Fresh and Exciting

Fantastic!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Well, it was not all that bad of a film.... I've seen better and I've seen worse. Worth watching if you want a different type of a ghost film and like the classics.Easy story to watch: An innocent man was hanged, a confession made and ghost out for revenge. For me, the best part about the film was the fact it is set in the swamp - it has a creepy aura to it. I also liked the ferry - pretty cool way to cross the swamplands. What I was not crazy about the ending nor did I like the "romance" in this flick - wish the "budding romance" was left out and someone else rid the swamps of the ghost. Still an OK movie to watch.6/10

Poverty Row cheapie that's much better than its modest production would suggest. There's been a series of murders by strangulation in the swamp. The superstitious locals believe it's the ghost of an innocent man they hanged seeking revenge. The hanged man's granddaughter shows up, looking to take over her grandfather's ferry business. She soon falls in love with a young man who happens to be the son of one of her grandfather's killers. Gramps won't like that!Lots of foggy atmosphere, a nice cast, and some neat special effects elevate this PRC chiller above most of the other Poverty Row films of the time. The cast includes vets Robert Barratt and Charles Middleton. Future director Blake Edwards and former Miss America Rosemary LaPlanche play the young lovers. Some genuinely creepy moments in this one. Probably the best PRC film I've seen.

Strangler From The Swamp is an effective little picture, produced by the notorious PRC studios. What we have is one of the best horror entries "Poverty Row" ever came up with. That isn't saying a great deal, of course, but Strangler has atmosphere to spare, and achieves some genuinely eerie moments amidst the amateurish acting and interesting if over-used sets. The story concerns a village near the edge of the titular swamp, haunted by the ghost of a man innocent of the crime for which he was hanged - the murder was committed by the ferryman, who seems to run a thriving business for such a little community. Throughout the 59 minute running time we are treated to countless toings and froings across the ferry, yet Director Frank Wisbar conjures up a haunting and often creepy menace. Rosemary LaPlanche makes a refreshing change from the usual scream-at-everything 40s horror heroines, taking over her late grandfather's ferry with aplomb, and proving the prime mover of the plot. Blake Edwards, later to direct The Pink Panther series of films(!) is her paramour, and it turns out he is the one who needs saving from the ghost.Charles Middleton - Ming The Merciless from the Flash Gordon serials - turns up here as the spectral strangler, in a simple yet effective make-up - his eye sockets are blackened and camera lens gauze gives him an unworldly quality.There are flaws, of course, yet much of them are charming in their naivety, and this is certainly a superior production than many better known horrors of the period. Strangler From The Swamp will never be favourably compared to Val Lewton's films, yet it's well worth a watch.

**** Includes Spoilers ****I've been a horror film fan now for many decades. Just when I think I've seen all the great ones another pops up to surprise me. I had never seen this film before. It was a treat, off the beaten path too...not just the path to the swamp ferry boat either. Here was a horror film made in the 1940s that dared to try something VERY different. The pretty girl is (gulp) fearless for a change and saves the men, including the man she loves, from the monster ! How is that for a twist. This girl was the complete opposite of most women in films of that time, no screaming at her own shadow, no fainting from fright, no tripping over a leaf as she runs. This gal wasn't afraid to live alone in a secluded hut far away from the rest of the villagers. Not only that but the place was on a foggy swamp rumored to be haunted. Heck she even takes naps on the swamp grass outdoors...like a regular 1940s version of Ripley. No snake, gator or ghostly strangler would dare bother this gal. Books on early feminist films should be sure to include this overlooked work.See this if you are a fan, like me, of those wonderfully atmospheric classic B/W horror films they made only in the 30s and 40s. And be sure to wear your cast iron turtle neck for protection.