What is the iRankMovies score for Nocturnal Animals?

Name: Nocturnal Animals
Director: Tom Ford
Genre: drama, thriller
Released: 2016
Duration: 1 h 56 min
Rating: 7.4

Nocturnal Animals has an iRankMovies score of 72.6/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

When you love someone you can't just throw it away.

Release:2016

Runtime:1h 56m

Country:United States

Director:Tom Ford

Language:English

Genre

DramaThriller

See the best drama movies →

Keywords

Based On Novel Or BookCheatingParent Child RelationshipHostageInsomniaCowardiceFlashbackrevenge

iRank73

Nocturnal Animals rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb7.4/10· 332K votes

Rotten Tomatoes74%

Metacritic67%

TMDb7.413/10· 8K votes

With 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 7.4/10 on IMDb and 67/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been positive.

About Nocturnal Animals

Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.

Cast of Nocturnal Animals

Amy Adams
as Susan Morrow
Jake Gyllenhaal
as Tony Hastings / Edward Sheffield
Michael Shannon
as Bobby Andes
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
as Ray Marcus
Isla Fisher
as Laura Hastings
Ellie Bamber
as India Hastings
Armie Hammer
as Hutton Morrow
Karl Glusman
as Lou
Robert Aramayo
as Turk
Laura Linney
as Anne Sutton
Andrea Riseborough
as Alessia
Michael Sheen
as Carlos

Nocturnal Animals facts

Budget: $22.5M
Box office: $29.3M

Our take on Nocturnal Animals

Tom Ford's 2016 drama-thriller nests a story within a story: Susan Morrow receives a novel manuscript from the ex-husband she left twenty years earlier, who wants her opinion on his writing. As she reads, she is pulled into the fictional ordeal of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent. Ford braids memory, regret and the brutality of the invented tale into a cool, precisely composed whole. It rewards patient viewers who enjoy layered structure, moral ambiguity and unease rather than tidy resolution. Those drawn to elegant, emotionally chilly cinema that lingers will connect most; anyone wanting straightforward thrills may find its remove frustrating.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources

Audience opinions

What the audience liked

•Structural ambiguity rewards attentive viewing and supports thematic depth considerably
•Production design creates distinct visual languages for interlocking narratives
•Emotional payoff emerges from subtext rather than explicit exposition or dialogue

What the audience disliked

•Deliberate opacity frustrates viewers seeking clearer character or plot resolution
•Desaturated tone stretches across both narratives without sufficient tonal variation