Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

by Kimberly Lindbergs | November 22, 2009

Categories | Movie Reviews, Horror, American Cinema, Blogathons, Comic Books, Roger Corman

Frankenstenia is celebrating the life and career of one of my favorite actors with The Boris Karloff Blogathon taking place Nov. 23-29th. I didn’t sign-up to participate because I couldn’t commit to anything. My current blogging schedule is sporadic and a bit crazy because at the moment most of my attention is focused on trying to buy my first home. But I did mange to find some time to write a little something about one of my favorite ’60s era Karloff films, Die, Monster, Die!

Die, Monster, Die! was produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff for AIP (American International Picture) and directed by horror film veteran Daniel Haller. Haller started his career as an art director and production designer and he worked with AIP for many years before he began directing films for the company. Haller’s early work with Roger Corman is especially noteworthy since he helped give Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe adaptations a distinct look and feel. During the ’60s Daniel Haller collaborated with Roger Corman on some of his best films including Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Premature Burial (1962), The Raven (1963), The Haunted Palace (1963) and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) before directing his first film; the Karloff feature Die, Monster, Die! in 1965.

In the film Boris Karloff plays a crazy old curmudgeon named Nahum Witley who is keeping a dark secret from his family in an attempt to better their fortune and bring honor to the family name. The plot of Die, Monster, Die! is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Colour Out of Space which was originally published in 1927. Haller’s film plays fast and loose with Lovecraft’s original tale but it’s an entertaining mess of a movie that benefit’s greatly from Karloff’s demanding presence and low key performance. Die, Monster, Die! is notable because it gave the 78 year-old Karloff one of his last opportunities to play a monster in a horror film. Although Karloff’s transformation from stately Nahum Witley to a radioactive zombie in Die, Monster, Die! is all too brief and a far, far cry from his amazing and better known performance as Frankenstein’s monster in the classic Universal horror films, Karloff did seem to have some fun with his role. Die, Monster, Die! isn’t one of Karloff’s best movies but it does hold some appeal if you happen to to be a Karloff fan and appreciate gothic horror films as well as creative adaptations of Lovecraft’s stories as much as I do.

I happen to own the 1966 Dell comic book adaptation of Die, Monster, Die! and I thought it would be fun to share some pages of it with my readers as well as other comic book fans. I’m afraid that I don’t know who the original artist is and an extensive online search didn’t provide me with any clues* but I like the artwork and figured other Karloff fans might appreciate it too. I’ve posted a small sample of the comic book below but if you want to see more (and larger) pages from the Die, Monster, Die! comic book you’re going to have to visit Curt Purcell’s always fabulous Groovy Age of Horror blog.

Make sure you spend some time checking out The Groovy Age of Horror archives where you’ll find lots of examples of groovy art to entertaining and delight even the most discriminating readers. And for more Karloff related posts visit Frankenstenia where Pierre Fournier is collecting links to posts about the actor for The Boris Karloff Blogathon.

* Update: The Karloff Blogathon host Pierre Fournier thinks the name of the uncredited artist behind the Die, Monster, Die! comic might be John Tartaglione. More information is welcome!

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Congratulations Mr. Corman!

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 11, 2009

Categories | News, Directors, American Cinema, Oscars, Roger Corman

One of my favorite filmmakers will be getting an Honorary Oscar this year! Surprising news came out of Hollywood this morning when the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Roger Corman, along with actress Lauren Bacall and cinematographer Gordon Willis will all be recipients of a much deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.

Disappointingly, the Academy has decided not to televise the event and viewers will no longer be able to see these people receive their Lifetime Achievement Awards. One of the main reasons I watch the Oscars every year is to see the Lifetime Achievement Awards handed out to previously neglected artists so I find this turn of events extremely disappointing. I guess the Academy plans to fill airtime with more terrible musical numbers? Who knows. But I suspect that they’ll be loosing lots of viewers who get the most enjoyment from the montage sequences and hope for an opportunity to see old Hollywood mix with new Hollywood. Sadly it seems that old Hollywood isn’t worthy of much television time anymore.

Corman is no stranger to getting Awards. He has his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and in 1996 he was honored by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association with a Career Achievement Award just to name a few of his career accomplishments, but this will be Roger Corman’s first Oscar.

Congratulations Mr. Corman!

News Links:
- Offical Press Release from the Academy
- The Los Angeles Times Story
- The New York Times Story

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31 Films That Give Me the Willies

by Kimberly Lindbergs | October 14, 2007

Categories | News, Horror, Hammer Horror, Mario Bava, Pupi Avati, Lucio Fulci, Roger Vadim, Nicolas Roeg, Roger Corman, Barbara Steele, David Cronenberg, Deborah Kerr, Michele Mercier, Terence Fisher, Roman Polanski, Jack Clayton, Dennis Hopper, Piers Haggard, Curtis Harrington

Top: House with Laughing Windows (1976), Deep Red (1975)
Middle: The Seventh Victim (1942)
Bottom: Black Sabbath (1963), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

I wasn’t going to participate in Ed Hardy’s 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies List due to suffering massive list-making burnout following the recent Favorite Foreign Language Film poll (which I still want to write about in more detail), but at the last minute I decided to send him a list of nominees. As I’ve mentioned before, horror is far and away my favorite film genre so I had an incredibly hard time narrowing down my list of favorite films to a mere 31.

