Excellent little bit of pre-Code nastiness, oddly neglected today and awaiting rediscovery. The atmosphere is quite gruesome, though sadly leavened by Ruggles' unnecessary comedy relief (an unfortunate trait of almost every horror film of the 30s), while the flashback mechanism is utlized better than in most cases. Halliday's manipulative psychopath Kreig is one of the best villains of the Golden Age of Horror, and this film stands tall next to it's better known Paramount stablemate Murders in the Zoo. Indeed, I think this is almost as good as The Most Dangerous Game. Hopefully a better copy will someday surface on DVD. . .