In 1980, Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote a negative review for "Hungry Wives!", stating that the film "has the seedy look of a porn film but without any pornographic action. Everything in it, from the actors to the props, looks borrowed and badly used." Kim Newman (the "Monthly Film Bulletin") compared to the film to Romero's "Martin", stating that the latter "managed to exploit the hybrid of tatty realism and vampire lore quite fruitfully, but "Jack's Wife" is fatally unsure of its approach." Newman noted that the acting varies from the "nicely underplayed (Jan White, Virginia Greenwald) through the desperately hammy (Anne Muffly) to the dangerously laid-back (Ray Laine)." The review concluded that "there is enough evidence here of Romero's quirky talent to maintain interest throughout"