Review of Die, Monster, Die! (1965) by Morgan W — 19 Jun 2012
Known as Monster of Terror in the UK when it first came out, and directed by Daniel Haller (The Wild Racers (1968) and The Dunwich Horror (1970)), and loosely based upon H.P. Lovecraft's 1927 story The Colour Out of Space.
This is a creepy horror film that manages to be quite effective, and it has some good moments of horror throughout. It has American scientist Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams), coming to the English village of Arkham to visit the Witley family, as he intends to marry Susan Witley (Suzan Farmer), but no-one in the village of Arkham will give him a ride up to the Witley estate, meaning he has to go on foot.
Near the estate, he finds a huge crater with blacked out trees nearby. He gets to the estate and is given a cold reception by Susan's father Nahum (Boris Karloff), who is non-plussed by Stephen's visit, and the mother Letitia (Freda Jackson), who is bed-ridden with some unseen disease.
But, Stephen becomes curious as to what Nahum is working on, and after discovering some huge, mutated vegetables in the greenhouse, he soon starts to worry for the safety of this very disfunctional family.
At a mere 76 minutes, it manages to be a very good horror film with some good moments throughout, and Karloff making a creepy old father and scientist, the effects at the end as they fight a weird creature of light is a particular highlight.
Oh, and look out for Patrick Magee of A Clockwork Orange as the village doctor.
This review of Die, Monster, Die! (1965) was written by Morgan W on 19 Jun 2012.
Die, Monster, Die! has generally received mixed reviews.
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