Rating: 
Summary: Karloff Continues to Wake the Dead.
Review: An exceptional American/English co-production (owing much to 1958's Jack the Ripper) featuring wonderfully B-grade production standards, exceptional British casting and two of the best can-can scenes of the decade. Boris Karloff gives a beautifully hammish performance as a mystery novelist and amateur criminologist operating out of London in the late 1880s. Attempting to clear the name of an innocent man mistakenly hung for a series of ripper-style murders committed in Soho twenty years before, Karloff and his young American assistant set out to track down the surviving witnesses and locate the original murder weapon; a surgical instrument reputedly buried with the body of the innocent man.The trail leads directly to the Judas Pit, a deliciously British house of ill-repute where the final murder occured two decades before. On entering the establishment, Karloff and his understudy are immediately confronted by a seven girl cancan troupe, the first great surprise of the movie. The cancan is a full production number, lasting a good five minutes (including several spliced-in shots of the usual suspects lambasting in the audience), and featuring all the best routines: high-kicks, cartwheels, handsprings, flip-overs, kicklines and a brief solo. Gratuitous close-ups of frilly white briefs and black suspender stockings are offered up to the spectator, while the dancers are obviously professionals (rather than the usual mediochre herd of extras shoved in front of the camera after five minutes¡¯ rehearsal). As with most Brit-flicks, the costumes are immaculate and the characterisation superb. Karloff watches bemused from the dress circle as the girls whirl through their number with wild cat-calls and flailing petticoats. The scene ends with a final flash of lace as the dancers disappear through the curtain. 'My girls are good', the poker-faced matron of the Judas Pit remarks with the all dignity of a British monarch conferring a knighthood. 'Oh, very', Karloff observes dryly. A minute later, we¡¯re treated to a shot of the dancers changeroom, where the girls are standing around chattering in their underwear. The head waiter enters to serve them a bottle of wine compliments of one of the customers, concluding the dance sequence with the cinematic equivalent of an after-dinner mint. As it turns out, Karloff was right; the wrong man was hung, and the real murderer is still alive. Inadvertantly ¡®reactivated¡¯ by Karloff¡¯s meddlings, the slasher sets out on another killing-spree, providing us with the SECOND big surprise of the film: he heads straight back to the Judas Pit, and ANOTHER round of the cancan. The choreography in this second number is utterly superb; as mentioned above, this is obviously a professional dancing troup, and the girls cannot be faulted in terms of energy, enthusiasm and the breathless, furious pace at which they perform. Although shot in moody black and white, this film is is an absolute MUST SEE for anyone who enjoys period horror, Karloff, or the cancan danced at full swing.
Rating: 
Summary: Boris Karloff does Jekyl and Hyde with a Columbo twist
Review: Boris Karloff gets to play a pair of characters in this minor 1958 horror film directed by Robert Day. In 1860 a sailor named Styles was executed for being the Haymarket Strangler, who killed five women in a series of brutal murders. Twenty years later philanthropist and novelist James Rankin (Karloff) suspects they hung the wrong man. When Rankin discovers the missing murder weapon, a scalpel, in Styles' coffin, he has a fit and murders a music hall singer. Rankin blacks out and the next day does not remember anything. That is when his wife, Barbara (Elizabeth Allan), tells Rankin that his real name is Tenant, and that HE is the Haymarket Strangler. Twenty years earlier she helped him escape from an insane asylum when he developed amnesia. But now that he has his scalpel again, his murderous tendencies return. This is really a minor effort from Karloff, who was still a few years away from being rediscovered in Roger Corman's horror comedies. The most interesting part of "The Haunted Strangler" is how this English film tries to be racy with all the prostitutes running around as Tenant's potential targets. This is one for Karloff fans who feel a need to watch everything he ever did. Not a bad film, just not a good one either.
Rating:
Summary: Boris Karloff does Jekyl and Hyde with a Columbo twist
Review: Boris Karloff gets to play a pair of characters in this minor 1958 horror film directed by Robert Day. In 1860 a sailor named Styles was executed for being the Haymarket Strangler, who killed five women in a series of brutal murders. Twenty years later philanthropist and novelist James Rankin (Karloff) suspects they hung the wrong man. When Rankin discovers the missing murder weapon, a scalpel, in Styles' coffin, he has a fit and murders a music hall singer. Rankin blacks out and the next day does not remember anything. That is when his wife, Barbara (Elizabeth Allan), tells Rankin that his real name is Tenant, and that HE is the Haymarket Strangler. Twenty years earlier she helped him escape from an insane asylum when he developed amnesia. But now that he has his scalpel again, his murderous tendencies return. This is really a minor effort from Karloff, who was still a few years away from being rediscovered in Roger Corman's horror comedies. The most interesting part of "The Haunted Strangler" is how this English film tries to be racy with all the prostitutes running around as Tenant's potential targets. This is one for Karloff fans who feel a need to watch everything he ever did. Not a bad film, just not a good one either.
