During the original release of the film, an English film critic for The Spectator was nearly fired for writing it a positive review, while the general critical reaction had been poor.
The initial release of the film was met with negative reactions from film critics. One French critic stated the film was "in a minor genre and quite unworthy of his [director Georges Franju] abilities." Franju responded by saying that the film was his attempt to get the minor genre to be taken seriously.
Director John Carpenter once suggested that selecting the mask that Michael Myers wore in Halloween (1978) was influenced by Edith Scob's mask in this film.
The film was re-released uncut (and under its original title) to US theaters for the first time on Halloween night of 2003.
Originally released in the US in an edited version titled "The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus" - an odd title considering there's no one named Dr. Faustus in the film.