Cast
From "The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film":
Never before (or since) have so many horror actors been brought together and told to act like mongoloids. Never have so many actors been wasted. Only Basil Rathbone and Akim Tarmiroff get to play semirational humans. Rathbone, as Dr. Cadman (in 19th-century England), tries to cure his cataleptic wife by experimenting on people provided by Otto the gypsy (Tamiroff). His lobotomy victims are kept in the basement except for Casmir the mute butler (74-year-old Bela Lugosi). Other brainless characters are John Carradine as Borg, a bearded nut always spouting verse; Lon Chaney, Jr., as Mongo, a witless idiot who strangles people; Tor Johnson as Curry, a big, blind retard kept in chains; a guy with a skull-like half-face; and a token bald woman with tufts of hair all over her body. In the end, the army of mutants escapes, chanting "Kill, kill, kill." They do. it was the last film Lugosi made. He died in August 1956.
From "Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide":
*1/2. Big horror cast cannot save dull, unatmospheric tale of doctor performing brain transplants in remote castle. Laughable.
From "The Horror Film Handbook":
In nineteenth-century England, a doctor experiments to cure his wife's catalepsy but only succeeds in creating malformed monsters. Obvious shocker which suffers from a wordy script and unimaginative direction. Worth seeing for its parade of horror performers and a splendid performance by Lugosi.
Review from "Picturegoer" magazine, 1956: "Welcome back to the real monsters... this looks like and old ghouls' reunion at the Chamber of Horrors."
