Sátántangó has garnered widespread critical acclaim since its 1994 release, and grew in reputation among American art house circles following the release of the director-approved 2006 DVD from Facets Video. It currently has a 100% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 8.2 out of 10. Tarr's direction has been a frequent subject of praise. Ed Halter called Tarr "one of filmdom's criminally undersung geniuses"; in referencing the film's ominous and illusory tones, Halter wrote, "Tarr's overwhelmingly bleak oeuvre makes Robert Bresson seem like an upbeat party animal by comparison." Bela Tarr's Slow Burn In The New York Times, Manohla Dargis lauded the director's use of long takes. "Finding Beauty in the Miserable and the Mundane" J. Hoberman of The Village Voice described it as "one of the great, largely unseeable movies of the last dozen years," "Bela Tarr's Marathon Masterpiece Casts a Devilish Spell" and Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader has called the film his favorite of the 1990s. Jonathan Rosenbaum: 'Satantango'. Susan Sontag described Sátántangó as "devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours," adding she would be "glad to see it every year for the rest of [her] life."
