Sadako is reluctant to his plan, and although she lets go of her intention to poison him during their burdensome walk through a snowy landscape, he eventually dies of his heart disease.

Unholy Desire embodies many of the central interests in Imamura's career, including strong, lower-class women who survive in spite of their oppressive surroundings, and an earthy, humorous approach to sex.

[5] For film scholar Alexander Jacoby, Unholy Desire, like its predecessor, Imamura's The Insect Woman, is "about the triumphs of amoral women over circumstances".

"[7] According to Jasper Sharp of Midnight Eye, Unholy Desire, despite being overlong, "marks the most complete consolidation of the themes that inform [Imamura's] initial cycle of features".

[8] Unholy Desire received the Mainichi Film Awards for Best Actor (Kō Nishimura), Best Supporting Actress (Yūko Kusunoki), Best Cinematography (Shinsaku Himeda) and Best Sound Recording (Koshiro Jinbo).