Grip of the Strangler

1958
16
1h 18m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

2.2K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:54

1 Video

13 Photos

Crime Horror Mystery

A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long-dead strangler.A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long-dead strangler.A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long-dead strangler.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

2.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Trivia
While director Robert Day and the make-up man were discussing how to achieve Boris Karloff's metamorphosis without undue complication or expense, the actor volunteered that he could achieve the effect by taking out his dentures, which he had also done when he played Frankenstein's monster.

Goofs
One scene shows an evidence box from the Jack the Ripper case but the Haymarket Strangler that starts the movie took place in 1860 and the rest of the movie is 20 years later (1880). The Ripper killings were in 1888, eight years after the movie takes place.

Quotes
James Rankin: I'm sorry, Barbara, but a man must do the work in which he believes!

Connections
Featured in Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest: The Haunted Strangler (1973)

User reviews51

Featured review

6/10

Karloff Gives His Usual Skillful Performance

Boris Karloff makes his living as a novelist. He is also a social reformer, investigating murderers hanged at Newgate whom he believes innocent. One such is the Haymarket Strangler, executed twenty years earlier. He bribes a guard to let him dig up the Strangler's coffin, and locates a key bit of evidence.... and goes mad, strangling showgirls.

Karloff achieves the transformation into a grotesque figure by taking out his dentures. Director Robert Day directs this old-fashioned thriller with some loving details, showing the filth beneath late Victorian propriety, with some effective camerawork by Lionel Banes. The cast includes Elizabeth Allan in her last screen role, Jean Kent as a strumpety showgirl, and Leslie Perrins in his last big-screen appearance.