Linda Gross of the "Los Angeles Times" panned the film for its violent content, adding that "Director Joseph Zito prowls around aimlessly without creating an authentic sense of locale. Instead, he delivers a spaced-out nightmare in which the characters act like zombies." Stephen Deusner of "The Washington Post" described the film as "bloody, terrifying, often sadistic...  "The Prowler" is a war movie re-imagined as a slasher flick. And its message is clear: Take your military heroes for granted and they will come back and kill you." Deusner also noted that the film is "gorgeously shot," but conceded that it "is never entirely satisfying. There are too many missed opportunities to transcend the genre’s schlock, too many passages where nothing happens, too many scares that fall flat."