"Die, Monster, Die!" : The typical old dark house, the Witley estate, where all the villagers are afraid to go... a family (whose patriarch is played by Boris Karloff) with a few macabre secrets, most of which emanate from a strange crystal-substance from outer space.
This movie finishes nicely, with a rampaging Karloff, transformed by the poisonous substance into an irridescent green fiend, providing the main monster action. But a few lead-up scares aside, it's very dry, with a lot of talky parts which make it drag on quite unnecessarily.
"The Dunwich Horror" : Dean Stockwell as 'Weird Wilbur' Whateley, whose family (no relation to the other films 'Witleys', btw) has long been the scorn of Dunwich, due to their un-Christian beliefs and worship of the 'Old Ones'. Wilbur is a practicing student of the occult, and intends to re-introduce them to our world...
These Old Ones are not really ever visualized in the movie, save for a brief reveal at the end. Instead, the few appearances they make in the film are indicated by heartbeats and grunting noises, and weird flashes of color. Regardless, I thought this was the better of the two films, thanks to Stockwell's rather oily performance as Whateley and the slightly more horrific backstory afforded by the plot. This one also has very memorable theme music. Also features a young Talia Shire in a nurse role... and she was quite a babe back then!!
Both movies have faults, especially in that they seem to both have anti-climactic endings, and both also get somewhat tedious in the middle. But they are both directed by Daniel Haller, who was frequently Roger Corman's DP, and the shot compositions and overall visuals are quite effective, as good as any in Corman's Poe adaptations from before.
Both are based on stories by H.P. Lovecraft, who has quite a following. Though "Die, Monster..." is more like Gothic sci-fi, "Dunwich..." concerns itself with Lovecraft's ever-present obsession with Cthulhu-type monstrosities from an alternate, hellish dimension. Each film has a good late-night, scary movie atmosphere; they're just not the most exciting or fast-paced releases out there.
0 STARS: A nice cure for insomnia
It was on Halloween night that I watched this movie called "The Dunwich Horror" and maybe I was just overexpecting, but 30 minutes into the movie, I just got bored stiff watching it. In fact, I fell asleep, something I hadn't been able to do recently before actually viewing this sleep aid. Thanks to "The Dunwich Horror", my insomnia has been cured! Other than that, I would say it's best to leave "The Dunwich Horror" on the video store shelf.
Fun, but certainly not Lovecraft
There has never been a good movie made of a Lovecraft story. Let me say that again. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A GOOD MOVIE MADE OF A LOVECRAFT STORY. Having said that, this combination is probably the most watchable of movies made from Lovecraft except for "Resurrected". "Die Monster Die" is based on "The Colour Out Of Space" and the changes are huge and basically unforgivable. Only Karloff's presence makes it fun. As for "Dunwich Horror", well, it stars Sandra Dee. That should tell you something. If you absolutely have to see movies based on Lovecraft, these two are far better than the horrible "Unnameable" series, but not by a whole lot. Yes, I have them. I'm just not sure that I'm proud of that fact.
Vincent Price gives an atypically restrained performance as the sole survivor of a worldwide plague that revives its victims as bloodthirsty vampires. During the day, he canvasses his abandoned hometown, tracking down and stalking his former friends and neighbors, always making sure to return before nightfall, when the dead rise to assault his fortified house. Hope arrives in the form of an apparently normal young woman (Franca Bettoia), but her agenda proves to be even more sinister than that of the vampires.
Based on the 1954 novel by coscripter Matheson (whose displeasure with the final product spurred the use of a pseudonym), this Italian-made production is best known for its influence on George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The similarities between the two films go... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Sidney Salkow - Ubaldo Ragona DVD Release Date: Released the 20 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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As much as I love Boris Karloff, VOODOO ISLAND is a complete dog-log of a movie! Boris plays a TV host who debunks all things supernatural. He's hired by a zillionaire hotel magnate to go to an island and find out what happened to four men who went there. Only one of them returned, and he's zombified! So, Boris and five others set out for VOODOO ISLAND in the south pacific (!). Sounds like a terrific set-up right? Forget it! Our adventurers spend fully half of the movie's running time just trying to get to the island! Along the way, they meet a young Adam "Batman" West as a radio operator. Finally, they arrive on the island, where they spend loads of time talking and wandering around. A few man-eating plants attack, including some aquatic flora that reminded me of the ridiculous monsters... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Boris Karloff DVD Release Date: Released the 20 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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"Hammer Horror Series" presents some of the studios best films from the early sixties period, though they might not be the most familiar to Hammer fans. A few, in fact, might come with baggage attached, but this collection dispells some of that baggage. In particular, Hammer's "Phantom of the Opera" has suffered more abuse over the years than any other of its films. The hard truth is, it's pretty good. The reason it has such a bum reputation might be because most people first saw it on television, which seriously impaired it. In it's proper aspect ratio, and with the extra scenes filmed for American TV left out, it's really pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good. The biggest liability with the film are the horrendous opera sequences. "Evil of Frankenstein" has similarly been... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Herbert Lom - Heather Sears Director(s): Terence Fisher DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Val Lewton's name is synonymous with the subtlest, most mysterious brand of horror filmmaking in Hollywood's golden age, and the nine horror classics he produced at RKO between 1942 and 1946 constitute the most remarkable cycle of creativity in B-movie history. (For the record, the Lewton/RKO legacy also includes two non-horror entries, Youth Runs Wild and Mademoiselle Fifi.)
Before becoming a film producer, the Russian-born Lewton was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, nonfiction, and a couple of pornographic novels. He also worked for years as assistant to David O. Selznick, a legendary producer with a distinctive personal signature--and a flair for grandiosity Lewton himself never emulated. It's ever so revealing that, on Selznick's Gone With the Wind, it was... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Boris Karloff DVD Release Date: Released the 04 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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