"Pure magic. Every fashion film and NYU undergraduate thesis takes its cues from this lyrical masterpiece. In college I tried to make a satirical remake entitled Lunchtime at Dangling Boulder, but all my actors slept too late." - Lena Dunham, on the film adaptation "[From the] Victorian hothouse atmosphere and fetishism (from the gloves and stockings to the flowers the girls fondle to the fixation on corsets) and its focus on the burgeoning sexual curiosity of the girls (and the women) . to Gothic terrors, supernatural wonder, divine mysticism, or the imperialist unconscious . Picnic actively encourages a host of fantasies." - Megan Abbott, author of The Fever and Dare Me, in an essay for The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray/DVD edition of the film "A sinister tale… laced with touches of other-worldliness" - The Guardian "Deliciously horrific." - The Observer "The fact that most people believed that this palpable fiction was a record of a real event is not merely a tribute to the writer… but a testimony to the atavistic power of its theme.

" - The Spectator "Beautifully haunting." - The Sun Herald (Australia).