba Decider Rotten 2025-05-12T17:16:00.000Z 2025-05-12 17:16:00 The Damned may test your patience with its languid pace and propensity for things-that-go-boo cliches. Palsson emphasizes atmosphere over action, but doesn’t give his characters much of interest to do within those atmospherics.
243932 Pete Vonder Haar Houston Press Fresh 3/5 2025-04-05T18:45:01.000Z 2025-04-05 18:45:01 When gimmicks and jump scares have become the mainstream horror norm, a little 19th century spookery is just what the bloodletter ordered.
243933 Nicholas Bell Fish Jelly Films (YouTube) Fresh 3.5/5 2025-03-20T15:06:20.000Z 2025-03-20 15:06:20 A moody moral fable with more than enough spooky flair to spare, The Damned is an ethical dilemma about the inherent ickiness of survival at the cost of sacrificing other humans.
243934 Tara Brady Irish Times Fresh 3.5/5 2025-02-28T23:56:36.000Z 2025-02-28 23:56:36 The Damned is powered along by suspicion, atmospherics and an unforgettable landscape. Young is a capable final girl, her fierceness tempered only by the hint of repressed romance.
243935 Carla Hay Culture Mix Fresh 2025-02-03T23:59:01.000Z 2025-02-03 23:59:01 The Damned is a 'slow burn' psychological thriller about a widow leading a group of fishermen with a 'survival of the fittest' attitude in a remote part of Iceland. It's a horror film about the evil that can come from extreme mistrust.
243936 Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Fresh 3.5/4 2025-01-24T20:35:46.000Z 2025-01-24 20:35:46 The freezing, desolate arctic winter is the most important thing in the movie, the thing that makes everything work so well.
243937 Rebecca Sayce Starburst Fresh 3/5 2025-01-23T21:53:36.000Z 2025-01-23 21:53:36 Coupled with the beautiful yet deadly landscape, moody lighting, and eerie score, The Damned is an effectively unsettling psychological horror that explores the monsters we can become when faced with a fight for survival.
243938 Matt Donato Certified Forgotten Fresh 3.5/5 2025-01-22T17:47:06.000Z 2025-01-22 17:47:06 A 19th-century Nordic thriller rooted in dreary folklore that hardly blazes forward ... Palsson's tiny fishing community haunting bathes in slinking dread.
243939 Joey Keogh Wicked Horror Fresh 2025-01-22T15:31:05.000Z 2025-01-22 15:31:05 The Damned is sparse, a shrewdly observed chiller ... [with] much to explore in the darkness.
243940 Billie Walker Little White Lies Rotten 2/5 2025-01-18T01:42:47.000Z 2025-01-18 01:42:47 What may have been intended as a chilling revelation, serves only as a reminder (one becoming increasingly frequent) that audiences are no longer to be trusted with the slightest inference.
243941 James Berardinelli ReelViews Fresh 2.5/4 2025-01-16T23:11:18.000Z 2025-01-16 23:11:18 ...The Damned feels like it could be a lost gem: a below-the-radar horror film that stays true to its indie roots while generating sufficient scares to warrant a recommendation to genre fans.
243942 Rudy Valdez Willamette Week Fresh 2025-01-15T20:02:49.000Z 2025-01-15 20:02:49 Seeing Young lead the story as a woman amongst a group of 19th century men was believable and refreshing. Her determination to solve the mystery with as many of her crew making it out alive keeps viewers warm in a chilling thriller.
243943 Q.V. Hough Vague Visages Fresh 2025-01-15T14:17:11.000Z 2025-01-15 14:17:11 “‘The Damned’ is a cerebral film that should be analyzed in film theory courses.”
243944 Terry Staunton Radio Times Fresh 3/5 2025-01-14T19:25:50.000Z 2025-01-14 19:25:50 Young impresses as the ethical centre of the piece, and there's solid support from Joe Cole and Siobhan Finneran.
