Weird science... Die, Monster, Die! (1966), BFI Blu-ray

It looks like a zoo in Hell!

 

I first saw Camberwell’s William Pratt in a silent film from 1920 called The Deadlier Sex who were in this case represented by Blanche Sweet. Born in 1887, Pratt had already adopted the stage name Boris Karloff and this was to be his first significant role in a feature film. 46 years on and he features far more prominently in Daniel Haller’s colourful take of alien horror, one of the true masters of the genre and leaping from the screen even in the wheelchair his health dictated he use; the film’s strongest performer even in his late 70s… Boris carries so much atmosphere.

 

Adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1927 story The Colour Out of Space, the film has so many Hammer trappings and yet was made for Alta Vista Productions, distributed by AIP in the US and Anglo-Amalgamated in the UK, who clearly wanted something along those proven box office lines. Don Banks’ music and DOP Paul Beeson’s use of shadows and light are used to create a near constant sense of unease, especially in the scenes filmed on set. There’s also rather a lot of mist floating atmospherically in the estate of the Witley family mansion, which was Oakley Court, Water Oakley, Berkshire, also used in A Matter of Life and Death, DW Griffith’s Hearts of the World and José Ramón Larraz’s Vampyres (1974).

 

After a title sequence featuring some very groovy light effects that may well have influenced The Pink Floyd’s road crew for those early gigs at the UFO and the Roundhouse, the film starts with American scientist, Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) arriving at a village called Arkham played by Shere in Surrey, where he is greeted with great suspicion by everyone he askes for directions to the Witley’s place. He’s rejected by otherwise friendly shop-owners, denizens at The Sun ale house and even the bicycle shop – he’s got a bike and you can’t ride it if you like going to the Witley Place…

William Henry Pratt 

It's a classic horror trope (see below) but it works, as does the matte painting landscape of scorched earth on Stephen’s route to the mansion, as if something huge and unearthly had smashed into the land. By the time he arrives the aforementioned mist has begun to obscure and scarify the grounds of the mansion as a shrouded figure watches him approach the front door. Stephen is on his way to meet fiancée Susan Witley (Suzan Farmer) with the two meeting when she studied in America, and whilst she is a science graduate she has clearly not picked up on anything unusual happening at her family home.

 

Cursed is the ground where the Dark Forces live, new and strangely bodied… He who tampers there will be destroyed…

 

Unusual happening number one is, of course, her father Nahum (The Boris) and number two is her mother Letitia (Freda Jackson) who is mysteriously ill and confined to her darkly shrouded bed. Nahum insists that the young American must leave as soon as possible, his daughter obviously hasn’t mentioned their arrangement before, but at least Letitia is more welcoming.

 

Soon the razor-sharp Prof. Reinhart starts wondering if his intended’s homelife is atypically complex. We’re a bit more clued in as Nahum and his mirror-shaded assistant/henchman Merwyn (Terence de Marney) descend down the wheelchair lift to his secret cellar of science in which a strange green glow illuminates more classic tropes including skulls, chains – “for Devils”, his cursed late brother Corbin perhaps? - and unearthly sounds. All of this is contrasted with the loving simplicity of Susan and Stephen’s relationship… one we know will soon be under great strain especially when they enjoy a very tense dinner with Nahum.

 

The sublime Suzan Farmer and, um, Nick Adams

The film moves forward quickly as Letitia and her husband discuss the events leading up to an unfortunate development for their maid and soon poor Merwyn has spontaneously combusted and the young couples have been led by strange unearthly lights (etc…) to the green house where they find an abundance of giant tomatoes and a room full of horrifically mutated animals.

 

What other horrors await in this house of mystery and will the prophecy quoted above, found by Stephen in the family library copy of a book entitled Cult of the Outer Ones be realised? Just how did the flora and fauna get so big in the greenhouse and what is the strange glowing radiation that affects the servants as much as the crop? You need to watch it and find out, but maybe not alone…

 

This one of the last straight gothic sci-fi horrors of its kind and its only Karloff in his dignity… who makes it possible.

 

The new commentary from film historians Vic Pratt and William Fowler is great value and the former’s above quote is spot on with the dignity of the lead actor holding the enterprise above water and the hint of spoofery. The pair are full of detail on Lovecraft and Karloff but also the legend that is Nick Adams, not the World’s greatest actor but someone who mixed at that level, being a pal of James Dean and Elvis Presley. Adams looks far more ’55 than ’65 with his slicked back short hair and straight suit out of fashion step with Suzan Farmer’s Susan whilst he’s also playing in a different film, an action figure with obscured motivation.

 

But as Vic says, the whole production feels like a transitional one – he even compiles a handy list of 25 standard tropes for horror films that were just about being used in an unironic way. All is redeemed by King Karloff and this is a very well made, colourful and visually satisfying film that will provide you with excellent entertainment on one of the many rain-sodden afternoons we are being gifted this summer!

 

Horrifyingly frightening features:

 

• Presented in High Definition
• Newly recorded audio commentary by film historians Vic Pratt and William Fowler
• A Karloff Konversation (2024, 19 mins): Boris Karloff’s biographer, Stephen Jacobs, discusses the film
• Scenes From ‘Let Me Die a Monster’ (2024, 14 mins): sequences from Ken Hollings and David McGillivray’s as-yet-unmade film-fantasy built around Die, Monster, Die! star Nick Adams, performed in a read-through staged and shot exclusively for this release
• Nick Adams and Die, Monster, Die! (2024, 7 mins): Hollings and McGillivray recall the career of Nick Adams and how they became fascinated with his film work
• Sell, Monster, Sell! (2024, 12 mins): film unit publicist Tony Tweedale recalls his work on Die, Monster, Die!
• The Peaches (1964, 16 mins): a family greenhouse yields strange fruit in this stylish Swinging Sixties short film 
• Image gallery: an extensive array of promotional stills from Die, Monster, Die!
• Theatrical trailer with optional audio commentary 

There’s also a fab illustrated booklet with a new writing on the film by Stephen Jacobs, an essay on HP Lovecraft by Xavier Aldana Reyes and writing about ‘Let Me Die a Monster’ by Ken Hollings and David McGillivray; notes on the special features and film credits. This is only available with the first pressing only so get busy.

 

You can order the set from the BFI and other online retailers from 22nd July!!

Chains... for The Devil!

"Lime and limpet green, the second scene... a fight between the blue you once knew..."

Oh, so you're an actor?!