Theres a bit of Oedipus Rex in The Haunted Strangler, though its not readily apparent at first. Boris Karloff plays 19th-century novelist James Rankin, who becomes obsessed with the long-closed case of the Haymarket Strangler. Twenty years earlier, a man named Styles (Michael Atkinson) was executed for the Stranglers crimes, but was he guilty? It turns out that the actual culprit was the surgeon who performed Styles autopsy. Coming into possession of the surgeons scalpel, Rankin is overwhelmed by mixed feelings of bloodlust and guilt. It is at this point that Rankin realizes that he is truly his own, and Londons, worst enemy. Originally released in England as Grip of the Strangler, The Haunted Strangler was distributed by MGM in 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide