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

  (Complete credited 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:

Featured in Fantastic Fantasy Fright-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Mediocre Lovecraft adaptation despite another elegant Karloff performance

In my mind, H.P. Lovecraft is just as compulsively readable as Edgar Allan Poe, if not more. Which makes it odd that despite lots of successful Poe adaptations, I've never seen a fully successful Lovecraft one. The only really good one was "Reanimator", and thats a loose interpretation to say the least. Roger Corman and AIP had plenty of success with their Poe films, particularly "House of Usher" and "Masque of the Red Death". Why their stab at Lovecraft would turn out this mediocre is beyond me.

I'm not exactly sure what this films failing is. Its certainly not Boris Karloff, whose great no matter what the material is. Even with uninteresting schlock such as this, he was always elegant and graceful, maintaining a certain dignity no matter what film he was in. Maybe its the direction by Daniel Haller. Unlike Corman's Poe films, Haller never manages to capture the sense of creepy unease apparent in those films. "Die Monster Die" isn't really even that atmospheric. There's the same fog and castles put to good effect previously, but they just seem rather dull this time around. I guess that films main problem is the pacing. If you can make it through this one without nodding off, well, congratulations.

The supporting cast ranges from good to pretty lousy. Patrick Magee is great to watch as always. However, Nick Adams and the lovely Suzan Farmer make for pretty wooden leads. As mentioned earlier, Karloff is fantastic. However, only die-hards of either him or AIP should bother with this one. (5/10)