[1] Caryn James wrote in The New York Times, it cannot have been easy to turn material so rich with imagination and drama into such a tepid, excruciatingly slow film.

Mr. Passer seems to have no defense against Lewis John Carlino's inept screenplay... the characters soon appear as shallow libertines, posturing ninnies who spout the most effete period dialogue.

Derek Malcolm in The Guardian, like James, compared it invidiously with Gothic: "hardly an ounce of humour or visual flair, despite the fact that Giuseppe Rotunno shot it".

[4] The Sunday Telegraph was equally dismissive ("For unintended humour, try Ivan Passer's Haunted Summer"), calling it "Ken Russell's Gothic minus the monsters".

[5] David Robinson in The Times struck a similar note ("the emotional entanglements are not much more enthralling than flirtations and quarrels on a Saga Holidays tour"), but at least praised the film's look and the performances, particularly Laura Dern's.