In an effort to alleviate her loneliness and ignite marital passion, Pirita goes to ask for help from the local shaman Tsalkku-Nilla, who prepares a potion and recites a spell.

The shaman instructs Pirita to sacrifice the first creature she encounters to the Great Seita [fi], a sacred reindeer graveyard, which will make any man fall in love with her.

[7] A 4K restoration from the original camera negative was realized in 2016–2017 by the National Audiovisual Institute of Finland and was released on Blu-ray with Swedish and English subtitles.

[9] The White Reindeer received mostly positive reviews from critics outside of Finland, with many praising the film's atmosphere, cinematography, and haunting imagery.

J. Hoberman from The Village Voice gave the film a positive review, calling it "a quasi-ethnographic exercise in magic neorealism".

[11] Starburst Magazine's James Evans awarded The White Reindeer nine stars out of ten, calling it "a remarkable, beautiful, and compelling film that is fascinatingly rooted in Lapland mythology and Sámi practices"; highlighting the story, dream-like cinematography, and Kuosmanen's performance.

[12] Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars, criticizing it for being awkward in some parts while praising the cinematography, and haunting imagery.

McDonagh concluded her review by calling it "A must-see for horror completists, and one of the few films to explore Sami folkloric traditions.