Review: Die Sister, Die! (1972)

With a remake now in pre-production it became necessary to review the original for those not yet acquainted with this elegant masterpiece. Originally intended for late night television, this little gem found wider success at midnight showings, double features and various budget VHS and DVD releases.

Randall Hood‘s Die Sister, Die opens with our star character, Amanda Price. She is freshly bandaged on the wrist from her latest suicide attempt. You see, Amanda inherited her late, wealthy Father’s estate, and her younger, manipulative Brother Edward is constantly trying to find ways to swindle her out of it. This includes hiring a beautiful ex-Con Nurse (Esther) to care for her, and to be sure Amanda takes just enough meds to never wake up again, thus leaving the money and property in Edward’s hands.

The set-up is simple. The characters are minimal and the music is constant and creepy. This is what can be classified as a classic pot boiler. The movie starts out with a bang to set-up the story and then starts with character development, and then the suspense starts. It’s always building and building until the shocking and surprising climax.

The shots in the film are full of class. Each frame filled with grace. Old antiques and Grandfather clocks ticking in the background make for the perfect set. The characters draw you in with force. Suddenly you are in their world. A world of intrigue, suspense, drama and back stabbing. Many of which said story elements were and still are used as the basis of most television soap operas. While meant to be pawned off as a suspense movie, the flick contains enough gore to and scares to be relevant to the slasher subgenre, and enough skeletons in the closet to push it into full-on horror territory.

The superb acting, excellent locations, perfect build and classic twist ending makes Die Sister, Die a must-see for horror fans young and old. It may not have the MTV-style crazy editing, or topless models getting slashed like most of us are used to, but it does contain several scenes guaranteed to chill you to the bone. It’s the kind of movie you want to watch late at night with a bowl of popcorn and all the lights off.