Director: Daniel Haller
Script: Jerry Sohl
Cast: Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, Freda Jackson, Suzan Farmer, Patrick Magee, Paul Farrell, Terence De Marney
Running time: 78.5 minutes
Year: 1965
Certificate: 12?
Over the years there have been quite a number of adaptations of the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Some of them have been excellent, for example, Call of Cthulhu (2005), Dagon (2001) and Re-Animator (1985), and some not so great, such as Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) and The Dunwich Horror (1970). Die, Monster, Die, based on Lovecraft’s ‘The Colour out of Space’, is somewhere in between those two camps. I doubt it would ever make anybody’s top three Lovecraft adaptations, but it’s still a well-crafted and well-acted film and, therefore, well worth watching.
Originally titled The House at the End of the World, and sometimes known as Monster of Terror, the film definitely sits within the Sci-fi – Horror subgenre of film, rather than out-and-out horror, with its mad scientist tropes and scientific explanations for some of the weird and wonderful occurrences.
The film opens with ‘science student’ Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) getting off the train at Arkham train station and trying to make his way to the Witley property. Unfortunately for him, the cabbie refuses to go there, he can’t hire a bike or a car and there are no buses, so he ends up walking there, through some blackened woodland, blighted by what looks like a large meteorite crater (actually a cool matt painting), and narrowly avoiding a man-trap!
When Stephen finally arrives at the Witley mansion he’s given a hostile welcome by his fiancée’s father, a wheelchair bound Karloff. Luckily for Stephen the daughter, Susan, who he’s been dating for a while, intervenes and takes him up to meet her bed-ridden mother, (kept hidden by the curtains around her four-poster bed), who tries to persuade him to take Susan away from her home when he leaves. It quickly becomes apparent that all is not well at the Witley property, especially after the sudden, mysterious death of their servant, Merwyn. Stephen later finds evidence that Merwyn’s body seems to have spontaneously combusted in his chambers, although Nahum Witley (Boris Karloff) is later seen burying something in the grounds late at night.
Terrible screams, and a strange glow emanating from the over-sized greenhouse, lead Stephen and Susan to investigate and they find several mutant creatures behind bars. The house’s former maid also stalks the ground, dressed in black veils, and attacks Stephen during a walk into the village, where he tries to discover more information from the reluctant, alcoholic doctor, a sadly too-short-a-scene featuring the ever fun Patrick Magee, as Dr Henderson.
To round things off, things get fiery in the basement, which has plenty of strange occult symbolism etched into the walls and metal skulls hanging down over a pit containing… well, I don’t want to spoil the film for you!
In a nutshell, Die,Monster, Die! is certainly worth the time of general horror fans, Lovecraftian fanatics and Karloff enthusiasts. The BFI have produced a high definition version of the film that looks great and the sound is nice and clear too. A number of solid extras are also included in the package including:
Audio commentary with film historians Vic Pratt and William Fowler – A nicely done commentary with plenty of interesting facts squeezed in along with Vic’s fun list of 25 horror tropes to look out for in horror films throughout the ages.
A Karloff conversation (19.23) – Boris Karloff’s biographer, Stephen Jacobs, discusses the film and Karloff’s career with Vic Pratt. We learn plenty about old Boris, including that he loved to work and wanted to die with his boots on! A nice conversation, but I was a little distracted wondering if Vic had run to the interview since he looks somewhat dishevelled and sweaty, like he’d just jogged a half marathon through dense woodland!
Scenes from ‘Let me Die a Monster’ (14 mins) – Writers Ken Hollings and David McGillivray take us through the origins of their, as yet, un-filmed screenplay, based on the life of cult actor Nick Adams. It’s a bit of a stretch to include this, but it’s all good fun and Ken and David make for an entertaining, odd-ball couple, although I wasn’t sold on the excerpts of the script they had filmed with actor friends.
Nick Adams and Die, Monster, Die! (7.5 mins) – Writers Ken Hollings and David McGillivray look back at the life and career of actor Nick Adams and remember how they became fascinated by his films. David remembers first seeing Die, Monster, Die! under one of its alternative titles, namely Monster of Terror on a double bill with The Haunted Palace, back in 1966. They admit that Nick doesn’t have a great acting range, but he’s always fun to watch. Apparently he was also in the Japanese film Frankenstein Conquers the World; one film I’ve really wanted to see for a long time.
Sell, Monster, Sell! (12 mins) – Film unit publicist Tony Tweedale recalls his work on Die, Monster, Die! Apparently the director had previously been an art director for uber producer Roger Corman and the film was shot under the earlier title The House at the End of the World. Tony recalls that Karloff was a lovely man who hated the word ‘horror’ instead preferring to call many of the films he’d done as ‘terror’ films. Tony had also worked on a number of Hammer films, also filmed at Oakley Court, next to Bray Studios.
The Peaches (16 mins) – A stylish swinging Sixties short film funded by the BFI, through their experimental film fund. I’d been a bit wary of this, but I needn’t have worried since it’s a lot of fun and it’s great to hear the sadly missed Peter Ustinov providing the narration for this wordless quirky modern day fairy tale.
Theatrical trailer – (with or without commentary) – Vic Pratt delivers a fun commentary for the trailer, focussing on the visual effects, soft lenses, interesting dissolves and the Goat of Mendes itself.
Image Gallery – 12 minutes’ worth of behind-the-scenes shots and publicity stills, all taken from the BFI’s own film archive.
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