Reactions were mixed in the United States. "Film Bulletin" deemed the film a "rattling good horror show... the Frankenstein monster has been ghoulishly and somewhat gleefully resurrected by our English cousins." "Harrison's Reports" called it "well produced but extremely gruesome", adding, "The photography is very fine, and so is the acting." Bosley Crowther in "The New York Times" dismissed it as a "routine horror picture" and oddly enough opined that "everything that happens, has happened the same way in previous films." "Variety" noted, "Peter Cushing gets every inch of drama from the leading role, making almost believable the ambitious urge and diabolical accomplishment. Direction and camera work are of a high order."