A Major Disappointment

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

A tense and brooding British film about an alien invasion told from the limited perspective of several people of disparate backgrounds who come together in a small English village. The film begins creepily enough with people dropping dead, some at the controls of vehicles, others while waiting for trains or doing other mundane tasks. The characters postulate that it was a gas attack because the survivors who tell their backstories all were cut off from outside air--in a high-altitude aircraft, in an oxygen tent, squatting in a bomb shelter, etc. Some characters are vague about their backgrounds, but none more so than Taggert. He carries a gun, dresses nattily, is highly secretive, and can pick a lock in seven seconds. Some might guess him a hood, but I'm thinking government agent, perhaps MI5. The wholesale death that may encompass all England, perhaps the world, is a prelude to an invasion. Who's behind it? That's a question left to conjecture, both by the characters and the audience. It's a vagueness that, to me, works within the context of the story. This film has some connections unnoticed by IMDb, primarily "The Poison Belt," a Professor Challenger story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which the world succumbs to a gas zone through which it passes. The second connection is to another Professor Challenger story, "The Earth Screams," echoed in the film title. The theme is also carried in the film "Target Earth" in which several people awaken in a deserted city and are hunted by mechanical invaders. Connections aside, the film is engaging on its own merits and uses its limited budget to good effect. A great example of mid-century B- film science fiction, a last effort to appeal to an adult British audience before film studios realized the age of the average movie-goer was dropping, and dropping quickly.

What to say? I first saw this on TV sometime in the early 70's and I've always wanted to have another crack at it. Needless to say I jumped at the DVD when it became available. (mine is the Final Cut release). It's one of those low-rent British Sci-Fi/horror films in which our heroes are holed-up in a village pub while the aliens/robots/blobs are on the hunt outside. In this case it's alien robots that have been cooked-up from old vacuum cleaners and medical equipment, but they are a bit scary. Hammer director Terence Fisher does a great job with some terrible acting and almost no budget, and in the end it's one of those films whose charm outweighs its shortcomings.

Unconscious people peacefully slump over the controls of the trains, planes and automobiles they were piloting. This is naturally followed by the crashes of the aforementioned vehicles. A few lone survivors show up and band together as they try to figure things out. The screaming doesn't actually start until some strange space-suited creatures begin slowly lumbering around town and are eventually joined by those they've recently killed.The movie perhaps tries a little harder than comparable films in trying to create a dramatic scenario of survivors dealing with the aftermath of a holocaust they don't understand, but not a lot harder. Plot, character development and dramatic tension are mostly absent and the film plods along nearly as slowly as the completely out-of-place zombies. This may be a low-budget sci-fi film with laughable special effects and an over-the-top title, but the camp value is almost non-existent. On the plus side, its short running time does take some mercy on fans of the genre who feel compelled to see this movie in spite of its limited entertainment potential.

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!