The Innocents (2021 film)

The Innocents grossed $25,705 in the United States and Canada,[10] and $206,366 in other territories for a worldwide total of $232,071,[4] against a production budget of 3.2-3.4 million.[2][3]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 112 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Innocents chillingly subverts the purity of youth in a powerfully acted thriller that lingers long after the credits roll."[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[12]

Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "low-tech, high-tension", writing that "The lonely, uncanny and sometimes unthinkingly violent world of childhood is explored with chilling candor and exceptional skill".[13] Jessica Kiang of Variety praised the performances of the child actors as well as the film's atmosphere, calling the film "both a satisfying genre exercise and a minute observation of the process by which young children acquire morality."[14] Sight & Sound's Anton Bitel wrote that the film "uses its genre frame to show the connectedness, curiosity and cruelty of its young characters, and also asks whether the inevitable loss of innocence at this age is a slate that can ever simply be cleaned."[15]