Tonight on MeTV- it’s horror icon Boris Karloff taking on the task of proving the innocence of a man who was executed for murder. The search for answers becomes far too personal, bringing a devastating and frightening effect upon him-which leads to more murder and a tragic transformation when citizens must fear “The Haunted Strangler” !

This 1958 film, made in latter half of Karloff’s career, begins with the awful spectacle of the hanging of Edward Styles, the man dubbed the “Haymarket Strangler”, accused of the brutal murder of five women. A coldly indifferent, heartless, and jeering crowd finds his final moments a source of entertainment! Even as his life is about to end, Styles still claims that he is innocent- but to no avail.

Twenty years later, a distinguished social reformer and author, one James Rankin, is engaged in some research that makes him think that Styles really was innocent! He begins the difficult quest to uncover the truth, enlisting the help of his assistant, young Dr. McColl. (Little does Rankin realize that this young protégé is in love with his own daughter, Lily!) The two men begin their search for clues which uncovers a curious fact- that a “Dr. Tennent”, who did the autopsies on all of Styles’ victims, was involved in some kind of scandal and disappeared- as did the knife used to commit the horrible acts. Rankin thinks that knife may be the key to finding out if Styles was indeed innocent, and sets out to find it- as well as, possibly, the whereabouts of the mysterious missing Dr. Tennent.

Before long, Rankin’s obsession with the case has taken over his life, worrying those who care about him-his wife Barbara, daughter and McColl. It also begins to anger the authorities, mainly police superintendent Burk-but Rankin continues to search, tracking down witnesses. That includes one of the showgirls at a seedy nightspot, the Judas Hole, where the strangler trolled for victims. In order to track down the missing murder weapon, he even resorts to some illegal activities including bribery- until he does finally find the knife!

However, when Rankin touches the knife, an odd change comes over him- he seems possessed! He even undergoes a physical transformation, with all the same features that were attributed to the Haymarket Strangler- and, even worse, he is compelled to search out- new victims! More secrets are revealed, as more murders convince the frightened populace that the Strangler has returned from the grave to kill again!

In this haunting film, Karloff shows that, even as a senior citizen, his great skills have not diminished, neither as a horror star nor as an actor. You’ll be amazed that his possessed transformation was pulled off with NO horror make-up whatsoever! We’ll talk about how that happened, about the actors in this film, and more- including a new take on a famous character who talked to the animals, a visit from the Imp (who is NOT my nephew!),do a song that plays off some of the dancing at the Judas Hole, and present a special interview with an actress who has dealt with more modern killers in movies- but is also a fine comic actress. Plus- we bring back the historic story of how our current coffin evolved- and salute a fine actor with Chicago roots who recently passed.

You will notice that we find it necessary to warn that there are moments of violence in this film that may be upsetting to some. Though we often get comments from viewers that think this is not necessary, we do feel we have a need to caution younger and more sensitive viewers about what they are going to see.

“The Haunted Strangler” begins tonight on MeTV at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. We continue to be among trending topics on both Twitter (or is it “X”?!) and Bluesky during the show- and you can join in using the hashtag #svengoolie on either site. Our Chicago area audience will get another chance to witness the Hammer horror of “The Mummy” at 11 am on our main local station, WCIU the U.

With Father’s Day and graduations occurring this time of year, now’s the time to get gifts for dads and grads who are Sven fans from the MeTV Mall, as well as Sven summer gear for yourself! And- we are only a couple months away from our yearly visit to the Flashback Weekend horror convention in Rosemont, IL-where the guests include our friend Robert Englund- the original Freddy Krueger from the modern classic “Nightmare on Elm Street” along with a couple of his costars. Just check in every so often on the “appearances” tab on our website -we’ll post more details soon!

Join us tonight for one of the original horror greats- Boris Karloff- proving again why he is one of the cornerstones of cinema horror!