From retrospective reviews, Eric Henderson of "Slant" magazine gave "The Apple" one star out of four and said "every song in the goddamned movie sucks" and added that the film's "relentless bad taste is sure to appeal to the same audience that won't even realize they're being slapped in the face". "TV Guide" stated ""The Apple" was clearly designed to duplicate the success of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975) and failed dismally, in large part because the music is so stupendously banal... The lesson: Making a cult hit is harder than it looks." Sean Burns in the "Philadelphia Weekly" gave the film a scathing review: ""The Apple" isn't just the worst disco musical ever made; it could very well be the worst movie ever made, period." Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict described "The Apple" as "a gamy glitterdome of outrageous kitsch passing itself off as a futuristic fable." Gibron strongly criticised the film's music, saying "Lines fail to rhyme, emotions are so spelled out that inbred invertebrates can figure out the meaning, and everything feels like it was produced by Georgio Moroder's insane brother..."The Apple" should be a celebration of all that is camp. Instead, it's just seriously disturbed."