The Stranglers of Bombay Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The Stranglers of Bombay Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 22, 2020

The Stranglers of Bombay is currently only available in the twenty film Hammer Ultimate Collection.

A secret sect in India, which escaped even the attention of the British East India Trading Company, has long been bent on the destruction of human life. But the count of the missing is rapidly increasing and finally gaining traction with Britain’s overseers. In the past year alone, 1,119 souls have gone missing. They are not deserters; Indians simply do not do such a thing, especially at such a massive number. Colonel Henderson (Andrew Cruickshank) assigns his old chum, Captain Christopher Connaught-Smith (Allan Cuthbertson), to investigate, even as it was Captain Harry Lewis (Guy Rolfe) who brought the matter to his attention and who believes he is best equipped to handle the investigation. As Lewis gathers evidence of something nefarious centered around the cult of Kali – a cult of “stranglers” – his warnings fall on deaf ears. He ultimately resigns his commission to investigate the matter but finds himself in a deadly confrontation with a fearless and bloodthirsty foe.

The film saves many of its shocks for the final act, favoring something more of a character study and investigative procedural for much of its runtime. In 2020 it lacks the punch it certainly played with in 1959 but it still holds some disturbing scenes as characters meet their fates, sometimes by strangling, as the title suggests, sometimes with a little more gruesome flair. Performances are spotty at best, but generally satisfy the demands, often aided by effective production design. The film recreates the sweaty landscape and nicely contrasts the British and Indian worlds as they have merged and as they remain distinguishable one from the other, physically to be sure but also in the social, political, and religious realms.

The Stranglers of Bombay Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of The Stranglers of Bombay delivers a fair 1080p output. The grayscale lacks the nuance of superior black and white images. There's not a lot of separation to the midrange, rendering the image a darker gray across much of it. Whites are flat and creamy, too, but at the other end black levels are solid enough, holding appropriately deep and demonstrating good shadow detail definition. The image is not exceedingly grainy, but it does not show signs of severe noise reduction. There's a bit, perhaps, but not enough to wipe the image free of its essential textures. Sharpness is satisfactory to reveal facial lines and, perhaps most notably, beads of sweat; many characters look nearly drenched in the movie, particularly the British (it teeters on distraction). The contrast of clothing is one of the highlight points for the transfer. There's a wide range from more resplendent Indian wear to the finely appointed and dense British attire. Some of the cult members wear worn and tattered clothes for good measure. Environmental detail is fair. Complex interiors fare better than complex exteriors, but neither are particularly sharp. The image shows only the odd splotch and speckle. Compression issues are not commonplace.

The Stranglers of Bombay Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Stranglers of Bombay features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The opening music over the crawl is harsh, cramped, and lacking more than basic definition. This holds true for all of the more intense musical cues throughout: they're sharp, wild, crunchy, and lacking all but the most essential distinction. Stretch along the front is limited, too, with the notes largely remaining in the middle. Lighter score is more effective for clarity but not space; listen to a scene at the 60-minute mark. The highs remain shrilly but the bulk of the material is more balanced and nuanced. The sound design incorporates several insects and other examples of environmental din, which commendably fill the background but hold to the front center imaged area. Dialogue lives here, too, and it is appropriately clear.

The Stranglers of Bombay Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, no supplemental content is included.

The Stranglers of Bombay Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Stranglers of Bombay is an imperfect experience that holds some mild interest for the cultural contrasts within the larger Horror tale. Production design is not at all bad. While the film is not so shocking today as it certainly was decades ago, it's more or less effective for chills and some interesting scenes, like one in which a snake battles a mongoose. Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray delivers passable video and shaky audio. Worth a look.