Rijndri
Load of rubbish!!
Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
SincereFinest
disgusting, overrated, pointless
BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Dan Franzen (dfranzen70)
Last night I checked out the terrific The Haunted Strangler, in which Boris Karloff plays a novelist (!) and social reformer who believes a man was wrongly executed for a series of strangulations twenty years prior. James Rankin connects the murders instead to a doctor who performed the autopsy on the condemned man and who was present at the burial. Naturally, his investigation takes him down a twisted path in which he more or less becomes the strangler himself.At first, this seems like a typical low-budget Karloff horror movie, but in addition to his talents it has a couple of things going for it – one is the transformation from normal Mr. Rankin into the Strangler, and another is the major plot twist about three-fourths of the way into the movie. Seriously, did not see that coming. I clearly underestimated the depth of this plot.Karloff doesn't ham it up, slowly evolving from a calm, thoughtful chap into an unhinged obsessive, and he's surrounded by capable actors (Elizabeth Allen, Anthony Dawson, Tim Turner). And there's truly an old-school horror feel to the movie. It both looks and feels fearful.
TheLittleSongbird
Not one of Boris Karloff's best films or performances, but very interesting, sort of a take on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with a miscarriage of justice element, and pretty good as a film. Even with the big problems it has, it is still one of Karloff's better later films, Grip of the Strangler's problems never reach rock-bottom quality like the Mexican films he starred in did. The script is on the simplistic side, there are some pacing problems with the film taking a little too long to get going and then feeling rushed towards the end, and the ending could have been better rounded off. It looks reasonable though, the settings are effective, the photography is crisp and the make-up for Karloff is used very well, when in his more murderous madman guise it is quite grotesque-looking. The music is also haunting and effectively used. There are some creepy moments and the atmosphere is unsettling and well-evoked. The story on the most part is interesting and entertaining, the first half is very promising especially. The performances are solid, best in support are Vera Day and Anthony Dawson. But only one performance comes off as really "great" and that is (predictably perhaps) Boris Karloff, as ever showing a gift for changing personalities expressively and sometimes subtly. All in all, Grip of the Strangler is a pretty good film, often decent and solid without reaching greatness excepting Karloff's performance, the best thing about the film by some considerable distance. 7/10 Bethany Cox
mark.waltz
When the weapon a killer uses looks exactly like a butter knife, you know reality is missing from the story you are about to see. That is the case with "The Haunted Strangler", an obscure Gothic thriller starring the legendary Boris Karloff two years after the death of his so-called rival, Bela Lugosi. This spooky looking melodrama is about a doctor's determination to find out the truth about a series of 20 year old murders that sent one man to the gallows and caused the disappearance of the man he believes to be the killer. Karloff, looking exactly as he did 20 years ago, is still the grand old man of horror, and comes off unscathed in a predictable story that sadly becomes obvious from the start. This is, however, still quite enjoyable as a study of grand guignol, the type of Gothic horror movie rarely made today without an overabundance of special effects. It's a step above the Monogram "Z" grade thrillers of the 40's. There are some unintentional chuckles, especially the "gruesome" face of the actual strangler which certainly gives the visual for the term "pickle puss". The scene where Karloff goes exploring a long-closed graveyard in the middle of the night is actually quite chilling, adding to the already spooky photography that is the film's highlight.
Theo Robertson
When you see a film title like GRIP OF THE STRANGLER that stars Boris Karloff you're not expecting a romantic musical . Bizarrely there's long segments in this film where the film does indeed resemble a romantic musical . We're introduced to Karloff's character James Rankin whose daughter has fallen in love with a young gentleman and he wants to marry her . Cut to the inside of a theater where can can girls kicking their legs out over their heads . If someone wanted to make a film that would appeal to dirty old men then fine but GRIP OF THE STRANGLER isn't a title that's easy to market to depraved reprobates . Goodness me I thought we'd be watching a film involving people getting strangled every ten minutes and within ten minutes you'll be wanting to strangle the producer Some people have commentated that this is a film that doesn't know what it's trying to be and while this is patently obvious there's a feeling at the back of my mind that it's trying to copy the style of a couple of films directed by Mark Robson that also starred Karloff namely ISLE OF THE DEAD and BEDLAM . Unfortunately the production team have neither the style or skill to pull it off and instead we have a very unfocused B movie at the very best