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Die, Monster, Die!Rating:
Release Date: 20 February, 2001 Retail Price: $14.95 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: |
Die, Monster, Die! Reviews
"But Steve, no one ever goes into the greenhouse at night."
American International Pictures, or AIP for short, found great success as Roger Corman exhumed any number of Edgar Allan Poe stories for the silver screen, so much so they turned their eye on another influential horror writer in that of H.P. Lovecraft, cranking out such features as The Haunted Palace (1963), The Dunwich Horror (1970), and this film, titled Die, Monster, Die! (1965), the latter two both directed by Daniel Haller, who would later move to the small screen directing such series as "Quincy", "Battlestar Galactica", "The Fall Guy", and "Knight Rider". Starring in Die, Monster, Die! is Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Ghoul), pushing 77 years of age at the time (but still going strong), and Nick `Johnny Yuma' Adams (Frankenstein Conquers the World, Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero), who would pass away three short years later due to an overdose of prescription pills. Also appearing is Freda Jackson (The Valley of Gwangi, Clash of the Titans), Suzan Farmer (Dracula: Prince of Darkness), and Patrick Magee (The Masque of the Red Death, A Clockwork Orange, Demons of the Mind).
After nearly three and a half torturous minutes of opening credits, we get into the story proper as we see a young man named Stephen Reinhart (Adams) getting off the train at a small, English village called Arkham in search of the Witley estate (when the various townspeople hear this, they get tightlipped and standoffish). Unable to find a ride, Steve hoofs it into the countryside, passing a large crater on the moor, eventually coming upon the large and uninviting estate. Okay, here's the deal...Steve got himself involved with a bubblehead named Susan (Farmer) while they were both in college, and now has come to England at the invitation of Susan's mother, Letitia (Jackson), much to the consternation of the Susan's wheelchair bound father Nahum Witley, played by Karloff (seems old man Witley's a scientist of sorts, and fears Steve's present will muck things up somehow). Anyway, the old lady is sick, suffering from some unknown ailment, and pleads with Steve that he take Susan away as there's bad mojo about (Susan is reluctant to leave her parents high and dry). Turns out old man Witley has a secret in the cellar (and in the greenhouse), a secret that glows a sickly green and seems to be having peculiar effects on the Witley household (Merwyn the butler ends up suffering a slight case of death during the dinner service). Steve begins nosing about and learns many years ago a mysterious object crashed to Earth and was collected by Nahum's father, who was involved (and eventually consumed) in some not so scientific activities. The object has since passed to Nahum, who, perhaps in an effort of atonement, has been trying to find more practical applications for the mystery object, but alas, his hubris may have doomed him and his family much like it did his father...
If you're coming into this with high hopes a truly faithful adaptation of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, then you're going to be disappointed...but let's face it, the guy penned some seriously twisted material, so to think a low budget AIP film from the mid 1960s could adequately capture his vision would be somewhat foolish If your expectations aren't too high, and you're a fan of Karloff's (who plays the mad scientist bit for the umpteenth time), then this is worth checking out. Karloff is, well...Karloff, not much else needs to be said, except that, pushing nearly 80 years of age, he was just as professional as he ever was, pretty much blowing everyone else off the screen, especially his co-star Adams, in my opinion. I didn't care for Adams' character at all here, and not because it was written poorly, but because Adams comes off as an incredibly overbearing American type, one who has an overwhelming sense of entitlement, constantly flying off the handle at a moment's notice, ultimately bullying his will upon others. Now granted, given the odd goings on at the house some of his behavior might have been warranted (eventually), but his brash and overly aggressive attitudes just rubbed me the wrong way. You just don't walk into someone's house and start prying up their secrets like one would pry up the floorboards on an old house with a crowbar. Seriously, in one scene it's the middle of the night and he's in the library of the house, perusing through a private journal. Soon after this he's sneaking about the house, following Karloff's character around, determined to get to the bottom of things no matter what. As far as the other actors, well, they were there... Freda Jackson spends most of her time in bed, shrouded by curtains while Suzan Farmer's role is pretty much limited to the pretty damsel (with the nice rack) in distress bit (she had a more substantial role in the 1966 Hammer horror feature Dracula: Prince of Darkness). Magee pops up as the town doctor whose lost his zest for medicine since witnessing something he wished he hadn't at the Witley estate, and has since developed a problem with alcohol (yeah, he can't get enough!). One aspect that came across very well for me was the expansive, detailed, and atmospheric interiors of the Witley house. Some of it looked sort of hokey (the pit area in the cellar), but, overall, I thought it was a most excellent set up. The special effects are fairly low rent, especially in terms of the various creatures lurking about the greenhouse, looking like leftovers from a Sid and Marty Krofft production. To be fair, it's a well-documented fact that the abominations i.e. dark things best left alone described in Lovecraft's work so defy what we consider reality that to be in the presence of one would completely scramble one's mind, so I wasn't expecting great things in terms of true to source presentations. I'm not even sure what the creatures in the greenhouse were (mutations or beast from another world or dimension), as it was never detailed in the story. Despite some major flaws (i.e. Adams, moving the story from New England to England, etc.), the movie is entertaining and good for some cheap thrills.
The picture, presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), looks decent, but does show signs of age, as there is some slight wear present, but nothing to freak out about, as the films is intact. The Dolby Digital mono audio, provided in both English and French, comes through clean. In terms of extras, there are French and Spanish subtitles (no English ones), along with a shoddy, obviously thrown together original theatrical trailer. This film was originally released on DVD by itself, but was later appropriately re-released on DVD as part of a double feature with The Dunwich Horror (1970).
Cookieman108
By the way, what's up with Karloff's character near the end? Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto indeed (this will make a lot more sense after you've seen the movie)...
Get That Healthy, Green Glow...
Some day, a genius like Peter Jackson will take the works of H. P. Lovecraft and make an incredible series of slithering fun. Until then, we've got movies like DIE MONSTER DIE! to give us some minor shivers. Nick Adams plays a man summoned to the Whitley estate by a rotting Freda Jackson, in order to save her daughter Susan (Suzan Farmer) from the family curse. It turns out that dad (Boris Karloff) has been using a radioactive meteorite to mutate animals and grow fifty-pound tomatoes in the greenhouse! His butler keels over dead from radiation sickness and the adventure begins. I like DMD with all of it's goofiness and pretention. Should be seen as a double feature with THE DUNWICH HORROR. Check it out...
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