Grip of the Strangler starts in Victorian London at 'Newgate Prison 1860' where a notorious murderer named Edward Styles (Michael Atkinson) dubbed the 'Haymarket Strangler' is sent to the gallows & hanged in front of a cheering cockney public... Jump forward 20 years & novelist James Rankin (Boris Karloff) also happens to be a social reformer & is taking a great deal of interest in the conviction & hanging of Styles, he believes that had Styles had the money to pay for a decent legal defence in court he would never had been convicted & in an attempt to get good legal aid for everyone Rankin decides to prove that Styles was innocent. Along with his assistant Dr. Kenneth McColl (Tim Turner) Rankin collects overwhelming evidence that a doctor named Tennant was responsible for the brutal killings, unfortunately his investigation's take a sinister & unexpected turn as the murders start up once more...
This English production was directed by Robert Day & was better than I had expected. The script by John Croydon & Jan Read, who also wrote the story 'Stranglehold' upon which Grip of the Strangler is based, main asset is a couple of neat twists & turns that caught me by surprise & it seems a fair amount of thought went into it. The mystery elements are minimal as it's made clear from the start Styles is innocent & Tennant was responsible but even with this basic framework of a murder mystery about half way through Grip of the Strangler suddenly turns into a 50's slasher film with a neat plot twist. At less than 80 minutes long it never becomes boring, the story engages, the character's are alright & is more than watchable.
Director Day does an OK job but you have to take into consideration that Grip of the Strangler is the best part of half a century old, I would have thought it was quite risqué at the time with a knife wielding maniac running around strangling & slashing young women to death & it bar in which scantily clad (for the 50's) women perform on stage for men. There's a nice period atmosphere to the film & there's some effective scenes.
Technically the film is fine with nice black and white cinematography & good solid production design. The acting was better than expected, Karloff pulls a strange face at the end as he is meant to be paralysed down one side & looks pretty ugly if nothing else.
Grip of the Strangler is a good solid British horror film that is well worth watching for fans of the genre or fans of Karloff. Worth tracking down.
This English production was directed by Robert Day & was better than I had expected. The script by John Croydon & Jan Read, who also wrote the story 'Stranglehold' upon which Grip of the Strangler is based, main asset is a couple of neat twists & turns that caught me by surprise & it seems a fair amount of thought went into it. The mystery elements are minimal as it's made clear from the start Styles is innocent & Tennant was responsible but even with this basic framework of a murder mystery about half way through Grip of the Strangler suddenly turns into a 50's slasher film with a neat plot twist. At less than 80 minutes long it never becomes boring, the story engages, the character's are alright & is more than watchable.
Director Day does an OK job but you have to take into consideration that Grip of the Strangler is the best part of half a century old, I would have thought it was quite risqué at the time with a knife wielding maniac running around strangling & slashing young women to death & it bar in which scantily clad (for the 50's) women perform on stage for men. There's a nice period atmosphere to the film & there's some effective scenes.
Technically the film is fine with nice black and white cinematography & good solid production design. The acting was better than expected, Karloff pulls a strange face at the end as he is meant to be paralysed down one side & looks pretty ugly if nothing else.
Grip of the Strangler is a good solid British horror film that is well worth watching for fans of the genre or fans of Karloff. Worth tracking down.