Gunton and Brown were deemed by Klady as 'extremely credible in their villainy', while Howe countered that Gunton's warden was a clichéd character who extols religious virtues while having people murdered. When UK film critic Mark Kermode interviewed a host of United States moviegoers, they compared it to a 'religious experience'. Decades after its release, the film was still broadcast regularly, and is popular in several countries, with audience members and celebrities citing it as a source of inspiration, and naming the film as a favorite in various surveys.
Darabont felt the turning point for the film's success was the Academy Award nominations, saying 'nobody had heard of the movie, and that year on the Oscar broadcast, they were mentioning this movie seven times'.
