Villain(s)  Ghostly ferryman

Actor(s):  Rosemary La Planche, Robert Barrat, Blake Edwards, Charles Middleton

Brief Description  Strangler of the Swamp (1946) is an American Gothic horror film produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and directed by German filmmaker Frank Wisbar. The film is a low-budget, highly atmospheric remake of Wisbar’s own 1936 German classic Fährmann Maria (Ferryman Maria). Despite its "Poverty Row" studio origins, the movie is widely praised by film historians for its inventive use of lighting, stylized shadow work, and an omnipresent eerie fog that covers up its cramped studio sets.

Plot:
The story takes place in a desolate, heavily mist-shrouded bayou town. Years prior, a local ferryman named Douglas was falsely accused of a murder he did not commit. Before a proper investigation could happen, a mob of superstitious villagers lynched him, hanging him from a tree overlooking the stagnant swamp. Before dying, Douglas placed a curse on the community, promising vengeance upon the men who hanged him and all of their male descendants.

Years later, the curse manifests. Men associated with the hanging begin dying mysterious, violent deaths by strangulation. The townsfolk live in constant terror of the "Strangler," a grim, ghostly figure who gradually materializes out of the swamp shadows to choke his victims. When the current old ferryman, Joseph Hart, dies, his independent and strong-willed granddaughter, Maria, returns home. Defying the town's superstitions, Maria takes over the hand-ferry operation, manually pulling the boat across the water along a rope stretched between the shores.

Soon, Maria falls in love with Chris Sanders Jr., a young man who has recently returned to the village. Unbeknownst to them initially, Chris's father, Christian Sanders Sr., was the leader of the lynch mob that executed Douglas. Because of this lineage, Chris is next on the ghost's execution list. The community leader, Sanders Sr., attempts to fight the villagers' panic, but the supernatural threat proves all too real. In the climax, the ghostly Strangler corners and seizes Chris. Deeply in love, Maria intervenes and begs the ghost to spare Chris, offering her own life as a willing sacrifice instead. Moved by the purity of her selflessness, or perhaps satisfied by the breaking of the cycle of hatred, the phantom fades back into the mist, lifting the curse from the swamp.