DIE, MONSTER, DIE!

Mad scientist Nahum Witley (a wheelchair bound Boris Karloff), finds out the hard way that it's probably not a good idea to keep a radioactive meteorite in the basement of your ancient family estate. Especially when said basement was home to forbidden rites practiced by your ancestors in an attempt to call forth the dark gods from beyond space and time. The meteorite mutates the local plants and animals, wreaks havoc on Nahum's wife Latetia (Fred Jackson) and the maid, Helga, and ultimately transforms Nahum himself into a jug-eared, bald-headed, silver skinned monster who emits a greenish glow. In fact, he kinda looks like the old Marvel Comics villain, The Radioactive Man.

It's up to puzzled American scientist Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams), to put a stop to the unearthly menace, saving Susan (Suzan Farmer), Nahum's comely young daughter, from her father and the burning mansion.

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! (1965), with a screenplay by science fiction writer Jerry Sohl,  is loosely based on the H.P. Lovecraft story THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE.  American International Pictures had enjoyed a great deal of success with their series of Roger Corman directed films based on the works of Edgar Alan Poe and sought to strike an equally profitable vein with a series of films based on Lovecraft stories. Daniel Haller, who had worked as an art director on the Roger Corman Poe pics, was given his first directorial job on DIE and he does an admirable job.

Unfortunately DIE didn't do well enough at the box office to warrant an immediate Lovecraft based film as a follow up. That would have to wait until 1970 with the release of THE DUNWICH HORROR, also directed by Haller. In the interim, Haller directed two biker flicks, DEVIL'S ANGELS (1967) and THE WILD RACERS (1968).

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! is a straight-forward B horror film that despite it's pedigree, never fully captures the otherworldly feel of Lovecraft's prose. Nick Adams is stuck with playing a one-dimensional character, an outsider to the strange English village who is shunned by one and all when he asks directions to the Witley house. Seems there's a history of devil worshipping at the manse, to say nothing of the heavily irradiated countryside surrounding the estate. Suzan Farmer makes a lovely damsel in distress and the sets, make-up and special effects are all passable.

The real joy to be found in DIE, MONSTER, DIE! is seeing the legendary Boris Karloff give 100% in a role that finds him confined to a wheelchair for the entirety of the film. This was probably not a matter of characterization. Karloff, who suffered from a variety of physical ailments towards the end of his life, needed the wheelchair as a matter of mobility. He's a true professional from beginning to end in a part that, while generic and cliched, is still fun to watch.

Dell Comics published a comic book adaptation of DIE, MONSTER, DIE! which I remember reading as a kid (although I never saw the film when it was originally released). I'd love to have a copy of that comic. If anyone reading this has one they'd like to sell at a reasonable price, let me know.




DIE, MONSTER, DIE! isn't a great film by any stretch of the imagination but it's worth seeing if you're a fan of Karloff, Lovecraft and '60s horror films. Check it out.