Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

A very watchable mash-up of sci-fi and horror. That spaceage bugaboo, radiation, gets tossed in rather artfully via a meteorite in Karloff's backyard. The suspension of disbelief is cloaked in both supernatural garb, as Karloff's Whitley initially assumes that the stuff was sent from 'the other side', and the psuedo-science of the Whitley clan's 'research.'Die, Monster, Die! is a sort of updated Frankenstein. Karloff, as Dr. Frankenstein, messes with the forbidden fruits of science, to produce, in this case, not just one monster, but enough for the insect, animal, and (sort-of) human worlds as well. Some of the grotesque combinations are hideous; I agree with those who point out that the special effects are well done. The snail-like thing in the potting shed is completely creepy; the mutated Karloff, with the green glow and mummy-like face, works as both demon and alien.The sets also work well. The house itself, in good gothic fashion, functions as a major character. The dungeon/laboratory is especially haunting; with those expressionist murals on the walls that seem to writhe in the quivering candlelight. Looks a lot like the sets from The Pit and the Pendulum. I'm also reminded of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with its exotic stuff in the greenhouse also growing nasty things.As entertaining as Die, Monster, Die! is, I just find too many holes to rate the movie higher. You could practically ditch Nick Adams' character completely; he doesn't really add anything, except to act as Susan's savior. Even Susan's extraneous. Why does she seem clueless about what's going on in the house? She lives there after all. Except for the scenes with her mother that establish her identity, she may as well be an outsider. The plot would work better if we had the story from Karloff's point of view. Then we could concentrate on the various mutants/monsters. As it is, they seem to just show up randomly to spook Stephen and/or Susan. We never get to see Karloff using the green stone thingie for his malicious 'experiments.' It is cool that the green stuff mutates him as he destroys it. Sort of a 'sins of the fathers' curse from beyond, or beyond space. An ambitious film, let down somewhat by non-mutant characters who act witless, and a series of incidents thrown together (mutated?) into a plot. Still plenty of fun.

RELEASED IN 1965 and directed by Daniel Haller, "Die, Monster, Die" (aka "Monster of Terror") is a semi-Gothic horror about a young man (Nick Adams) who travels to the estate of his fiancé (Susan Farmer) in England. Unfortunately, her wheelchair-bound father (Boris Karloff) is curiously curmudgeonly and something strange is going on behind the scenes. The movie is based on HP Lovecraft's story "The Colour Out of Space."While this isn't a vampire flick, the opening is reminiscent of Dracula (young man visits old man's eerie chateau). I used to get this mixed up with "The Terror" (1963), probably because of Karloff, similarities in the plot, and they both came out in the early/mid-60s. Regrettably, "Die, Monster, Die" lacks the haunting fascination of "The Terror." It tries to work up a mysterious ambiance, and succeeds to a degree, but the story's mostly tedious and the characters dull. Susan Farmer is fine, but her part is too secondary and nothing interesting is done with her, like Venetia Stevenson in 1960's "City of the Dead," aka "Horror Hotel" (you know what I mean if you've seen that flick).Thankfully, there are some highlights, like the imaginative scene where the protagonist exclaims "It looks like a zoo in Hell," not to mention the impressive monster at the close.FYI: Two and a half years after the release of this movie in the US, a demoralized Nick Adams was found dead from an overdose, which might have been accidental, but it also could've been suicide.THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 15 minutes and was shot in England (Surrey & Berkshire).GRADE: C

...And since A.) the source material is a story by H.P. Lovecraft, and B.) the film was made in 1965, there's absolutely no way that anyone would expect a faithful adaptation, right? "Die, Monster, Die!" is so ridiculously un-Lovecraftian that it makes Roger Corman's Poe films look like exact replicas of the tales on which they were based, but you can't go wrong if you approach it in the spirit of fun. It's an AIP monster flick, after all, and the presence of Boris Karloff lends it considerably more dignity than it would otherwise have had. Nick Adams and Suzan Farmer are adequate as the obligatory young-couple-in-peril, while Frieda Jackson and Patrick Magee are on hand to bring an extra touch of British class to the proceedings. What remains of Lovecraft's classic story 'The Colour Out of Space' is the meteor and its frightening effects; everything else was concocted by screenwriter Jerry Sohl, but you'll have a good time anyhow (and that's coming from a staunch HPL fan). "Die, Monster, Die!" was Corman set designer Daniel Haller's first film as a director.

THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE is one of my favorite stories by H.P. Lovecraft, so it's hard to be objective about DIE, MONSTER, DIE! There are stories that just don't translate well to the Big Screen. Edgar Allen Poe's classic THE OBLONG BOX is a perfect example- and the number of times that filmmakers have cashed in on the reputations of writers like Poe and Lovecraft (not to mention ripping off writers like Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison) are Legion. Still, DIE, MONSTER, DIE! isn't a BAD movie: it's entertaining, and Nick Adams does a credible job as a man caught up in a Strange situation (his reactions to what takes place are believable for the most part), but Lovecraft it ain't. (The closest thing I've seen to a faithful attempt at bringing the Lovecraft sensibility to the Big Screen would probably have to be John Carpenter's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, although it's not, strictly speaking, Lovecraft.) Until Carpenter comes out of retirement and does his version of THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH, we'll just have to settle for what we can get.