Black Flies

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 47% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10.[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 8 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

Eric Ortiz Garcia of Screen Anarchy wrote that the film "finds its power reflecting the brutal level of stress inherent in this profession... Sauvaire makes his mission explicit: to raise awareness about those paramedics who are completely overwhelmed. That's something the filmmaker achieves."[15] Tori Brazier of Metro wrote, "Black Flies is a grim tale, and not a recommended watch for the more delicate cinema fan, but its message and lack of subtlety certainly hit home."[16]

Pete Hammond of Deadline wrote that the film had a "game cast and nice mostly handheld camera work by David Ungaro" but that it failed to offer anything new, and repeated plot points already covered in Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999).[17] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw concurred, writing that the "sub-Schraderesque" film was "trading on old ideas", and criticized its lack of female paramedic representation.[18] David Ehrlich of IndieWire wrote, "Black Flies is such an unrelentingly bleak look inside the busted gut of the American healthcare system that its posturing honesty soon curdles into something that's hard to believe."[19]