KARLOFF'S HAUNTED STRANGLER

The year is 1860. The place: Newgate Prison in England. Edward Styles, convicted killer of five woman, is executed in a public hanging. His body is interred, but not before an unseen hand places a scalpel in his coffin before it is nailed shut.

Twenty years later, novelist James Rankin (Boris Karloff) is investigating the case on the premise that it was a wrongful death and would have been dismissed if he would have had legal reprensentation. His search leads him to Styles' grave and he begins digging it up with the assumption that the murder weapon has been hidden in his coffin. He pries open the lid and, scratching around the remains, finds the scalpel. Rankin grasps it in triumph, proving his theory that it was a doctor by the name of Tennant who had been present when Styles was placed in the coffin and he instead, had committed the crimes. But as he does so, he goes through a physical change and becomes possessed with the killer's spirit. With scalpel in hand, he resumes the murder spree until he is caught and gunned down by police.

Originally titled, STRANGLEHOLD, , THE HAUNTED STRANGLER was released on May 11, 1958 and produced by Richard Gordon's Amalgamated Pictures, a film company that made a series of mostly crime films in England. The horror/thriller was directed by Robert Day and written by John Croydon (as John C. Cooper) and Jan Read based on a story by Read. The cast included Jean Kent (her only horror film), Elizabeth Allan (appeared in MARK OF THE VAMPIRE) and Anthony Dawson (appeared in Hammer's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF and two Bond films). 

As usual, Karloff makes the most of his role as the obsessive novelist and social-reformer. Karloff managed his twisted face persona with little makeup; instead he did the same thing as when he was being made up as the Frankenstein monster over twenty years earlier -- he removed his false teeth! The rest of the cast does a good job with their characters in what is a fairly well-done crime drama.

The story does have some plot holes and errors, such as, why didn't Tennant just toss the murder weapon into the Thames? Also, an early scene with Karloff in the police evidence room shows a box labeled, "Jack the Ripper". Since the story takes place in 1880, it would some years before the Ripper's murder spree.

Karloff would work again with Robert day in CORRIDORS OF BLOOD that same year. Amalgamated produced two more science-fiction/horror films (FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, FIRST MAN INTO SPACE) before folding up their camera tripod and headed back across the pond.

One Sheet movie poster.

Production stills:

The film was on a double-bill with Fiend Without a Face.

Karloff's agreement to use his name and image
in promoting The Haunted Strangler.