Throttling, choking terror – that will leave you gasping for breath!
Film Synopsis
Grip of the Strangler (1958) chronicles a writer and social reformer who investigates the case of a man executed twenty years earlier for a series of murders in Victorian London. Convinced that the condemned man was innocent, he searches for evidence of a miscarriage of justice and finds the investigation taking a disturbing personal turn. This British psychological horror film transforms a murder inquiry into a dark study of identity and repression, gradually narrowing the distance between the investigator and the violence he seeks to understand.
Critical Perspective
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Despite a rare sub-par performance from Boris Karloff, The Grip of the Strangler (The Haunted Strangler in the States) is a modest but entertaining low budget Gothic. … With a plethora of nocturnal graveyard excursions, possession (of a sort), cavorting can can girls, grisly murder and Karloff gurning away like a madman, it’s rarely dull and [director] Day gives the film more of a sheen that one might have expected from a tiny, no budget chiller … Keep expectations low, revel in the film’s many lurid excesses and The Grip of the Strangler is undemanding fun, worth seeing for Karloff’s silly facial contortions alone.
Kevin Lyons, Grip of the Strangler film review (The EOFFTV Review, 2023)
Grip of the Strangler DVD editions
See which disc extras are included across selected editions.
| Disc Extras | Criterion DVD-1/US 2007 | Image DVD-1/US/OOP 1998 |
|---|---|---|
| Audio Commentary by Producer Richard Gordon and Tom Weaver, with Additional Comments by Producer Alex Gordon | ||
| Haunted Memories - Interviews with Director Robert Day, Co-Writer Jan Read, and Actresses Jean Kent and Vera Day | ||
| Stills Gallery | ||
| US Theatrical Trailer | ||
| US Radio Spots with Fiend Without a Face (1958) |
Edition and Packaging Notes
- Criterion’s DVD is included in the “Monsters and Madmen” box set with Corridors of Blood (1958), The Atomic Submarine (1959) and First Man Into Space (1959). It includes a 24-page booklet.
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Collector’s guide
Compare presentation quality and explore notable disc extras across selected editions.
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Haunted Memories (12:15)
| Editions | |
|---|---|
| Extras | Audio Commentary by Producer Richard Gordon and Tom Weaver, with Additional Comments by Producer Alex Gordon Criterion DVD |
| Haunted Memories - Interviews with Director Robert Day, Co-Writer Jan Read, and Actresses Jean Kent and Vera Day Criterion DVD | |
| Stills Gallery Criterion DVD | |
| US Theatrical Trailer Criterion DVD | |
| US Radio Spots with Fiend Without a Face (1958) Criterion DVD |