Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Some violence, teen drinking in drab horror movie.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Polaroid
What's the Story?
In POLAROID, Bird (Kathryn Prescott) is an introverted teen who loves photography and works in an antique store. One day, a teen co-worker named Tyler, who has a crush on Bird, comes in to the store with a gift for Bird: an old Polaroid camera from the 1970s. She takes his picture with it before leaving for the day. Later, Bird attends a costume party with her friends and uses the camera to take a group picture. But Avery, the mean-girl hostess of the party, snatches the camera away from Bird long enough to take a selfie first. At the party, Sheriff Pembrooke (Mitch Pileggi) arrives and tells Bird that Tyler was found dead inside the antique store. Shortly after, Avery is found dead, her neck snapped. Looking at the photos taken from the camera, Bird notices a shadowy apparition in the background of each picture that transfers to the next picture after the people in the other pictures are killed. With the help of her friends Devin, Mina, and Connor (Tyler Young), Bird must find out the terrible secrets lurking within the camera, and find a way to stop it before she and her friends are also murdered.
Is It Any Good?
The entertainment value in this horror movie is, more often than not, unintentional. For instance, after the teens begin to learn that a malevolent spirit has killed two of their friends within the last 24 hours, one of the teens laments, "I mean, we shouldn't have to die just because we took a stupid picture!" The lighting in the movie seems to be almost entirely from nightlights on the "dim" setting, so much so that even a police interrogation is done practically in the dark. There's a drab darkness to practically every scene that, as Polaroid goes on, comes across as less a style choice and more of an attempt to cover up the action, or lack thereof.
The lead character is presented as an introvert who's unpopular at the local high school because she -- wait for it -- wears a scarf. The police are skeptical of the teens and their crazy story of a demon murderer who appears via a vintage camera. The opening scene has no real connection to the rest of the movie. The result is a horror movie that comes across as both trite and underdeveloped, a half-baked premise like something from an episode of Scooby-Doo.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about horror movies. How does Polaroid compare to other horror movies you've seen?
How does this movie attempt to rely more on suspense rather than on blood and gore to scare the audience? Is it effective? Why or why not?
How is lighting, or the lack thereof, used to set a style and mood in the movie? How is lighting used in other movies?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : September 17, 2019
- Cast : Kathryn Prescott , Tyler Young , Samantha Logan
- Director : Lars Klevberg
- Inclusion Information : Bisexual Movie Actor(s) , Black Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Dimension Films
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Fantasy
- Run time : 88 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : Violence/terror, thematic elements, brief strong language, some teen drinking and drug material.
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate