Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

 

The title certainly grabs one's attention, doesn't it? This is one of those Samuel Arkoff productions where a work of fiction is adapted for the big screen. In this case, it's actually 'The Colour From Space' by HP Lovecraft, but it skirts that uncomfortable line between being too close to the source and yet too far removed. The end result is an okay film, but one that feels padded, even with its short runtime.

It does have Boris Karloff in one of his last roles, so there's that.

A young American called Stephen is headed to ye olde Britain (and more precisely Arkham) to visit his girlfriend at her parents' home. But the villagers are less than eager to aide him in getting to the Witley abode. When he walks there, he comes across a large patch on the heath where everything is dead and burnt, and when he finally reaches the Witley estate, there isn't exactly a warm welcome for him. Just the daughter Susan is happy to see him, but her weelchair bound father Nahum wants Stephen to go away. 

Little fact: they rewrote the part of Nahum to accomodate Boris Karloff, as the poor man had a plethora of health problems and doing most of his work in a wheelchair actually made it easier on him. 

Susan's mother beseeches Stephen to take Susan away, but they decide to stay for a few days. During this time, strange things happen. The maid Helga has gone missing, the butler has a fit and then dies bizarrely and weird noises are heard. Stephen and Susan find out that plants and animals in the greenhouse have grown to either monstrous proportions or are maliciously malformed due to some glowing material. This turns out to be a meteorite that landed on the heath, which Nahum Witley (Karloff) then transported to the greenhouse. But radiation never bodes well... 

As one might tell, this has most of the elements of the tale by Lovecraft, but some choices are a bit weird. On the one hand the era has been modernized (well, 60s anyway), but that doesn't sit well with the ancient mansion and the red herring that the grandfather was a devil worshipper. Don't worry, this plot thread never goes anywhere, not really. The fact that no one wants to talk about the Witley estate or what happened there also doesn't make a lot of sense, as it is never made clear exactly why everyone shuns the place. It could be due to the insane grandfather, but this is never explained in any meaningful way. 

In fact, most of the story feels a bit off. It's hard to put a finger on what doesn't gel, but most of the actions of our leads doesn't do anything to advance the plot. Everything just plods along, leading to a finale that suddenly turns rather tense and fast paced, but with little or no setup. 

And the acting isn't that good, either. No one is downright bad, but most people seem to be sleepwalking through their lines. Boris Karloff gives it his all as he always did, but even he and all his charm can't fix the myriad of issues the film has.

Is this a complete lost cause? No, but it certainly isn't as engaging as one would hope. This is for the hardcore Karloff-fans only. If you're looking for a most excellent version of this Lovecraft tale, you'd better check out 'Color Out of Space' starring Nicolas Cage. That one nails the cosmic horror to near perfection.