A maniac is on the loose leaving a trail of dead behind him. The latest killing is near to the Rinehart estate, though the mad scientist son of Rinehart, John (Bryant Washburn) is busy with his new formula which can help someone survive being buried alive for hours.
His sister Mary (Sally Blane) is more interested in her reporter boyfriend Tom (Wallace Ford) - who has plenty of wisecracks of course! The Rinehart servant Degar (Bela Lugosi) adds a creepy feel to this story though it remains a crime drama not a horror.
The Rinehart family start being bumped off one by one, so as to lessen the competition for the inheritance for someone, but who? Degar is of course accused of the crime but is the murderer someone else entirely, maybe someone who we thought would have a cast iron alibi?
This is a fine film with some good twists and red herrings plus the usual dark house mystery tropes of random screams, hidden passages and doorways and a steady body count. One notable red herring is the maniac himself who in the end we find had nothing to do with the goings on in the house!
