 In regards to von Stroheim's performance, Kirkus Reviews wrote, "A magisterial, crazily comprehensive biographical study of the original renegade director" while Times Literary Supplement wrote " A monument to the awful Good Old Days of an infant Hollywood"

Michael Den Boer writes that "Though this film has a Gothic Horror vibe, it’s far-fetched premise ventures into the realm of science fiction.With that being said, there is one area where this film does not fully deliver in regards to its most unusual premise.And that is how the film does not exploit the more salacious aspects of its premise and how the narrative resembles something more akin to what one would expect from a melodrama".