243945 Eileen Jones The Jacobin Fresh 2025-01-14T19:01:06.000Z 2025-01-14 19:01:06 With a modest budget but plenty of thrills involving spooky 19th-century ships, frozen wastelands, and ghouls from Nordic folktales, The Damned proudly carries on our Gothic horror revival.
243946 Ygraine Hackett-Cantabrana What a Scream Podcast Fresh 3/5 2025-01-13T10:44:33.000Z 2025-01-13 10:44:33 The Damned is a visually stunning and haunting unravelling of the human psyche.
243947 Dan Scully ScullyVision Fresh 2025-01-13T01:05:16.000Z 2025-01-13 01:05:16 The slow and steady pace is often interrupted by moments of high horror, creating a near-tangible feeling of dread that places the viewers directly into the fishermen’s damp boots.
243948 Stephanie Malone Morbidly Beautiful Fresh 4/5 2025-01-12T22:41:32.000Z 2025-01-12 22:41:32 First-time director Thordur Palsson, working from a script he co-wrote with Jamie Hannigan, demonstrates a keen eye for atmospheric immersion and a masterful understanding of creeping terror.
243949 Linda Cook OurQuadCities / WHBF-TV (Illinois) Fresh 2025-01-12T03:29:00.000Z 2025-01-12 03:29:00 3 1/2 stars What's really haunting this tiny fishing community? You may not be able that to answer at the end.
243950 Joe Friar Fort Worth Report Fresh 3/4 2025-01-11T21:32:46.000Z 2025-01-11 21:32:46 Blending folklore and morality, the haunting film will chill you to the bone.
243951 Sarah Vincent Sarah G Vincent Views Fresh 2025-01-11T02:53:49.000Z 2025-01-11 02:53:49 Usually, a movie tries to execute two possible explanations then fails at making one feasible. Instead, all three options worked and were genuinely terrifying.
243952 Adam Matthews Film Ireland Magazine Fresh 2025-01-11T01:25:04.000Z 2025-01-11 01:25:04 The Damned is a triumph of mood and atmosphere, immersing viewers in a world where every breath feels cold, every shadow harbours secrets, and every decision is weighted with endurance.
243953 Anna Smith Time Out Fresh 3/5 2025-01-10T22:38:39.000Z 2025-01-10 22:38:39 But if you invest in its characters, it offers a thought-provoking insight into the depths of the human mind when faced with the laws of survival. It’s grim, but good.
243954 Austin Burke Austin Burke/Flick Fan Nation Fresh 7/10 2025-01-10T22:10:55.000Z 2025-01-10 22:10:55 The Damned ultimately delivers on being an effective and unsettling experience that highlights its setting well. It lingers and repeats ideas too often for its own good, but the impact is there.
243955 Ben Gibbons Screen Rant Fresh 6/10 2025-01-10T17:43:06.000Z 2025-01-10 17:43:06 The Damned is a compelling feature-length debut by director Thordur Palsson, but it does have a pacing issue that holds the film back from greatness.
243956 Jack Martin Film Feeder Fresh 3/5 2025-01-09T16:27:11.000Z 2025-01-09 16:27:11 The Damned is a chilling (in both senses of the word) horror-thriller that is well-made and effective in its portrayal of freezing temperatures, but occasionally falls victim to underwritten scares and a disappointing ending.
243957 Emilie Black Cinema Crazed Fresh 2025-01-09T07:04:52.000Z 2025-01-09 07:04:52 The Damned is a creepy slow burn film with a folk atmosphere and solid performances and cinematography.
243958 Katie Hogan FILMHOUNDS Magazine Fresh 3/5 2025-01-08T20:01:46.000Z 2025-01-08 20:01:46 The Damned is thankfully not plagued by jump scares and odd noises, the simple ghostly soundtrack and trickery within the frame more for a quiet horror that sends chills up your spine.
243959 Aaron Neuwirth We Live Entertainment Fresh 6/10 2025-01-08T18:49:04.000Z 2025-01-08 18:49:04 Strength comes from the atmosphere here, which is good enough.
243960 Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies Fresh 3.5/5 2025-01-08T15:31:51.000Z 2025-01-08 15:31:51 ...a truly visceral experience.
