Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Adapted from the H.P. Lovecraft story The Colour Out of Space, Die, Monster, Die! opens with the arrival of American Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) at the English village of Arkham (a name that will no doubt be familiar to fans of Lovecraft). As is usually the case in such films, the locals are far from friendly, refusing to help him reach his destination, the Witley house, where his university sweetheart Susan (Suzan Farmer) lives with her mother Letitia (Freda Jackson) and father Nahum (an aged Boris Karloff).Eventually arriving at the Witley place on foot (having successfully avoided the man-trap by the gate), Stephen is confronted by Nahum, who tells him to leave. Susan, however, welcomes him with open arms and pointy boobs, clearly unperturbed by, or blissfully unaware of, their age difference (Adams, a decade older than his perky co-star, has a carefully concealed receding hairline and bags under his eyes). After Stephen is introduced to Letitia—who hides behind the veils that surround her bed and urges the young man to leave with her daughter—he begins to suspect that something very strange is happening at the Witley manor. And you know what? He's right!There are a couple of moments in Die, Monster, Die! that come very close to capturing the true horror and otherworldly dread of Lovecraft's writing: firstly, when our hero and heroine discover large mutated creatures caged in a greenhouse—nothing says Lovecraft more than tentacled beasties—and secondly, when Stephen locates the ominous green meteorite that has been causing the mutations, the glowing rock emitting a menacing hum that can only mean bad things. Sadly, the rest of the film is far less effective, plodding from one gloomy corridor, darkened room, or foggy exterior, to another as Stephen explores the house and its mist-shrouded grounds (narrowly avoiding Nahum, who is surprisingly nippy in his wheelchair).Director Daniel Haller would have another stab at bringing Lovecraft to the screen in 1970 with The Dunwich Horror, but with little success, while The Colour Out Of Space would be turned into another movie, The Curse, in 1987.

"The Colour Out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft is turned into pretty much lousy movie. Titles "Die, Monster, Die!" and "Monster of Terror" are misleading as there are no monsters in this story. It is about mutations of plants and animals caused by meteor fallen into small isolated English town. There's too much idling although movie lasts just a little above an hour and even Boris Karloff didn't leave much of impression. Special effects are ridiculous. I understand that movie is made in 60's when they couldn't do much better than this, but it would be better if they simply left those shots out and based the movie more on building a tension, leaving our imagination to compensate for missing effects. This way it just ended up ridiculous and pretty much boring. From Karloff in Lovecraft's story I expected much much more than this.5/10

I do love the old American International Pictures films from the 1960s. Many of them were directed by Roger Corman, starred Vincent Price, and were based on Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft stories. What did AIP do when they couldn't rely on Corman or Price to head up one of these moneymaking projects? They replaced them with other reliable talent like Boris Karloff and Set Designer / first time Director Daniel Haller.The outcome of this pairing was 1965's strange mix of sci-fi paranoia and classic haunted house themes entitled "Die, Monster, Die!" Imagine a 1950's space invader film like "The Quartermass Xperiment" and "The Thing" colliding with the setting of "The Haunted Palace." An American scientist (Nick Adams) is summoned to the secluded estate of his fiancée (Suzan Farmer). Her home sits on the edge of a crater in the center of a countryside devastated by what appears to be fire. Upon arriving, he is met by the woman's embittered and secretive father (Boris Karloff). After he's urged by his girlfriend's sickly mother (Freda Jackson) to take her as far away as possible, he begins investigating the mysteries surrounding the old house and its devastated grounds."Die, Monster, Die!" is not rated. There are some rather graphic and gory death scenes which would merit a PG rating now. They're not going to freak out anyone who's used to the realistic effects of today. However, they quite possibly could frighten children.Although not directly related to the storyline, I found "Die, Monster, Die's" use of Biblical and religious elements fascinating. The mother talks quite openly about the sins of the father coming down on the son. She also states that one can be a man of strong faith and lose it only to become a tool of the Devil.In hindsight, "Die, Monster, Die!" is a unique little film that isn't what it appears to be from the get-go. Screenwriter Jerry Sohl and Director Haller did their best to lead audiences in one direction before banging them over the head in the climax of the movie with a twist on the haunted house genre. It suffers a little from pacing, but one could almost explain that away to the era it was made in. People didn't demand such quick delivery in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hot-headed American Stephen Reinhart (a fine performance by Nick Adams) goes to a remote house located in rural England to visit his sweet fiancé Susan Witley (winningly played by the adorable Suzan Farmer). Susan's cranky, crippled reclusive scientist father Nahum Witley (a splendid portrayal by the great Boris Karloff) demands that Stephen leave right away. Stephen decides to stay and finds out that Nahum has discovered a glowing radioactive meteor which causes plants to grow to enormous size and people to mutate into hideously misshapen beasts. Director Daniel Haller, working from a compelling script by Jerry Sohl that's based on H.P. Lovecraft's classic short story "The Colour Out of Space," relates the story at a slow, yet steady pace, does an expert job of creating and sustaining a supremely creepy and mysterious atmosphere which becomes more increasingly eerie and gloomy as the narrative unfolds towards its lively and exciting fiery conclusion, and delivers a wealth of stunning visuals (Haller's use of pervasive sinister mist is especially inspired and effective). Kudos are also in order for the sound acting from the tip-top cast: Karloff and Adams are both excellent in the lead roles, Freda Jackson likewise excels as Nahum's ailing wife Letitia, and Patrick Magee has a regrettably small, yet nifty minor part as bitter retired physician Dr. Henderson. Paul Beeson's sumptuous widescreen cinematography boasts richly saturated color and lots of evocatively uncanny shots of the dismal fog-shrouded countryside. Don Banks' shivery score hits the shuddery spot. The mutant beings are genuinely scary and grotesque. But it's this film's strong sense of pure skin-crawling dread and despair which makes this picture so spooky and unsettling. Well worth seeing.