Grip of the Strangler (1958)

Grip of the Strangler: Directed by Robert Day. With Boris Karloff, Jean Kent, Elizabeth Allan, Anthony Dawson. A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long dead strangler.

“Some people have asked why Boris Karloff never played a serious version of u0026quot;Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeu0026quot; . Well, here it is, even though it is in the form of some u0026quot;Dr. Tennant / Hyde-like strangleru0026quot; duality. Once again, Boris Karloff plays the u0026quot;monsteru0026quot; and like Mr. Hyde in the previous films, he plays a man who degenerates to a rampaging animal which lives to kill. Also like Mr. Hyde, the transformations to the lower form seem to be based on some sort of sexual repression that bursts out in the form of savage attacks on women. In addition, like the u0026quot;beastu0026quot; in the u0026quot;Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeu0026quot; films, whether one is watching Fredric March, Spencer Tracy, or John Barrymore, the transformation from man to the lower animal state gets uglier with each change. Another thing, the graveyard scenes in the movie are really creepy – kind of a throwback to films such as u0026quot;Frankensteinu0026quot;, u0026quot;Bride of Frankensteinu0026quot;, u0026quot;Return of the Vampireu0026quot;, and u0026quot;The Body Snatcheru0026quot;. Even though the plot has some strange twists, this is one of the best post-Universal thrillers starring Boris Karloff – one of the last in which he plays both the monster (u0026quot;Mr. Hydeu0026quot;) and the mad doctor (Tennant). (Karloff did the same thing in u0026quot;Frankenstein 1970u0026quot; in which he played both creator and created.) Great hair-raiser.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWatch it in the dark.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDan Basinger”