243961 Lee McCoy DrumDums Fresh 8/10 2025-01-07T19:52:09.000Z 2025-01-07 19:52:09 The Damned is like a love letter to films like The Thing and The Fog. It's beautifully directed, is patient in showcasing dread, and Odessa Young oozes leading star power.
243962 Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle Fresh 3/5 2025-01-07T01:17:49.000Z 2025-01-07 01:17:49 What Palsson is really tackling here is that intersection between the real and the arcane.
243963 Christian Zilko IndieWire Fresh B 2025-01-06T19:35:57.000Z 2025-01-06 19:35:57 A slow-burning work of psychological horror that’s more interested in exploring humanity’s capacity for guilt than jump scares or gore.
243964 Jennie Kermode Eye for Film Fresh 4.5/5 2025-01-06T19:06:54.000Z 2025-01-06 19:06:54 A deep understand of the period and cultural context gives it a weight of authenticity.
243965 Abbie Bernstein Assignment X Fresh B 2025-01-06T18:34:21.000Z 2025-01-06 18:34:21 Eerie period folk horror.
243966 Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Fresh 3/4 2025-01-06T18:11:16.000Z 2025-01-06 18:11:16 “The Damned” is in no rush about revealing its horrors, and that works in its favor when Palsson unleashes the madness in the third act.
243967 Andrew Murray The Upcoming Fresh 3/5 2025-01-06T13:12:09.000Z 2025-01-06 13:12:09 The Damned is an exceedingly well-crafted period horror, which excels in delivering its icy atmosphere. Despite its sinister visuals and compelling lead performance, a hastily put-together finale stops this film from becoming another slow-burn genre gem.
243968 Miyako Pleines Spectrum Culture Fresh 2025-01-06T07:56:22.000Z 2025-01-06 07:56:22 The Damned feels like the kind of film that would arise if Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse had a baby with John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing.
243969 Evan Dossey Midwest Film Journal Fresh 2025-01-05T02:16:04.000Z 2025-01-05 02:16:04 The Damned lives in a space where its fear and horror come from Eva and her lot suffering in the cold, dark and uncontrollable world of Arctic winter
243970 Edwin Arnaudin Asheville Movies Rotten C- 2025-01-04T20:08:24.000Z 2025-01-04 20:08:24 At least it looks pretty.
243971 Alissa Wilkinson New York Times Fresh 2025-01-03T22:24:45.000Z 2025-01-03 22:24:45 A period of slog reduces the story’s immersive quality, slowing momentum. What’s best about the movie, though, is how it eventually picks back up and morphs into something a bit different from straight-ahead horror.
243972 Ryan Syrek The Reader (Omaha, NE) Fresh C 2025-01-03T21:12:22.000Z 2025-01-03 21:12:22 For a dark-and-dimly-lit, old-timey horror film about a woman going bonkers trying to survive amid gothic terror, neutral isn’t all that bad...for those of us who saw Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu.
243973 Nick Schager The Daily Beast Fresh 2025-01-03T19:07:04.000Z 2025-01-03 19:07:04 Concise, clever, and unnerving, it’s a perfect film for the onset of winter.
243974 Glenn Kenny RogerEbert.com Fresh 3/4 2025-01-03T18:08:27.000Z 2025-01-03 18:08:27 It’s a keeper, so treat yourself to a scary New Year’s celebration.
243975 Joseph Robinson Fish Jelly Films (YouTube) Fresh 3.5/5 2025-01-03T16:32:03.000Z 2025-01-03 16:32:03 Pálsson crafts a highly effective, if not familiar, horror-thriller with The Damned.
243976 Michael Balderston What To Watch Fresh 3/5 2025-01-03T14:12:57.000Z 2025-01-03 14:12:57 Palsson’s ability to create and maintain this overall sense of unease throughout while not relying on cheap scares (i.e. jump scares) is what gets me excited about his potential as a filmmaker.
