I have to give ample praise for this film, because the quality of special effects, cinematography and scene design are all far higher than other movies of that genre. It's only loosely based around Poe's terrifying horror story, but it still gives a fair amount of chills, and even at the time was described as 'expressionistic' given Robert Florey's expert direction and Karl Freund's cinematography. The whole package is a nightmarish experience, no doubt exactly how Edgar Allan Poe would've portrayed it. Lugosi was only cast in this after being rejected from the lead in 'Frankenstein' which I think was for the best, as he does such an insane job as a lunatic that no one else would be right for the part. He plays a mad scientist who kidnaps beautiful women and injects them with blood from his cage-bound ape. Lugosi has a wonderful face for close up shots, and here you really get to see the extent of that.
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