Danielle Trussoni of the New York Times described Revival as "pure Stephen King .. reading Revival is experiencing a master storyteller having the time of his life."
Tasha Robinson, writing for The A.V. Club, offered a similar criticism: "Virtually all of Revival is a slow build that sometimes feels suspiciously like a shaggy-dog story, one which may not have a punchline... Revival could have trimmed all the buildup and instead been an extremely unnerving short story.