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Die Monster Die
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by MGM (Video & DVD)
Sales Rank: 55147
Price: $9.94
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American International Pictures production designer Daniel Haller donned the director's jodhpurs for the studio's second attempt at bringing horror master H.P. Lovecraft to drive-in audiences. The script, adapted from the author's favorite story, "The Colour Out of Space," by science fiction scribe Jerry Sohl (who later adapted another AIP/Lovecraft film, <I>The Curse of the Crimson Altar</I>), moves the location from rural New England to present-day Great Britain, where American Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) is visiting the ancestral home of his fiancée (Suzan Farmer from <I>Dracula, Prince of Darkness</I>). The girl's father (Boris Karloff) demands his departure, warning of a curse by his warlock ancestor. Said curse is actually a radioactive meteor, which mutates not only the local flora and fauna (the "zoo from hell" sequence, where Adams and Farmer encounter monstrous creatures in a greenhouse, is a campy/creepy highlight), but Farmer's mother (Freda Jackson), and eventually Karloff, who becomes a glowing zombie before the house burns in typical AIP fashion. Like the studio's previous effort, Roger Corman's <I>The Haunted Palace</I>, the picture is Lovecraft-lite, toning down the story's sense of unearthly horror in favor of standard-issue spook-show shenanigans. But Karloff's presence, though infirm, lends to the adequately chilly atmosphere, as does Haller's eye for dark-and-dreary art direction. Haller later directed another uneven Lovecraft film, <I>The Dunwich Horror</I>. MGM's full-screen VHS (and widescreen DVD) print has aged gracefully, with only minor surface damage. <I>--Paul Gaita</I>
Viewer Reviews
Released in 1965 Die, Monster, Die was one of Karloff's last movies and at the time thanks to Roger Corman, Karloff was having a resurgence of his brilliant career. The title of the movie makes it sound like some silly monster movie and had this been made a decade earlier it probably would have been (not that it would be a bad thing). But for the most part Die, Monster, Die is played straight, which is good, but does hurt the final act a bit.
While Die, Monster, Die may not go down as one of Karloff's best pictures it's still a solid movie in his career, which in my opinion no horror actor can come anywhere near the level of brilliance Boris Karloff reached. Karloff was one of those gifted actors that could take an average movie and make it better and always brings a touch of class to the movie. Die, Monster, Die is one of those movies in his career that was good that he made far better.
Based off a story by H.P. Lovecraft, the screenplay was written by Jerry Sohl and overall it was pretty good, since I haven't read the Lovecraft story I cannot say how true this stays or even in anyway compare the two. But the screenplay is overall good, the characters are solid and there's an interesting backstory with the Witley family that if explored the script might have been better off. Despite any shortcomings the script might have its still overall pretty good.
Director Daniel Haller makes his directorial debut and would later become a TV director with episodes of Kojak and Knight Rider. For the most part Haller keeps things interesting through most of the movie and I suppose one can say it was slow, but I found it interesting; he's able to keep the pace moving along with some good mystery, but as the plot unfolds is when things get messy due to it being a bit silly with mutated plants and the problem is the scenes are played straight by Daniel Haller, which slightly hurts the final act.
The final few minutes are quite silly and one cannot take it serious even though it's played straight, but despite these problems, Die, Monster, Die in my opinion always remains at least decent, which in part is helped by the location and the cast.
Boris Karloff again delivers a great performance and without Karloff, I doubt Die, Monster, Die would have turned out as well as it did. Though again this may not be the best movie of his career I do believe it's a solid movie due to Karloff. Like I said Boris Karloff is just one of those actors who can make a movie better than it should be. Overall despite the flaws I enjoyed Die, Monster, Die; while not a classic of the genre it's highly enjoyable for what it's worth.
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Die Monster Die
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