The atmosphere matches Chaney's performance perfectly. His grotesque appearance is achieved with wires, cotton balls, and eye-dilating chemicals, but his character, as usual, is animated from within.
– Keith Phipps,
AV Club,
16 Aug 2013
fresh:
Lon Chaney's performance as the hideous organist prowling the sewers beneath the Paris Opera is still a cornerstone of gothic horror.
– J. R. Jones,
Chicago Reader,
16 Aug 2013
fresh:
A grand, pulpy potboiler of a suspense melodrama.
– Ty Burr,
Boston Globe,
24 Nov 2011
fresh:
The main inducement to watch remains Chaney's tragic, ineffably sad figure.
– Lawrence O'Toole,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Aug 2008
rotten:
Kerry is a colorless hero, Philbin contents herself with being pretty and becoming terrorized at the Phantom, and Chaney is either behind a mask or grimacing through his fiendish makeup.