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Review by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
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USA Release: Oct. 27, 1965 ALta Vista Productions, American International Pictures (AIP) Rating: USA: N/A |
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This is one of those movies where a city person(s) go to a foreign country or a rural area of their own land and finds the locals all inexplicably hostile.
In fact, there's a fork in these kinds of tales. One where the locals warn the protagonist(s) not to go to that place, and the other where the locals don't care, won't help, won't say why, and are cruel and frightened douchebags.
DIE MONSTER DIE is the latter.
Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams: FRANKENSTEIN VS BARAGON, INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER, MISSION MARS) just got off the train in Arkham after flying from the U.S.A. to the U.K.
He first tries to get a cab, but when the cabbie hears that Stephen wants to go to The Witley place, he gives Stephen the brush-off.
Nobody in Arkham will give Stephen a ride to the old Witley place or even rent him a bike to pedal there himself, so Steve goes walking.
With the house in sight, Stephen comes upon a heath and what appears to be a sinkhole or blasted area in the middle of it all. Odd plants grow there but crumble to ashen smears when you rub your finger against them.
Several Keep Out signs and a hunter's trap later, Stephen arrives at the old Witley house, finds nobody answering the door, walks inside calling if anyone is there, and meets a wheelchair bound and scowling Nahum Witley (Boris Karloff: FRANKENSTEIN [1931], THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, THE MUMMY [1932], THE GHOUL, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN [1935], THE RAVEN [1935], THE BLACK ROOM, THE INVISIBLE RAY, THE WALKING DEAD [1936], THE MAN WHO LIVED AGAIN, THE INVISIBLE MENACE, MR. WONG DETECTIVE [all], SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, BLACK FRIDAY, THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES, THE APE, THE DEVIL COMMANDS, THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU, HOUSE OF FRANKESTEIN, THE BODY SNATCHER, ISLE OF THE DEAD, BEDLAM, DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME, THE STRANGE DOOR, THE BLACK CASTLE, VOODOO ISLAND, THE HAUNTED STRANGLER, FRANKENSTEIN 1970, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, THE VEIL [TV], THE RAVEN [1963], THE TERROR, BLACK SABBATH, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS [TV], MAD MONSTER PARTY, THE SORCERERS, CAULDRON OF BLOOD, TARGETS, THE CRIMSON CULT, FEAR CHAMBER, HOUSE OF EVIL, ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE, ALIEN TERROR, and way more), owner of the house.
Nahum gives Stephen the terse short shrift, as anyone would when finding a stranger wandering around their house. When Stephen says who he is and Nahum recognizes the name as a university school chum of his daughter, Susan (Suzan Farmer: THE DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES, DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, RASPUTIN: THE MAD MONK, UFO: CONTATTO RADAR), he extends the shrift, but not by much. When Stephen says he was invited there by Mrs. Letitia Witley (Freda Jackson: THE SHADOW OF THE CAT, THE VALLEY OF GWANGI, BLAKE'S 7 [TV], CLASH OF THE TITANS [1981]), Nahum's wife, the old man can only scowl in frustration. After all, Stephen crossed an ocean to honor the bequest of a family member.
Then Susan hears Stephen's voice, comes running downstairs all joyful and full of life to greet him, and it's immediately clear that Reinhart means rather more to her than a mere school chum.
That doesn't make Nahum like Stephen any more though and he refuses to offer Reinhart any kindness. That's not to say that Nahum is an unkind man. He tenderly dotes on his wife and child, expressing nothing but compassion for their comfort and, in the case of Letitia, her mysterious suffering.
Speaking of suffering, the family butler, Merwyn (Terence de Marney: PHANTOM SHIP, CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER, BEAST OF MOROCCO), who struggles to care for the family, is physically starting to totter and stumble.
Everything about the house keeps Stephen alert. There is just so much off kilter in all the wrong ways about the property, the house, and Nahum Witley's behavior.
It only gets worse when during a private meeting with Mrs. Witley, she hints at all manner of horrors and begs Stephen to take her daughter far from here as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, Susan loves her Mother and Father and can't bring herself to abandon them when they're both so feeble. Especially as the servant Merwyn is looking less and less capable of caring for them.