I will confess that I cheated a bit since I deliberately left off any film that I knew had already gotten 3 votes and wouldn’t need mine to make the final list of nominees. Some of those films included Suspiria (1977), Martin (1977), The Wicker Man (1973), Dellamorte Dellamore aka Cemetery Man (1994), The Shining (1980), The Exorcist (1973), Psycho (1960) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). With that confession out of the way, here is my own list of…

31 FILMS THAT GIVE ME THE WILLIES (Listed by release date)

1. Frankenstein (1931; James Whale)
2. The Seventh Victim (1942; Mark Robson)
3. The Uninvited (1944; Lewis Allen)
4. Night of the Demon (1957; Jacques Tourner)
5. Blood and Roses (1960; Roger Vadim)
6. The Brides of Dracula (1960; Terence Fisher)
7. The Innocents (1961; Jack Clayton)
8. Night Tide (1961; Curtis Harrington)
9. Carnival of Souls (1962; Herk Harvey)
10. The Haunted Palace (1963; Roger Corman)
11. Black Sabbath (1963; Mario Bava)
12. The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
13. Castle of Blood (1964; Antonio Margheriti)
14. Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971; Piers Haggard)
15. Daughters of Darkness (1971; Harry Kumel)
16. Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971; Lucio Fulci)
17. Short Night of the Glass Dolls (1971; Aldo Lado)
18. Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971; Armando de Ossorio)
19. All the Colors of the Dark (1972; Sergio Martino)
20. Don’t Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg)
21. Deep Red (1975; Dario Argento)
22. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975; Peter Weir)
23. The Tenant (1976; Roman Polanski)
24. House with Laughing Windows (1976; Pupi Avati)
25. Full Circle (aka The Haunting of Julia, 1977; Richard Loncraine)
26. The Brood (1979; David Cronenberg)
27. Possession (1981; Andrzej Zulawski)
28. Zeder (1983; Pupi Avati)
29. The Reflecting Skin (1990; Philip Ridley)
30. Cure (1997; Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
31. Audition (1999; Takashi Miike)

After sending Ed my list I was surprised and annoyed with myself since I managed to forget to include Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960), my favorite horror anthology, Spirits of the Dead (1968) and lots of early Japanese and Spanish horror films that I love. I also neglected to include any films with Peter Lorre, Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski, who have all appeared in some of my favorite thrillers. Where did my head go?

Some conclusions I came to after making my list:

1. Sexually repressed women, ghosts, the supernatural, vampires and devil worshipers/cults give me the willies. Since I’m not a religious person, I find it extremely amusing that so many satanic horror films made my list, but I think it’s more about the esoteric elements of these films and the constant mystery of the unknown than the actual “devil” that gives these types of movies their edge.

2. Only four American directors made my list. British and Italian directors dominate it. This isn’t a surprise since I really don’t care for American horror films all that much.

3. 1960 and 1971 were truly two of the most amazing years for horror cinema. At some point during the list making process I had six or eight films from each of those years on my list.

4. The only director that has more than one film on my list is the greatly under-appreciated Italian director Pupi Avati who makes some of the most fascinating and chilling films I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately I’m clearly in the minority since none of his movies made it on the final list of 180 Nominees and as far as I know I’m the only person who nominated any of his films for inclusion.

Last but not least…

I plan to write about some of the lessor seen films mentioned above that didn’t make the Official Nominee List in the coming days.

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DVD of the Week: Vincent Price - MGM Scream Legends Collection

by Kimberly Lindbergs | September 10, 2007

Categories | Actors, Horror, DVD of the Week, Roger Corman, Vincent Price

The many faces of Vincent Price 1962-1973

The leaves are starting to turn brown and the days are getting shorter. Autumn is fast approaching and with it comes Halloween. This is easily my favorite time of the year and in September I always start getting a spring in my step and an insatiable craving for sweets. This is also the time of year that DVD companies start rolling out their pre-Halloween DVD releases in order to cash-in on the seasonal spirit and please horror fans who have come to expect some extra special autumn viewing. And there’s no better way to kick-start the season than with the new Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection!

This fabulous collection of seven horror films from MGM all feature stand-out performances from the great Vincent Price and are sure to please even the most discriminatory horror film fans. I’m especially impressed by the variety of films that buyers get in this DVD Box set which contains everything from dark horror comedies like The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Theater of Blood (which I wrote about earlier this year), to creepy anthologies like Tales of Terror and Twice Told Tales, as well as one the most horrifying films that Vincent Price ever made, the classic Witchfinder General. The seven films featured in this terrific set include:

- Tales of Terror (1962, dir. Roger Corman)
- Twice Told Tales (1963, dir. Sidney Salkow)
- Witchfinder General (1968, dir. Michael Reeves)
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971, dir. Robert Fuest)
- Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972, dir. Robert Fuest)
- Theater of Blood (1973, dir. Douglas Hickox)
- Madhouse (1974, dir. Jim Clark)

The films are also being released on DVD separately, but the Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection comes with all the films as well as a bonus DVD with no less than three special documentaries about Vincent Price including Vincent Price: Renaissance Man, The Art of Fear and Working with Vincent Price. The highlight of the DVD Box Set is undoubtedly the 1968 film Witchfinder General which has finally been restored to its original splendor and is being released on NTSC Region-1 DVD for the first time. The other films have been available on DVD previously, but some of them have been out of print for a while.

If you’re a Vincent Price fan like myself or just enjoy good sixties and seventies era horror films, the movies in this new collection are all well worth a look and that’s why this terrific Box Set is my DVD pick of the week. The Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection is available at Amazon and better online rental sources such as Netflix and Greencine will probably have the movies available for rent as well.

Related Links:
- Tim Lucas reviews the new Witchfinder General DVD at Video WatchBlog
- The Vincent Price Exhibit (great fan site!)
- Vincent Price Profile at TCM
- Another great review of the new Witchfinder General DVD from Steve Biodrowski at Cinefantastique

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