FilmNRWitchcraft & Occult Folk Horror Gothic

The Stranglers of Bombay1959

Name: The Stranglers of Bombay
Genre: Witchcraft & Occult, Folk Horror, Gothic, Survival
Released: 1959-12-04
Rating: 6.3

“This is true! This is real! This actually happened!”

Directed by Terence Fisher

6.3

Crypt Score

Blended from 2 sources

IMDb 6.2TMDB 6.5

✍ Review

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Year

1959

Runtime

80 min

The premise

In 1826 British-ruled India, the secret Cult of Thugee demonstrates their worship of their goddess, Kali, by the mutilation and mass murder of thousands of Indians while pirating the shipments of the British East-Indian Tea Company. As the British military leaders play down the implications of the piracy and disappearances, a lone captain realizes that they are not just coincidence and sets out to uncover the source of the deviltry, at the risk of his career. Based on history.

Horror Vault's take

Set in 1826 British India, this Hammer production plunges into the shadowy world of the Thuggee — a ruthless secret cult pledged to the goddess Kali through ritual murder and mutilation on a staggering scale. When caravans vanish and bodies surface, a determined East India Company captain refuses to accept his superiors' convenient explanations and begins a dangerous one-man crusade for the truth. The film draws on documented historical atrocities to deliver a slow-burn procedural laced with genuine menace. Its unflinching depiction of cult savagery pushed boundaries for its era and gives the film an edge that lingers long after the credits roll.

Content: Cult Ritual Violence, Depictions Of Strangulation And Mutilation, Period-Era Depictions Of Colonialism