Rating:
Summary: Boris Karloff does Jekyll and Hyde with a twist
Review: Boris Karloff plays two different characters in this minor 1958 horror film directed by Robert Day. In 1860 a sailor named Styles was executed for being the Haymarket Strangler, who killed five women in a series of brutal murders. Twenty years later philanthropist and novelist James Rankin (Karloff) suspects they hung the wrong man...This is really a minor effort from Karloff, who was still a few years away from being rediscovered in Roger Corman's horror comedies at this point in his long career. The most interesting part of this film is how this English film tries to be racy with all the prostitutes running around as Tenant's potential targets. "The Haunted Strangler" is one for Karloff fans who feel a need to watch everything he ever did. Not a bad film, just not a good one either.
Rating:
Summary: CAN-CAN
Review: For can-can enthusiasts, this film contains two EXCEPTIONAL can-can numbers in full costume (including traditional suspender stockings and frilled underwear)....
Rating: 
Summary: Why the bad rap?
Review: I dont see why this movie gets such poor reviews. Boris does a great facial contortion with paralisis when possesed by a dead murderer. Great victorian costumes help set the stage for a pretty good mystery. I guess most of todays audience expect special effects to replace acting. No twisting heads or spewed pea soup here. While its not as good as Frankenstein, The Mummy or the afore mentioned Corridors of Blood, its still a pretty good Karloff movie.
Rating: 
Summary: THE HAUNTED STRANGLER DVD
Review: Image Entertainment's release of THE HAUNTED STRANGLER is similar to many of their other DVD releases of old horror films: it's very cool that they're releasing the movie, but special features are kept to a bare minimum. With HAUNTED STRANGLER, the only added bonuses are a scene access menu and a trailer. I am a big Boris Karloff fan, and I really enjoy old black and white horror movies, but I'm at a loss to explain why this movie has frequently received positive reviews. The story is quite obvious and plods at a snail's pace. Karloff is good as the kindly old doctor, but his Jekyll & Hyde transformations are surprisingly unconvincing and juvenile. Several dance sequences in an annoying burlesque show hinder the movie further. The movie is still watchable, however, and for any Karloff collector, a must. Consider carefully, though, before you buy the DVD at this price. Even with the trailer, the disc only runs 80 minutes. Image also released another, vastly superior Karloff film of the same period that I'd recommend over THE HAUNTED STRANGLER. It's called CORRIDORS OF BLOOD and also stars Christopher Lee.
Rating:
Summary: A karloffian extravaganza
Review: It's too bad Image didn't offer a double-bill platter of this and Corridor of Blood, as was done on laser; the films are short and were made at the same time by the same team--that would have made this an irresistible bargain, rather than a necessary luxury for Karloff lovers. The first five minutes are superb, as realistic a depiction of a Newgate hanging and all the attendant merriment (concluding with a neat window flirtation) as you will see. The picture grows routine with its Jekyll/Hyde slasher story; but there's nothing routine about Boris, who enters broadly smiling and devolves scene by scene into total madness. Does the plot have holes (like his ability not to get blood on his clothes)? Of course, and who cares. The scene where he goes bonkers in his cell beating on the walls is amazing--try to imagine another 70-year-old pulling it off. Then there's the transformation makeup: He doesn't wear any! Just squints and bites his lip and no one recognizes him, and you not only buy it, but spend the rest of the day squinting any biting your lip. This was his last great horror fest (he is relatively subdued in Black Sabbath and the overrated Targets) and he goes for broke. Also Anthony Dawson is a good guy but never looked more evil, and the much undervalued Elizabeth Allan, a veteran of '30s classics here making her last appearance, brings much feeling to a small role. Hard to believe this was the stuff of kiddie matinees back in 1958.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely not one of Karloff's best!
Review: The only thing horrible about this movie is having to watch Karloff make ugly faces and call it horror. I felt humiliated for him. If you want to see Karloff at his best stick to his FRANKENSTEIN,BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, BLACK CAT(1934), THE RAVEN(1935), or Peter Bogdanovich's directorial debut TARGETS(1967).
Rating:
Summary: Be careful, or your face will stick like that.
Review: This is a surprisingly lurid little shocker (for 1959), with a clever plot and some nice ideas. It just takes a smidgen too long to get where it's going, although the ending is fine. Due to the title and cover art, it is not revealing too much to say that Karloff becomes a killer, one with a rather scrunched-up face. These contortions seem appropriately gruesome at first, yet ultimately distract from the film. For one thing, for the movie to have us believe that these meager facial alterations would make him totally unrecognizable to those around him is asking a bit much. Still, some strongly dark atmosphere and intriguing storytelling are present. Probably worth a half-star more, but the bad slightly outweighs the good.
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