Universally panned by American critics, Mandingo got a serious look from the distance of England and Time Out's David Pirie: "Fleischer utilises the real sexuality and violence behind slavery to mount a compelling slice of American Gothic which analyses, in appropriately lurid terms, the twists and turns of a distorted society. The plot explores the declining years of a slave-breeding family, whose slaves are treated not so much like animals as humanoids: their physical intimacy with the master-race is total. Finally it is the sheer absurdity and incongruity of the various women's roles in this crazy setup which cracks the society wide open. The story is basically Victorian melodrama with more than an echo of the Bröntes, but it is acted with enormous gusto....Good to see Fleischer returning to the kind of psychopathological thriller that he can handle so well."