David Pirie in "Time Out" was quite negative in his review, claiming "The Sentinel" was "just a mass of frequently incomprehensible footage, acted so badly that even the most blatant shocks count for little". Pirie criticised the movie for being derivative of "Rosemary's Baby", "The Exorcist" and "The Omen": ""The Sentinel" seems little more than a pile of outtakes from recent supernatural successes." Robin Wood described "The Sentinel" as "the worst—most offensive and repressive—horror film of the 70s". "Variety" gave the film a negative review, writing ""The Sentinel" is a grubby, grotesque excursion into religioso psychodrama, notable for uniformly poor performances by a large cast of familiar names and direction that is hysterical and heavy-handed." "The New York Times" called the film "dull", criticizing the film for its long stretches, but commended Raines' performance. John Simon of the National Review described The Sentinel as 'dreadful'.