While at first glance THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING is a micro-budget potboiler, a pastiche of '50s US alien invasion movies with only a fraction of the money behind the production, it is in fact an interesting film, mainly due to the participation of director Terence Fisher, better known for his many classic Hammer Horror films. This is similar to the two films Fisher made in the following two years, ISLAND OF TERROR and NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT, as both deal with invasions and have characters trapped in a rural landscape. THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING is obviously cheaper, shot in black and white, barely an hour long and with special effects that are even worse than those found in the other two films I mentioned.
Still, it's an engaging film that never outstays its welcome. The opening, showing various disasters around the country – cars, trains and planes crash – is quite brilliant despite the obvious model work. From there on in, we're in familiar territory, but with a quintessentially British spin – our survivors hole up in a pub of all places! The script is far from talky, with the exchanges terse and the dialogue over fast. There are no long-winded explanations for the alien menace or reasons given for the walking robots and dead men.
Instead, Fisher chooses to focus on the visual aspects of the movie, and he generates some tension with eerie shots of killer robots wandering around the village and bodies piled all over the place; having seen 28 WEEKS LATER only yesterday, I was surprised at how this film manages to convey the exact same type of creepy atmosphere. Later, there are some full-on zombie attacks, in which the bodies have weirdly-glowing eyes that reminded me of the possessed people in HORROR EXPRESS. One attack includes a great, tense moment with a woman hiding inside a closet as the zombie prowls outside – a clear influence on a similar scene in HALLOWEEN. Sure, the special effects are less than inspiring – the robots appearing as little more than DR WHO's Cybermen done on the cheap – and the supposedly explosive climax is anything but. But B-movie fans will lap this up with relish.
The small cast is pretty good, especially the imported American star. This time around he's Willard Parker, a virtual unknown at the end of his career, but he does well. Parker is given sterling support by Dennis Price as a sinister villain and the buffoonish Thorley Walters in a typically typecast performance as a drunk. The females in the film are a little older than usual, in their 40s and 50s when this was shot, but they are nevertheless appealing. Fans looking for action will be disappointed, as will those expecting some originality in the production. Those wanting a harmless little British chiller in the same vein as 1966's INVASION – with which it would make a very good double bill – will find this a nice effort.
Still, it's an engaging film that never outstays its welcome. The opening, showing various disasters around the country – cars, trains and planes crash – is quite brilliant despite the obvious model work. From there on in, we're in familiar territory, but with a quintessentially British spin – our survivors hole up in a pub of all places! The script is far from talky, with the exchanges terse and the dialogue over fast. There are no long-winded explanations for the alien menace or reasons given for the walking robots and dead men.
Instead, Fisher chooses to focus on the visual aspects of the movie, and he generates some tension with eerie shots of killer robots wandering around the village and bodies piled all over the place; having seen 28 WEEKS LATER only yesterday, I was surprised at how this film manages to convey the exact same type of creepy atmosphere. Later, there are some full-on zombie attacks, in which the bodies have weirdly-glowing eyes that reminded me of the possessed people in HORROR EXPRESS. One attack includes a great, tense moment with a woman hiding inside a closet as the zombie prowls outside – a clear influence on a similar scene in HALLOWEEN. Sure, the special effects are less than inspiring – the robots appearing as little more than DR WHO's Cybermen done on the cheap – and the supposedly explosive climax is anything but. But B-movie fans will lap this up with relish.
The small cast is pretty good, especially the imported American star. This time around he's Willard Parker, a virtual unknown at the end of his career, but he does well. Parker is given sterling support by Dennis Price as a sinister villain and the buffoonish Thorley Walters in a typically typecast performance as a drunk. The females in the film are a little older than usual, in their 40s and 50s when this was shot, but they are nevertheless appealing. Fans looking for action will be disappointed, as will those expecting some originality in the production. Those wanting a harmless little British chiller in the same vein as 1966's INVASION – with which it would make a very good double bill – will find this a nice effort.