In 1968, Renata Adler from "The New York Times" opined that it is "not one of Bergman's great films", but positively reviewed the acting of von Sydow, Ullmann and Thulin. Roger Ebert rated "Hour of the Wolf" three out of four, calling it "a difficult film, and not altogether a successful one", and crediting Bergman with achieving "deeply emotional results with very stark, almost objective, scenes". In "New York", Judith Crist called it "a minor effort" from Bergman, not adding much to his past filmography, while crediting it for "stark intellectualizing and lush fantasizing". "Time" hailed von Sydow as "gothically brilliant" and stated the film cemented Ullmann's position as one of the foremost Scandinavian actresses, also crediting Sven Nykvist for "phosphorescent" cinematography. Critic Richard Schickel judged the visuals "more exciting" than those in "Persona", but said "Hour of the Wolf" appeared to be a "regression".