the audience applauded

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"The Colour Out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft is turned into pretty much lousy movie. Titles "Die, Monster, Die!" and "Monster of Terror" are misleading as there are no monsters in this story. It is about mutations of plants and animals caused by meteor fallen into small isolated English town. There's too much idling although movie lasts just a little above an hour and even Boris Karloff didn't leave much of impression. Special effects are ridiculous. I understand that movie is made in 60's when they couldn't do much better than this, but it would be better if they simply left those shots out and based the movie more on building a tension, leaving our imagination to compensate for missing effects. This way it just ended up ridiculous and pretty much boring. From Karloff in Lovecraft's story I expected much much more than this.5/10

Arriving in England for a family get-together, a young couple find themselves in a strange occurrence when one of the relatives appears to be afflicted with a strange virus and must find a way of stopping them from contaminating others.This was a lot better than it should've been. One of the film's strengths is that the Gothic undertones in this one is apparent right from the start, and they manage to get a lot right with this elaborate setup. They all resonate, with the twisted landscapes, the deformed family members, the clean-cut hero coming to rescue the girl, the black magic and arcane secrets in the family past and the murky goings-on in the present being covered up by the distant and cold family patriarch. and do a fantastic job in getting the most out of the fewest possible elements. It also succeeds in building some reasonable atmosphere out of cliché elements, such as the hostile villagers, the fog- enshrouded landscape, a big brooding Victorian mansion, unearthly screams in the night and a mysterious hooded figure that are well played-out and strike as genuinely frightening. It also features some moments of genuine shock, such as the revelation of the mutated hand and face as it reaches out from behind the curtain and the journey into the greenhouse which is filled with tension and dread as the preceding events built up around it are quite unnerving. The sights inside it are no less impacting, including the briefly glimpsed vista of mutated alien creatures lined up in a cage in the back or the humongous plants and vegetables inside it, and the vine-ensnaring sequence still has a nice touch to it. The film really hits it's stride in the ending, which is full of action and shocks that it really ends on a great flourish from the battle with the radioactive creature which is well-staged and brings out some solid brawling and weapon-wielding which doesn't seem all that boring, to the climactic house burning down and the race to get out before it consumes the survivors, it's a grant ending and really stands out. This wasn't all that bad of a film, though for being as good as it was, there's still some problems with this one. The main issue is that this all feels very repetitive as it never once has a feeling of the Lovecraft inspiration, but it feels more like the earlier Poe films in tone, appearance and staging. It's not accidental, but it really hampers the flow when it's not that hard to predict how it will end up when you can guess that based only on how the movie looks. The film also could've had a better pace in the middle section, as it's constantly filled with dire warnings of what could happen, but the section is based around the threat of something and nothing transpires of them. When it gets back into the detective work of the story does it get better, but the constant warnings of bad things to happen despite the continuing recurrence of them and then not following up on them does get a little tiring. Despite these two problems, though, this wasn't all that bad.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence.

This film was originally called "Die, Monster, Die!" But later changed to "Monster of Terror", in truth both titles don't really do the film justice, maybe something like "Meteorite of Mutation" would have been more accurate. What you have here is an American International Pictures film directed by Daniel Haller and based on a story from H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space". The big draw to this film is the presence of Boris Karloff, Nick Adams, Freda Jackson and Suzan Farmer - although the keen eyed watchers will notice Patrick Magee too. Stephen Reinhart (Adams), an American science graduate with an attitude (you'll notice why comparisons where drawn to James Dean, not just in appearing with Dean in "Rebel without a cause" but also his on-screen broody, moody presence) visits the small village of Arkham (a fictional place created by Lovecraft, not to be confused with the Arkham of the Batman universe) in England to see his fiancé. Upon arriving in the village the locals are rude and unhelpful upon learning that he is due to visit the Witley estate. Nobody wants to help him or point him in the direction of the estate, he even gets rejected at the bicycle hire shop, he ends up walking there himself. He is greeted by Nahum Witley (Karloff), his fiancé Susan's (Farmer) father, who is a wheelchair bound former scientist. Nahum tries to warn Reinhart away before he sees Susan but it doesn't happen, Susan has asked for help with her mother (Jackson) who is bedridden and undergoing a hideous change which makes her sensitive to light and seems to be decaying her body slowly. Letitia, Susan's mother, also tries warning Reinhart, asking him to take Susan far away from the estate. Reinhart does try to leave but Susan doesn't want to and rebuffs his attempts. Strange things start to happen, notably Merwyn (Terence De Marny) the butler dies. Reinhart begins exploring and asking questions, before too long he starts suspecting Mr Witley is the cause of the problems, this comes to a head when Reinhart and Susan break into the greenhouse and find a mysterious green glowing rock which seems to be helping plants and vegetation grow to gigantic proportions, not to mention the fact that alien lifeforms seem to be living in the greenhouse too. Initially the assumption through the film is that Witley had been dabbling with evil and the black arts however the truth is much more simple; some years ago a meteorite crashed near the estate and Witley had been harvesting the radioactive properties of the space rock. Witley was under the impression the rock was sent from heaven from one of his ancestors and the problems occurring are an ancestral curse, instead his old scientific mind doesn't see the truth. Can Reinhart save Susan and himself before it's too late or will Witley's insanity prevail and allow radiation to eat everybody up? This is a great looking film considering it was made in 1965. Despite it looking like a widescreen film it wasn't shot like this, post production magic makes it look better than it actually is. Colour is vivid throughout it's only let down by some of the special effects in the later parts of the film but I can forgive these blemishes on the film as it's older than I am and CGI wasn't possible back then. There is a constant mist or miasma surrounding the location which adds to the Gothic feel of this picture. The acting is great, Karloff and Adams both deliver believable and dark performances while Susan is a ditsy damsel who needs saving from herself as much as anybody else. Patrick McGee's appearance seems to be a typically pointless appearance much like his appearances in other films. The story is a little confusing to some people I know who have watched this but it's not that difficult if you persevere with it, it's just a little odd in it's own Gothic horror way. I think the first half of the film is more mysterious and suspense filled which conflicts with the last half as this is more of a creature feature horror film. All in all this is an enjoyable if slightly nostalgic film which while outdated by today's standard is a fun 80 minutes for horror fans. I'm awarding this 6 out of 10.

A film based off the work of HP Lovecraft and starring Boris Karloff showed promise already, even before watching. Die, Monster, Die! doesn't quite live up to that, but despite having a lot of problems it is still a fun and decent film. Apart from Boris Karloff and to a lesser extent the lovely Suzan Farmer, the acting is clunky with Nick Adams in particular looking as if he's sleepwalking through everything. The special effects and make-up are cheap and look more silly than scary, while the script can get muddled, the pacing is a little pedestrian at times and the ending is rushed and somewhat hard to swallow. Aside from the special effects, Die, Monster, Die! is still a good-looking film, the Gothic sets are both atmospheric and handsome and it's very beautifully photographed. The lighting adds to the mood, and the costumes likewise. The music score is appropriately haunting without bogging things down, and the atmosphere and resolutely creepy and chilling. Daniel Haller's generally solid direction is to thank for that, and the story is fun and atmospheric, if let down by the last half-hour or so where things get too silly. Karloff is wonderful, one of those actors who was nearly always able to redeem a film regardless of their quality(he's the best thing about those god-awful Mexican films that he made at the end of his career), even when he's in a wheel-chair he still shows a great deal of energy and charisma. Farmer is lovely and not too bland. Overall, flawed but fun and creepy, and even if he's been and done better Karloff does not disappoint. 6/10 Bethany Cox