The movie is a somewhat bizarre mixture of comedy and horror, with a correspondence-school detective trying to figure out what has happened at an asylum the inmates have taken over. Chaney, the crazed Dr. Ziska, is running things and implementing his scheme for capturing innocent travelers to be fodder for his surgical experiments. The «New York Times» complained that the movie had too much «light comedy», so that although it possessed «a degree of queer entertainment» it was «neither fish, fowl, nor good red herring». The reviewer added, «One does not expect much fun in a film featuring Lon Chaney», an infelicitous wording for what he was trying to say. The very qualities that made the reviewers complain in 1925 tend to make this film particularly entertaining today. The crazy house is full of odd-ball mechanisms like iron panels that crash down, hidden chutes, and walls with sliding panels for Chaney to peep through. Mysterious arms reach out from behind chairs, and the heroine disappears into a couch when two big arms enclose her. It’s all pretty peculiar, with torture scenes and comedy shtick side by side. The «Times» suggested that «Mr. Chaney looks as if he could have enjoyed a more serious portrayal of the theme».

Jeanine Basinger, Silent Stars, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999