Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Leofwine_draca Boris Karloff's assured performance alone makes this otherwise routine British B-movie one to watch. It's in much the same vein as its companion piece, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, also made in the same year, although this film lacks a solid supporting cast and the lurid sensationalism that that film holds (although it does come close at times). GRIP OF THE STRANGLER has an excellent twist in its tale - that the killer Karloff is hunting turns out to be himself, and that he is unable to convince the police of his guilt - and the whole film rides on Karloff's performance. I'm pleased to say that it's a typically excellent one.Karloff plays his tormented murderer with just the right touch of humour and sympathy. Essentially his role is a Jekyll and Hyde one, although unlike other screen monsters he has very little - if any - makeup in his Hyde role. Instead, all he does is distort his arm to make it seem paralysed, close one eye, and curl his upper lip. The effect is devastating, and disturbingly good, and a mark of Karloff's skill as an actor to be able to convincingly pull off such a effect by merely contorting his features. His Jekyll, on the other hand, is an innocent, friendly man who wants only the best for his family and friends. Essentially he's a schizophrenic, and the way that he manages to be both scary and sad is skilled. Bear in mind that the actor was about seventy when this film was made, and his achievement seems all the more impressive.Sadly, he is let down by his lacklustre supporting cast, who simply don't cut it when they should. Where are all those British character actors when you need them? The best of the lot is Anthony Dawson, who is effective as the leading police investigator, but Tim Turner, who plays the younger doctor, is wooden in the extreme. Diane Aubrey is unassured as Karloff's wife, and minor roles become caricatures. Most of the women in this film are can-can girls, and a fair amount of time is taken up with their performances which certainly helps to pad the running time out a bit.This is a film undoubtedly influenced by Hammer's THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, which had of course had worldwide success a year previously. This is evident in the Gothic Victorian setting of the film, and the fact that genre staples like grave-digging and lunatic asylums are brought into play to good effect. The murky black and white photography effectively conjures up just the right atmosphere for a film such as this. While the first hour is mainly build up with a few shock scenes, the climax is excellent and classic stuff. We see Karloff ingeniously escape from his asylum cell by setting fire to his bed and slashing the guard with a piece of glass. He then roams the countryside and woods, hunted down by police, before attacking his daughter. I had to laugh at the scene in which he jumps through a greenhouse window, which is pushing Karloff's ability a bit too far, considering his age. I mean, even made up to look younger than he is, he still appears to be in his late 50s at youngest, and the stuntman is obviously thirty years younger.This asylum horror, complete with its implied gore, brings to mind the full-blown and bloody horrors of FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL, which is a good thing. Compare the end of the movie with the shocking finale of Bob Clark's DEAD OF NIGHT and the similarity is remarkable, and undoubtedly an influence. GRIP OF THE STRANGLER may just be another B-movie, but the interesting plot and Karloff's performance make it hold together much better than other, more typical pictures from the period.

jadedalex I had to check the date of this production, as it seemed to look more like a mid-forties' horror feature. But no, this movie was made in 1958. Which to my mind, was one of the more charming features of this film. I see a particularly negative review disparages the 'Todd Slaughter' quality of the film, but I disagree with the writer. Todd Slaughter was the supreme ham of all hams, and I actually find Karloff quite good here. (Then again, I do enjoy Slaughter's scene-chewing gastronomes!)There is a good film in here, but it is talky and slow-going. I enjoyed the opening hanging scene, with the wicked wench at the window taking bites of her apple. The scenes at the 'Judas Hole' offer lascivious glimpses at the dancers, and, pushing the envelope even further, the director has a dead woman uncovered, and the face is shown with her eyes wide open in terror. Not exactly the Val Lewton 'touch' of subtlety that might have helped the film.There is the obvious parallel to Stevenson's 'Jekyll and Hyde' in Karloff's 'Doctor Rankin'. The psychic connection to the strangler's knife is interesting (the scene in which Karloff sees the flame in the lamp and imagines his knife brings a welcome remembrance to James Whales' masterpiece "The Old Dark House").But the story is not told well, and the movie seems longer than its seventy-eight minute run time. Karloff's change into the strangler is subtle, a la Spencer Tracy's in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. It leaves the viewer wondering why no one noticed that it MIGHT be the good doctor, but Karloff pulls it off well. Any major transformation might be unbelievable. (As great an actor as Fredric March was, his 'Mr. Hyde' make-up is ludicrous...much too ape-like.)

ferbs54 I am still kicking myself in the buttocks repeatedly for having missed the double feature of Boris Karloff's "The Haunted Strangler" (1958) and "Targets" (1968) at NYC's Film Forum a little while back. Thus, seeing a nice, crisp-looking DVD version of "Strangler" the other day came as a very nice consolation prize for me. In this one, Karloff plays a writer and social reformer living in London in 1880. He is investigating what he believes to be the wrongful execution of a man 20 years earlier; a man who had been accused of being the notorious Haymarket Strangler. Unfortunately, as Boris proceeds with this Victorian "cold case," all leads come back to...himself, and before long, he begins to act just a wee bit homicidal. As his Hyde-like nature emerges, Boris bites his underlip, sticks his teeth out, closes one eye and sweats a lot; still, it's a fairly impressive-looking transformation. Karloff was 71 when he essayed this role, but he still manages to exude a great deal of energy and enthusiasm (just watch him try to rip himself out of that straitjacket!). Perhaps being back in England again to make a film was somewhat responsible for this boost. And speaking of energy boosts, I must say that a neat surprise concerning Boris' character comes halfway through that really does shake things up. "The Haunted Strangler" also offers some interesting supporting characters, including cancan dancer Vera Day (who, with her bullet bra, made such a double impression on me in the following year's "Womaneater") and Scotland Yard agent Anthony Dawson (who, come to think of it, attempted a bit of strangulation himself in 1954's "Dial M For Murder"). Bottom line: This Karloff pic really ain't half bad!

raymundohpl GRIP OF THE STRANGLER aka THE HAUNTED STRANGLER is one of the films the great Boris Karloff made in the late fifties in his birthplace, Merrie Old England! Unfortunately, there's nothing merry about the sombre mood set by this film with the exception of the dance hall scene in "The Judas Hole", a questionable place frequented by sleazy-looking aristocrats and skivvies. Jean Kent struts her stuff as Cora Seth, the floozie whom "all the boys adore" as her song goes, and she lets rip a full-blooded and catchy chorus of "Cora, Cora" as Dear Boris skulks backstage with a fearful grimace on his contorted face, planning some diabolical skullduggery to unleash upon the unwary damsel. Elizabeth Allan, who survived her encounter with Bela Lugosi's Count Mora in THE MARK OF THE VAMPIRE at MGM almost three decades earlier, plays Boris' wife, and doesn't fare as well in her encounter with King Boris. Anthony Dawson, who played villains in films like DIAL M FOR MURDER, DR. NO and THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, plays police inspector Burke in a rare sympathetic role. Vera Day, who was menaced by George Coulouris and his huge human-eating plant in THE WOMAN EATER, gets "Gripped" by Boris in his strangling hand. The crowd of extras in the opening execution by hanging scene are the most loathsome, grotesque and ugly(both physically and morally) excuses for people who literally uproariously laugh and enjoy the spectacle, foretelling the carnage and fun to follow. By the way, one of the Haymarket Strangler's victims' is named MARTHA STEWART--keep an ear peeled so you don't miss that name! Highly Recommended and great fun without overt blood and gore, very atmospheric and well photographed and ACTED, of course!