The Earth Dies Screaming

I would call "the earth dies screaming" rural sci-fi since everything happens in an English village or in the country.And short weight too,cause the running time barely exceeds one hour.It's a low budget effort but so was "invasion of the body snatchers" .Terence Fisher's work is not in its league,by a long shot ,but its ET robots (icily impersonal)are all the more impressive since we know absolutely nothing about them.Add a good cast ,with Dennis Price as the stand out. Combining robots with living dead in ordinary places in daylight was perhaps not a very good idea on the paper,but it relatively works.Not the kind of movie you feel like watching again,but you can have a look.

A low-budget film directed efficiently by British horror master Terence Fisher. The cheesy special effects and the poor aliens design don't ruin in any moment this very attractive science-fiction movie. Although the first part of the film is higher up of its last thirty minutes, the movie keeps the interest until the ending. Atmospherical shots, a conventional plot line ( a group of survivors of an environment disaster fight for their lives against an alien invasion )supported by a convincing script and fine actors direction. Not so fine as other science-fiction titles by Fisher himself as " The night of the big heat " or "Island of terror "it contains some splendid, very creative moments like the astoundin gopening credits where we assist to a chain of strange and apparently disconnected accidents ( including a train derailment ): a lesson of cinematographic economy and atmospheric invention worthy of this subversive and very talented director .

I watched this movie late on cable and enjoyed every minute. It had all the ingredients of a classic B Movie. Aliens,Zombies,Quaint english village,Survivors of an environmental disaster,Hapless females,and dodgy acting. You have to love the old B Movies to really enjoy this film.

The lurid title is misleading, since a sleepy little village simply gets sleepier in this quickie retread of 'Village of the Damned' and 'The Day of the Triffids' which strikingly anticipates 'The Night of the Living Dead' with added robots.

Like Romero's later classic a small group of people take cover in a quiet rural area (here played by the village of Shere in Surrey) which provides an incongruously picturesque backdrop to an infestation of zombies; and like the later film is cleanly shot in black & white and with an atmospher scored by the celebrated composer Elizabeth Lutyens.

The first few minutes of "The Earth Dies Screaming" are very promising. There is an eerie silence showing how most of humanity has been wiped out, right at the beginning. (It also helps that the movie was shot in black and white - I find apocalypse movies that have been shot in black and white more effective than those shot in color.) As the characters are introduced, they are promised to be a colorful bunch.

But after this promising beginning, the movie starts to fall apart. We never learn why the invaders attacked Earth, nor do we learn much about them. In fact, the robots are treated very casually at times by the characters! In fact, the movie feels too casual elsewhere; although this is a '60s movie, it feels more like one of those innocent '50s sci-fi movies; there is a dated feel to this movie. The ending feels unfinished; since the movie runs only about an hour, surely they could have come up with a more concrete ending had they extended things.

It's not a TERRIBLE movie, but it's disappointing - you'll see the wasted potential.