That admittedly great title is something of a misnomer. In 1965's "The Earth Dies Screaming," our good planet doesn't quite expire with a scream, a bang or even a T.S. Eliot whimper; rather, it is simply put to a quiet death by an alien gas attack. In the film, we meet what appears to be the last seven people left alive, who converge in a quaint village in what we must infer is northern England. There is an American jet pilot (played by Willard Parker, a likable, rugged actor in the Forrest Tucker mode), an attractive, middle-aged woman (Virginia Field, Parker's real-life wife), a weasly cad (the always impeccable Dennis Price), a drunken older couple and a pregnant young couple. This septet has its hands full avoiding the lumbering, helmeted robots that the aliens have sent down, as well as the blank-eyed, reanimated corpses of the once-living! The film features moody B&W photography, typically taut and suspenseful direction by Hammer Studios legend Terence Fisher (although the film in question here is a product of Shepperton), and several gripping sequences. In one, the newly zombified Violet (of the older couple) makes a very jolting nighttime appearance; in another, attractive Peggy plays cat and mouse in a house filled with buzzing robots and the empty-orbed undead. Unfortunately, "The Earth Dies Screaming," with a running time of only 62 minutes, is a bit on the skimpy side, with an inadequately fleshed-out script. We never DO find out the mysterious motivations of Dennis Price's character, or even learn anything about the alien invaders (or even get to SEE them!). Far from overstaying its welcome, the film ends way too suddenly, and will leave most viewers thinking, "WTF? That's it?" Still, what IS on the screen is pretty much dynamite!
Review of The Earth Dies Screaming