243977 Chris Joyce Movies and Munchies (YouTube) Fresh 4/5 2025-01-03T07:06:36.000Z 2025-01-03 07:06:36 While the repetitive moments can have a dulling effect and some may be frustrated by the conclusive ending, the ride to get there is frigid, suspenseful, and ominous.
243978 Michael Ward Should I See It Fresh 3/5 2025-01-03T05:30:23.000Z 2025-01-03 05:30:23 While there is a lot to recommend here, it is unfortunate that when (Thordur) Palsson makes the deliberate intention to startle and shock the audience, The Damned sheds many of the elements that make it feel unique and different.
243979 Charles Koplinski Reel Talk with Chuck and Pam Fresh 3/4 2025-01-03T04:19:25.000Z 2025-01-03 04:19:25 In the end “The Damned” emerges as an effective thriller, as well as an intriguing moral conundrum.
243980 Chris Wasser Sunday Independent (Ireland) Fresh 3/5 2025-01-03T00:30:40.000Z 2025-01-03 00:30:40 A flawed yet occasionally frightening endeavour, The Damned would probably be a better film without all the sketchy supernatural stuff.
243981 James Verniere Boston Movie News Fresh B 2025-01-02T22:08:27.000Z 2025-01-02 22:08:27 Icelandic director Thordur Palsson creates Robert Eggers-like atmospheric tale of a vengeful ghost driving guit-ridden sailors to their deaths. Odessa Young is a standout as station leader.
243982 Mike McGranaghan Aisle Seat Fresh 3/4 2025-01-02T21:37:13.000Z 2025-01-02 21:37:13 A tale with the power to disturb.
243983 Peter Martin DallasFilmNow.com Fresh 3.5/5.0 2025-01-02T16:07:18.000Z 2025-01-02 16:07:18 Increasingly gripping. ... Without spelling everything out, The Damned relies on sturdy production values and the cover of shadows and snow to imply and suggest, making for an unsettling experience that concludes with a startling stinger.
243984 Mark Dujsik Mark Reviews Movies Rotten 2/4 2025-01-02T15:04:06.000Z 2025-01-02 15:04:06 Director Thordur Palsson seems especially keen on giving ... [a] sense of atmosphere ... because everything else about it feels overly familiar and half considered.
243985 Nathaniel Muir AIPT Fresh 2025-01-02T01:45:28.000Z 2025-01-02 01:45:28 The psychological horror of The Damned is pitch perfect for the vast majority of the runtime. Even before the terror kicks in full bore, there is a dread to the story being told.
243986 Robert Kojder Flickering Myth Rotten 2/5 2025-01-01T22:28:46.000Z 2025-01-01 22:28:46 Swapping ghosts for "draugr" folklore doesn't prevent this material from coming across familiarly dull
243987 Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Rotten 2/4 2025-01-01T20:22:38.000Z 2025-01-01 20:22:38 Its characters inhabit an allegorical cautionary tale against xenophobia, anchored in a heavy dose of Christian guilt over not welcoming strangers. In our increasingly isolationist world, the theme resonates, but that doesn’t mean The Damned does.
243988 Keri O'Shea Warped Perspective Fresh 2025-01-01T11:25:13.000Z 2025-01-01 11:25:13 Are the dead vengeful? The Damned sustains a brooding ambiguity throughout, doing enough to keep us wondering.
243989 Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com Fresh B+ 2025-01-01T05:12:20.000Z 2025-01-01 05:12:20 Palsson doesn’t overstay his welcome with the work, and manages to deliver a few accomplished freak-outs along the way.
243990 Mark Meszoros The News-Herald (Willoughby, OH) Fresh 2.5/4 2024-12-31T21:10:15.000Z 2024-12-31 21:10:15 Inspired by the dramatic landscape of the Westfjords of Iceland in the 1800s and the region’s folklore, the psychological horror film The Damned so excels in creating a memorable atmosphere that the room where you view it may feel much colder than it is.
243991 Nikki Baughan Screen International Fresh 2024-12-31T07:20:37.000Z 2024-12-31 07:20:37 Icelandic director Thordur Palsson effectively turns this simple set-up into a chilling story of haunted psyches. The genre’s now-familiar post-trauma tropes are elevated by strong performances and a striking visual identity.
