Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

Director:

Daniel Haller

Writers:

Jerry Sohl (screenplay)
H.P. Lovecraft (from "The Colour Out of Space")

Release Date:

27 October 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

No one can stop this killing machine....It's Already Dead!!!

Plot:

A young man visits his fiancé's estate to discover that her wheelchair-bound scientist father has discovered...

Plot Keywords:

Greenhouse | Burning House | England | Doctor | Man Eating Plant

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Nahum Witley
Nick Adams	...	Stephen Reinhart
Freda Jackson	...	Letitia Witley
Suzan Farmer	...	Susan Witley
Patrick Magee	...	Dr. Henderson
Paul Farrell	...	Jason
Terence de Marney	...	Merwyn
Leslie Dwyer	...	Potter
Harold Goodwin	...	Taxi Driver (UK version)
Sydney Bromley	...	Pierce
Billy Milton	...	Henry
Sheila Raynor	...	Miss Bailey (UK version)

Also Known As:

Colour Out of Space (USA) (working title)
Monster of Terror (UK)
The House at the End of the World

Runtime:

80 min | France:75 min (DVD)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Sound Recording)

Certification:

Norway:16 | UK:15 | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-15 (2004 rating) | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:16 | USA:TV-PG | France:-12 | Ireland:12 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Alta Vista Productions

Trivia:

This was the first directing job for veteran art director/production designer Daniel Haller.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Taxi Driver: Morning!
Stephen Reinhart: Morning. Taxi?

Movie Connections:

Version of The Curse (1987)

Made palatable by a typically amusing Boris Karloff.

Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams, who co-starred in such films as "Rebel Without a Cause" and "No Time for Sergeants") is an American who comes to rural England at the request of the mother (Freda Jackson) of his sexy lady love Susan (Suzan Farmer). He finds that their family is shunned by local villagers, in the tradition of old style horror plots. Stephen meets the grumpy, wheelchair-bound patriarch Nahum (Boris Karloff, professional as always), who deeply resents his presence and who quite obviously is hiding something.

Based on the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Colour Out of Space", this starts out as typical old-dark-house-with-a-mystery stuff and ends up with a strong dose of science fiction. There's not much in the way of story here and the movie is forgettable but basically watchable. It has its moments (such as keeping the Jackson character behind a veil and stimulating curiosity as to why that might be), and doesn't do too badly in delivering some shocks, but it just isn't ever very involving and it certainly isn't scary.

Debuting director Daniel Haller was art director for many A.I.P. flicks (he did particularly fine work on some of the Roger Corman adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe), and he continues to show impressive skill with visuals. There are fine looking sequences both indoors and outdoors; even the opening credits are quite striking. Haller also manages to create some fairly good atmosphere.

Adams isn't exactly a dynamic lead here, but Karloff, Jackson, and Farmer help to make up for that. Patrick Magee is wasted in a cameo role that doesn't really add anything to the plot.

There are some special effects here of the crude-yet-somewhat-amusing variety. However, the finale is utterly ridiculous and cheesy and detracts from the overall effect; it's laughable instead of creepy.

Not bad, but it can't compare to Cormans' Poe series from the same period.

The same story was filmed again in 1987 as "The Curse".

6/10