On the film-critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Trapped" earned 18% positive reviews based on 57 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "With its plot about child kidnapping and endangerment, "Trapped" is an exploitative thriller, more queasy than suspenseful." Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" called the film "a negligible work of manipulation, an exploitation piece doing its usual worst to guilt-trip parents." She felt "The most frightening sight, though, is that of Theron and Bacon, good actors trapped in the muck of making a living." Robert K. Elder of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote: "Excellent abduction films such as "Breakdown" and the original "The Vanishing" maintain a sense of danger and claustrophobia by keeping the conflicts mostly internal, turning up the temperature under a fluctuating tone of emotional duress. "Trapped" splashes its drama all over the screen, subjecting its audience and characters to action that feels not only manufactured, but also so false you can see the filmmakers' puppet strings." One of the few critics who gave a favorable review was Megan Turner of the "New York Post" who described the film as "a tightly drawn, propulsive thriller with some pleasingly unexpected kinks in the tale and a couple of believable performances from Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon in the leads." "Trapped" was released on DVD by Columbia/TriStar Home Video on December 24, 2002. It was subsequently issued on Blu-ray by Mill Creek Entertainment as a double feature with "In the Cut" (2003). The film is scheduled to have its standalone Blu-ray release on April 7, 2020 by Mill Creek.