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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 4, 2016
Directed by: Terence Fisher
Cast: Willard Parker, Virginia Field, Dennis Price, Thorley Walters, Vanda Godsell, David Spenser, Anna Palk
Year: 1964
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The Movie:
Terence Fisher has long been the undisputed master of British horror. While he flirted with the genre as far back as the early 1950s, it was his breakthrough success with Hammer Films' The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Horror of Dracula (U.S. title, 1958) that made him a major contender in the field. The director began an all-too-brief love affair with Gothic horror that lasted until his final film, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, in 1973. During that time, however, he flirted with science fiction, a genre from which he felt divorced to some degree. In the mid-1960s, he made three such films: The Earth Dies Screaming (his last black and white film); Island of Terror (1966); and Night of the Big Heat (1967). All three bore similar settings and plots, with a group of outcasts holed up in an inn or tavern fighting some monstrous outside threat, from robots to cancer creatures to heat monsters. The focus was not on the sci-fi monstrosities themselves, however, but on human interaction and melodrama, and while none of the films can be called masterpieces, all of them have something to offer.
The Earth Dies Screaming was the first (and worst) of these films, coming in 1964 on the heels of Fisher's triumphant fantasy horror, The Gorgon. It begins with a mysterious attack from an invisible force (probably alien) that lays waste to much of Earth's population. Arriving in a small English village is American Jeff Nolan (Willard Parker), a test pilot who was airborne when the attack happened and is desperate to learn the truth. He encounters various other survivors, including the mysterious Quinn Taggart (Dennis Price) and his apprehensive female companion, Peggy (Virginia Field); there's also nervous Edgar (Thorley Walters) and idiot Violet (Vanda Godsell). The group is soon joined by a young married couple, Mel (David Spenser) and Lorna (Anna Palk), who are expecting their first baby. Adding to their woes are strange robots with the power to transform apparently dead people into mindless, enslaved zombies.
While not exactly at home with the material, Fisher does his best with it, and when he moves into horror terrain, which is often, he does quite well. There are multiple examples of his stock shot: a horror (in this case, a robot) approaching in the background, with the victim or hero unaware in the foreground. The film's best scene comes when one of the zombies goes after Peggy; he shuffles throughout the inn after her but, despite his slowness, always seems on the verge of catching Peggy. Scenes of this nature are Fisher's stock and trade, and he works miracles with them, driving up the film's entertainment value considerably. As a whole, he isn't entirely successful. Despite the emphasis on drama, the script simply isn't very good, and the performances, while mostly believable, just aren't enough to bring the one-dimensional characters and their repetitive conversations to life. Worse, Willard Parker is miscast as the lead; while the other actors try valiantly, Parker simply walks through his role much like the zombies from which he so often has to escape.
Regardless, given its short running time, the film is a step in Fisher's career that shouldn't be ignored by ardent fans. It might slow down and speed up depending on what's unfolding at any given moment, but its horror asides and Fisher's strong sense of thrilling tension are enough to keep it from completely devolving into insensible crap even at its worst.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino has leased The Earth Dies Screaming from Fox and released it on Blu with an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1080p high definition. The film is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1. It begins with the 20th Century Fox logo, which looks so bad that there's a moment of fear that this isn't going to look anywhere nearly as good as it should. But within seconds all fears are allayed. After the opening couple of shots, the transfer looks really good verging on great, thanks to a minimum of dirt and debris and a maximum of detail, particularly in the facial close-ups and multiple exterior shots, where the streets and brick buildings of the village Shere reveal their rough surfaces. Trees and grass look particularly good; in fact, anywhere detail is to be found, the transfer latches onto it and reveals all. Some of the darker shots suffer from minor crush and an increase in grain (which, for the most part, provides a nice foundation for the imagery), but this happens only a couple of times; all in all, the image looks resplendent and is an appreciable upgrade over the previous DVD release. There's no print damage, though a few scenes flicker slightly. Running a mere 62 minutes, the film is placed on a 25GB disc, which is more than adequate to hold it without compression issues.
There are two tracks. Both are in lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (actually mono spread across two speakers); the first is the film's original sound, the second a commentary featuring film historian Richard Harland Smith. Dialogue is clean and clear, the musical score is robust, and the sound effects are distinct. Smith's commentary track is certainly informative; he covers the film and its incidentals quite well. He discusses Fisher's career, including the notion that Fisher was punished by Hammer after the box-office failure of The Phantom of the Opera (1962) and forced to reside in the wilderness for several years. He touches on all the important performers, various crew members, and even provides a fascinating idea for why the robots look the way they do. He rightfully tags Fisher's greater interest in human conflict and emotion rather than in science fiction elements. Much of the commentary is dedicated to the many films that The Earth Dies Screaming grew out of as well as those it obviously influenced. The commentary is well worth a listen and is the disc's best special feature.
There are no subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.
While there's an “animated image montage†(aka gallery of promotional materials), most of the extras are theatrical trailers. The trailer for The Earth Dies Screaming (2:14) is included, as are those for Invisible Invaders (2:00), Chosen Survivors (3:06), Panic in the Year Zero (2:24), and The Satan Bug (2:12), all in standard definition. All are also for science fiction films released by Kino on BD.
The Final Word:
The Earth Dies Screaming is a lurid slice of Grand Guignol masquerading as standard science fiction, thanks to Fisher's usual focus on human elements. The film is short but entertaining with mostly strong performances (only Parker is a weak spot). Kino has utilized a transfer that looks and sounds great, and there's a commentary that provides ample background and related information. Fisher fans in particular should rejoice: too few of the master filmmaker's black and white films have been released in the format; The Earth Dies Screaming is a step in the right direction.
Christopher Workman is a freelance writer, film critic, and co-author (with Troy Howarth) of the Tome of Terror horror film review series. Horror Films of the 1930s is currently available, with Horror Films of the Silent Era: Book One (1895-1915) and Book Two (1916-1929) due out later this year.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
