The Stranglers of Bombay

Terence Fisher competently directs a horror movie disguised as an adventure, offering a riot of brutality that’s definitely surprising for the time. Further, images of torture and mutilation are inserted into an exotic context where hostility and mystery reign. The director paints India as a place tormented by suffocating heat – he spends a good deal of time lingering on sweaty faces and the discomfort caused by high humidity – as well as a land populated by a multitude of sordid individuals with murky intentions.

On the other hand, there’s also no lack of stinging criticism directed at the imperialistic policies of the mother country, accused of only paying attention to their own economic gain: ‘But I have spent more years of my life in this country than you have!’ ‘And how have you spent them? Looking after the business interests of the company, nothing more. What real effort has the company made to stabilize India, beyond what was just necessary to conduct its business? Would there even be an inquiry into these disappearances if they didn’t finally threaten the company’s business?’. Another criticism leveled at the British is that they unilaterally stripped local leaders of the authority they’d wielded for thousands of years: “After all, since the honorable East India Company extended its control over this territory, I am the Patel [leader of the village] in name only“.

The story, based on a screenplay by David Z. Goodman, unfolds with a good sense of pacing and, to its credit, is generally engaging, although the ending feels unduly rushed.

Produced by London’s Hammer Films.