Critical reception
Swallow received generally positive reviews from film critics. It holds an 87% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 143 reviews, with an average of 7.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Swallow's unconventional approach to exploring domestic ennui is elevated by a well-told story and Haley Bennett's powerful leading performance." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 65 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Justine Smith of RogerEbert.com gave Swallow 3.5 out of 4 stars, and described the film "an uncompromising horror that evokes deeply rooted alienation and dysmorphia" and "a far cry from the 'rah-rah' feminist empowerment stories that end in blood-soaked revenge." She lauds the film for its ability to invert typical horror movie tropes and depict the intimate horror of being a woman fighting for bodily autonomy. Smith also praises the film's director, Carlo Mirabella-Davis, for his ability to create an unsettling and engaging experience, and commends lead actress Haley Bennett for her portrayal of Hunter, noting her ability to convey inner turmoil while maintaining a calm exterior. Smith concludes that Swallow is a powerful and thought-provoking film that ranks among the "best films about the fight for female bodily autonomy in the contemporary era."
Writing for The New York Times, Kristen Yoonsoo Kim praises Haley Bennett's exceptional acting, but finds Swallow's body-horror elements nauseating and the payoff and psychology behind Hunter's actions not illuminating enough. She acknowledges the film's avoidance of pure body-horror sensationalism and its attempt to trace Hunter's need for control to a trauma in her past, but ultimately finds it lacking in its execution, concluding that it falls short in adding anything new to the woman-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown genre.
In Katie Rife's review for The AV Club, she describes Swallow as a high-class version of My Strange Addiction. She notes that the film's visuals are impressive and praises lead actress Haley Bennett's performance, which makes the film more than just a "freak show."
Kimber Myers' review for The Los Angeles Times praises the lead actress and the film's feminist themes. Myers compares the film's style and themes to Todd Haynes' works and the melodramas of Douglas Sirk, with its saturated colors, Midcentury furniture, and a story of a woman trying to escape her life. She notes that the film is difficult to watch at times, but that it is "psychologically rich and always feels genuine" despite its stunningly stylized portrayal of the complex protagonist's inner world.
Dissenting opinions included that of critic Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail, who wrote that "Mirabella-Davis treats Hunter's behaviour with kid gloves — it is a disorder that the film treats as fit for gawking and disgust, not anything close to understanding or empathy."
