Critics have also named "Home" one of the scariest installments of the series. Novelist Scott Heim in "The Book of Lists: Horror" rated it as the tenth most frightening television broadcast. Heim wrote that several aspects of the episode were creepy, including the gothic house and the family itself. Tom Kessenich, in his 2002 book "Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files", listed the program as the fifth best of the series. Kessenich reported that it was the pinnacle of the horror episodes featured on "The X-Files". William B. Davis said that "Home" was both well written and well directed, but was so gruesome that it led to some fans questioning whether or not they wanted to continue watching the series. He argued that modern horror films were far more violent than anything depicted in "Home" but, at the time, "it was quite disturbing." In 2017, Vulture.com named "Home" the most terrifying television episode to watch on Halloween.