use POSIX: 
use POSIX qw(_exit);
BEGIN { print STDERR "my error message\n"; _exit(-1) }

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 Update: Actually, normal exit works fine too: 
BEGIN { warn "my error message\n"; exit -1 }

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In reply to Re: BEGIN and die(), an ugly combination by ctilmes
in thread BEGIN and die(), an ugly combination by samtregar

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