Stephen doesn't know what to make of any of this, then Merwyn collapses as he's serving dinner, ruining the meal for everyone.
When Nahum later confesses that Merwyn is dead, that's all Stephen can stand and his respect for everyone's wishes fly out the window as he decides to see just what the hell is going on in the house and, by extension, Arkham.
Later that evening when Nahum toils to wheel himself outside, Stephen goes into Merwyn's room looking for clues and gets more than he bargained for.
Susan soon finds Stephen outside trying to get into the locked greenhouse and when she helps him in through an alternate entrance, they are both overwhelmed by what they discover.
Ho-lee shit!
Confidence was so strong for this movie that it had its own comic book.
Yet, despite all the craziness, Stephen can't figure out the Why of it all. So since he can't get any answers from the family, Reinhart heads back to town, still on foot, and visits the only doctor in town. Stephen is hoping for a rational no-nonsense person to talk to, but what he gets is a drunk and frightened Dr. Henderson (Patrick MaGee: DEMENTIA 13, SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, THE SKULL, PORTRAIT IN TERROR, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, TALES FROM THE CRYPT [1972], BEWARE MY BRETHREN, ASYLUM, DEMONS OF THE MIND, AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, THE FINAL PROGRAMME, TELEFON, THE SLEEP OF DEATH, THE MONSTER CLUB, BLACK CAT [1981], DOCTEUR JEKYLL ET LES FEMMES) who insists that he leave at once and calls for his secretary to escort Stephen out.
Not a joke! A nearly 60 year old H.P. Lovecraft comic book!
Once out of earshot of the doctor, the secretary furtively spills the beans on the town. She doesn't know everything, but at least now Stephen has some idea of the structure of Arkham's mysterious dynamic.
With his university education and natural curiosity he has figured out what is really going on in Arkham and the Witley house and it's a doozy!
WTF, mate?
As you probably guessed from the name of the town, DIE MONSTER DIE! was based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, specifically, 1927's THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE.
Producer Pat Green (THE TOMB OF LIGEIA) had been involved with AIP's Edgar Allen Poe tale and wanted to try something different.
Director Daniel Haller (THE DUNWICH HORROR, BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), who'd been working through the 1950s and 60s as one of Roger Corman's favorite Art Directors (they made 30 films together) was conducting his first feature film and working with Boris Karloff to boot. Boris, nearing the end of his life and in such great back pain he requested that his character be in a wheel chair, gave it his best for Haller, as did the much younger Nick Adams, who tragically died a year before Karloff.
Jerry Sohl (ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS [TV], THE OUTER LIMITS [TV], FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON, THE CRIMSON CULT, STAR TREK [TV]) had established himself as a writer who could bring the scary and adapted his source material better than whoever came up with the breathless title.
Composer and Jazz aficionado, Don Banks (NIGHT CREATURES, NIGHTMARE, THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, HYSTERIA, THE REPTILE, RASPUTIN: THE MAD MONK, THE FROZEN DEAD, THE MUMMY'S SHROUD, THE TORTURE GARDEN) loved composing for Horror movies and his music is sonically lush to the point of lurid.
Speaking of lurid, AIP ponied up the big bucks for this Boris Karloff venture by paying for color film, and boy did cinematographer, Paul Beeson (DR. SYN ALIAS THE SCARECROW, THE SCAPEGOAT, THE LOST CONTINENT, THE FREAKMAKER, HAWK THE SLAYER, THE LOST WORLD, RETURN TO THE LOST WORLD), go overboard with the color! It is popping your eyes from the opening credits to the end!
Special effects, including creature effects, are led by Wally Veevers (SATELLITE IN THE SKY, CURSE OF THE DEMON, A STUDY IN TERROR, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, SATURN 3, EXCALIBER, THE KEEP).
Kudos also to matte painter, Doug Ferris. He worked for over 35 years on 85 feature films and was left uncredited on 69 of them including this one!
Shot almost entirely within the "mansion", DIE MONSTER DIE has a stage feel even when it is "outdoors". There's nothing that happens here that couldn't be performed on stage theater.
That said, DIE MONSTER DIE! endures on disc at a premium price because Director Haller knocked it into the outfield on his first time at bat.
Four Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2022 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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