DIE, SISTER, DIE! (1972/1978)

This film has a convoluted history. It was made in 1972 as a TV movie called “The Companion,” but post-production did not occur until 1976. Two years after that, Cinema Shares International Distribution picked up the film, releasing it to theaters in December 1978. They misleadingly hyped it as a zombie film, but it's really a Gothic-styled murder drama with echoes of Columbo. Still, it keeps turning up on DVD collections of alleged horror movies.

The plot: Edward Price (Jack Ging) hires a nurse, Esther Harper (Antoinette Bower), to look after his bitter, suicidal sister, Amanda (Edith Atwater). What he really wants is for Amanda to die so he can inherit the family fortune. Edward hopes to procure Esther's aid in seeing that it happens with Amanda's next suicide attempt. Desperate for money, Esther agrees but grows reluctant when she and Amanda start relating to each other.

The few critics who reviewed DIE, SISTER, DIE mainly panned it, but that was unfair. OK, so nothing terribly original happens, but the story kept me interested. The acting is solid, with Ging appropriately fulsome as the hateful, scheming Edward. Bower is effectively understated as his wary partner in crime, while Atwater shines as the outwardly crusty (but inwardly scared and vulnerable) Amanda. There's also strong support from Kent Smith as the family doctor, who comes to believe that Edward is not the caring brother he seems to be, and Robert Emhardt as the deceased family patriarch, who haunts Amanda's nightmares.

Moviegoers who paid money to see what they thought was a horror film were likely disappointed. However, I knew exactly what I was getting into. DIE, SISTER, DIE surprised me by turning out much better than I expected.

Some dialogue samples:

DOCTOR: Sometimes, even suicide take a little know-how.

AMANDA: I want to die.
DOCTOR: You're alive, Miss Price. Do what the rest of us do: make the best of it.

AMANDA: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow always comes.

AMANDA: I like things, not people. (I know how she feels!)