Thursday, August 6, 2009

DIE, MONSTER, DIE

DIE, MONSTER, DIE (1965). Director: Daniel Haller. 

An extremely disappointing adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's creepy novella, The Colour Out of Space, this has to do with a man named Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) coming to call on his girlfriend Susan (Suzan Farmer) at the isolated English country estate of her father Nahum Witley (Boris Karloff). The movie is very handsomely appointed, and not badly acted, but no amount of CinemaScope and attractive sets can cover up the lack of a decent script. A meteorite has landed near the Witley estate [a shot of the burned out area where it hit the earth and withered everything in the surrounding area is quite effective] and its radiation has mutated animals, plants, and even members of the Witley family, some of whom go bonkers at the climax. The movie is very short but it has a meandering quality that makes it seem longer. Too bad. 

Verdict: Read Lovecraft's original instead. **.

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