Johnny Butane of
Dread Central rated the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and called the film "pretty damn fun". Laura Kern of
The New York Times called the film an "inept, nasty and absolutely irredeemable entry in the stale torture-porn subgenre of horror that more often than not features bloodthirsty clans residing in the backwoods."
Joe Leydon of
Variety called the film a "laughably inept mix of softcore sexploitation and full-bore torture porn".
Aaron Hillis of
The Village Voice wrote, "So unimaginatively cheapjack that a rapist has to be told of his vivisection in close-up since there wasn't the budget to actually show it, Wicked Lake proves that even Troma can outclass some." ==References==