243992 Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine Rotten 2/4 2024-12-27T18:56:18.000Z 2024-12-27 18:56:18 Had we been allowed to truly sit with the characters’ prejudices, then The Damned might have earned the desperation with which it strains for contemporary resonance.
243993 Kenneth Seward Jr. But Why Tho? Fresh 8/10 2024-12-18T19:18:59.000Z 2024-12-18 19:18:59 The Damned (2024) is an intriguing horror film that creatively showcases the damaging effects of guilt. Initially frightening, thanks to a solid cast and eerie atmosphere, it has the potential to stick with viewers long after the credits roll.
243994 Jim Vorel Paste Magazine Fresh 7.9/10 2024-12-11T15:07:29.000Z 2024-12-11 15:07:29 The Damned gets by more than well enough via the elemental strength of its moral dilemma and the pristine beauty and unrelenting inhospitality of the Icelandic wilderness that is its scene-stealing star.
243995 Latoya Austin Movie Marker Fresh 4/5 2024-07-01T01:16:35.000Z 2024-07-01 01:16:35 First time feature director Thordur Palsson has crafted an impressively eerie, morality tale within this remote, mountainous setting which excites and unnerves in equal measure.
243996 Tina Kakadelis Film Obsessive Fresh 2024-06-21T00:04:27.000Z 2024-06-21 00:04:27 While the film is fairly paint-by-numbers in terms of the expectations of the genre, it shows off first-time feature director Palsson’s keen eye for sinister stories.
243997 Edward Douglas The Weekend Warrior (Substack) Fresh 2024-06-13T10:23:24.000Z 2024-06-13 10:23:24 An impressive debut feature from Palsson that makes me think Hollywood will be reaching out to use his skills on their projects in the future.
243998 Daniel Gorman In Review Online Rotten 2024-06-12T17:05:08.000Z 2024-06-12 17:05:08 Palsson clearly has ample talent in this regard. Someone needs to tell him that it’s okay to make a horror movie that’s not a metaphor for grief or an exploration of PTSD. You can just make a scary one.
243999 Michael Gingold Rue Morgue Magazine Fresh 2024-06-12T04:51:36.000Z 2024-06-12 04:51:36 The film concludes leaving you wishing for something more in the resolution. Up until that point, though, THE DAMNED delivers a gripping survival saga that’s shivery in more ways than one.
244000 Jeremy Mathai Slashfilm Fresh 8/10 2024-06-10T16:35:35.000Z 2024-06-10 16:35:35 "The Damned" certainly lives up to its evocative title.
244001 Siddhant Adlakha Variety Fresh 2024-06-09T15:37:26.000Z 2024-06-09 15:37:26 A story told through dreams and shadows that, while often repetitive in its approach, is still effectively told.
244002 Olga Artemyeva ScreenAnarchy Fresh 2024-06-08T20:06:32.000Z 2024-06-08 20:06:32 A dark world with very few flashes of color that don't really bring any comfort. The stunning cinematography by Eli Arenson ... is supported by no less impressive and immersive sound design that leads us ... into the heart of darkness.
244003 Kat Hughes THN Fresh 3/5 2024-06-07T10:26:37.000Z 2024-06-07 10:26:37 Music is used sparingly to maximum effect in Thordur Palsson’s atmospheric and chilling tale of paranoia, superstition and hysteria.
244004 Dan Bayer Next Best Picture Fresh 7/10 2024-06-06T23:12:30.000Z 2024-06-06 23:12:30 Between the intensity of the performances and the visceral imagery, “The Damned” is an atmospheric trip into the heart of darkness, one that will chill you to the bone even in the height of summer.
244005 Chase Hutchinson Collider Fresh 7/10 2024-06-06T23:05:46.000Z 2024-06-06 23:05:46 There are flashes of everything from The Witch to The Thing just as it carves out a distinct sense of dread in its period setting where you can feel the cold emanating from every frame.

Showing the latest 100 canonical reviews for this movie.