The film had decent production values and the acting wasn't that bad, but I had issues with the script. I accept Sir Hugo as being monomaniacal in his pursuit of the asphyx, but his experimental designs grew more and more ludicrous as the movie wore on. I guess by the end we are to think of him as the one character who most deserved to die but was instead deprived of death. The movie takes itself seriously even at the most farcical moments but we don't have to.