BFI announces release of Die, Monster, Die!

The BFI has announced the Blu-Ray release of Die, Monster, Die!, on 22 July 2024.

Cinema’s grandmaster of terror, Boris Karloff, dominates proceedings as a scientist tormented by otherworldly powers beyond his control, in this visually splendid adaptation of H P Lovecraft’s weird tale The Colour Out of Space.

Abundant with mutants, meteors and pulsating plant life, along with every kind of gothic and sci-fi shock, Die, Monster, Die! is vintage Karloff. Out on BFI Blu-ray on 22 July, extras including a newly recorded audio commentary by the BFI’s Vic Pratt and William Fowler, a newly filmed interview with Boris Karloff’s biographer and much more.

American scientist Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) arrives in the eerie English village of Arkham to visit his fiancée, Susan Witley (Suzan Farmer). Though welcomed by Susan’s mysteriously ill mother (Freda Jackson), he is spurned by Susan’s father, Nahum (Boris Karloff), who makes it clear that Stephen is an unwelcome intruder amid the ornate halls of the Witley estate. For Nahum is hiding a dangerous secret, with horrifying consequences for Arkham’s residents.

Special features

• Presented in High Definition
• Newly recorded audio commentary by film historians Vic Pratt and William Fowler
• A Karloff Konversation (2024, 19 mins): Boris Karloff’s biographer, Stephen Jacobs, discusses the film
• Scenes From ‘Let Me Die a Monster’ (2024, 14 mins): sequences from Ken Hollings and David McGillivray’s as-yet-unmade film-fantasy built around Die, Monster, Die! star Nick Adams, performed in a read-through staged and shot exclusively for this release
• Nick Adams and Die, Monster, Die! (2024, 7 mins): Hollings and McGillivray recall the career of Nick Adams and how they became fascinated with his film work
• Sell, Monster, Sell! (2024, 12 mins): film unit publicist Tony Tweedale recalls his work on Die, Monster, Die!
• The Peaches (1964, 16 mins): a family greenhouse yields strange fruit in this stylish Swinging Sixties short film
• Image gallery: an extensive array of promotional stills from Die, Monster, Die!
• Theatrical trailer with optional audio commentary
• ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with a new writing on the film by Stephen Jacobs, an essay on HP Lovecraft by Xavier Aldana Reyes and writing about ‘Let Me Die a Monster’ by Ken Hollings and David McGillivray; notes on the special features and film credits