Le messager du diable

H.P. Lovecraft's stories are almost impossible to film. The way he describes places and things just can't be done. This movie and "The Dunwich Horror" have come closest to getting him on the screen.

American Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) goes to England to visit his fiancée Susan Wiley (Suzan Farmer). He finds her living in a huge mansion with her angry wheelchair bound father (Boris Karloff) and a mother (Freda Jackson) who is mysteriously ill. And then there are strange cries in the night...

It's well-made, has a suitably creepy setting and a pretty good script but it just doesn't completely work. A low budget really hurts especially when we see the supposedly horrific creatures in the greenhouse (they look like what they are--plastic puppets). The makeup on the "infected" people is sub par too. And Adams (a good actor) always appears drugged or annoyed. But the other actors are all great--especially Karloff who is just fantastic. It's worth watching just for him. I was honestly never bored and there were a few times that I actually jumped. It doesn't succeed but it's not a bad attempt. I give it a 7--mostly for Karloff.

A creakily atmospheric chiller from the American International stable, 1965's Die, Monster, Die! is a loose adaptation of HP Lovecraft's The Colours Out Of Space and boasts a great exploitation title and Boris Karloff, although it's now more likely to offer fun than frights.

A young heroic type arrives in a remote village looking for his fiancé but finds her family shunned by the hostile locals, and with good reason – her mad scientist father Nahum Witley (Karloff) has recovered a strange meteorite which turns plants into giants and several members of his household into grotesquely scarred mutants.

Clunky acting and a faintly ludicrous script aside, there's a lot to enjoy, from the gloomy sets and portentous dialogue to one of wheelchair-bound Karloff's last meaty roles and a delicious mood of corruption well sustained by director Daniel Haller (formerly art director on some of AI's finest Vincent Price vehicles).

If there is one thing I don't like in horror films (well, it's more than one, but never mind) it's those long, dialogue-free scenes of people-investigating-strange-noises-in-dark-rooms. "Die, Monster, Die!" has more than its share of such scenes, and this results in a draggy pace: the movie runs only 80 minutes but seems much longer than that. However, there are some good things to be said about it: the prologue is funny ("He wants to go to the Witley house. Ha ha ha ha!"), the mansion where most of the action takes place is a marvelously old-fashioned and atmospheric set, and the special effects are pretty good - perhaps even ahead of their time. Of course, Boris Karloff fans will want to see him in any film, and despite his health problems at the time he was still an inimitable actor, but in this film he wasn't given enough juicy dialogue to chew on. For me, the standout in the cast is the sweet Suzan Farmer as Karloff's daughter. (**)

Nick Adams arrives in a town in rural England to visit a young lady he met in college. However, when he tries to get a ride or rent a vehicle to take him to her manor home, the villagers are downright nasty--refusing to help him as well as inexplicably saying nothing about why they are so angry. Eventually, he just walks to her home. However, once there, the welcome is just as chilled and her father (Boris Karloff) treats him like a leper--telling him to go. However, it soon becomes apparent that the girl and her mother want Nick to stay and finally Boris reluctantly agrees to let him stay one night.

This is a movie in search of a decent ending. During the first half of the film, the audience is highly entertained in a tale of possible madness or Satanism and the mood is terrific--eerie and with a strong sense of foreboding. However, despite a wonderful buildup, the ending is a major disappointment and can't help but sink this movie to the "barely watchable" level. The deep and dark secret just seemed rather dull and uninteresting.

It's worth seeing if you are a Boris Karloff fan, but otherwise it's pretty skipable.

Daniel Haller's "Die, Monster, Die!" is a solid gothic horror film, about ten times better than what you would expect from American International Pictures. It has a confusing story, but two exceptional performances save this from being grade z schlock.

The two lead performances are by Boris Karloff, as the scientist who has bad things happen to him and Nick Adams, as an American visiting his girlfriends' home. Despite his arthritis confining him to a wheelchair, Karloff manages to give a strong performance as the scientist who stumbles onto something big and lives to regret it. Adams' role could have been thankless, but he adds an aura of mystery and intrigue a lesser actor wouldn't have.

This is a great-looking film. Haller was art director for Roger Corman and he has inherited Corman's gift for making the most of the small budget. This looks as if it could have cost a million dollars or more instead of a few hundred thousand. The widescreen Colorscope photography is among the best I've seen and deserved an Oscar nod.

As for the story, it is confusing, but it all becomes clear if you pay attention and watch it more than once. I'm not sure people would want to do that, but this is the kind of film that deserves it. Its' odd and poetic feel make it spellbinding. Worth more than one look.

***1/2 out of 4 stars