From Hell It Came (1957)

I've seen a lot of bad movies. Especially anything shown on the Syfy(less) channel from 2000-2010 and beyond. This, as bad as it is, its certainly better than those - but not by much. Basically it's a walking tree that kills people. Yes, you read that right. A WALKING TREE that KILLS PEOPLE. And the only channel that shows it, is Turner Classics. Kind of lie to call this a classic. And I can't believe that with all the great movies yet to be saved on Blu Ray, that this silly snoozefest has been given that honor. Needs to be seen once and then never again. Unless it's on opposite anything on the SYFY channel that isn't the Expanse. Then watch it twice.

Back in the 1960s, when I was just a young lad and when there were only three major television stations to contend with, "The New York Times" used to make pithy commentaries, in their TV section, regarding films that were to be aired that day. I have never forgotten the terse words that the paper issued for the 1957 cult item "From Hell It Came." In one of the most succinct pans ever written, the editors simply wrote: "Back send it." Well, I have waited years to find out if this hilarious put-down was justified or not, and now that I have finally succeeded in catching up with this one-of-a-kind cult item, have to say that I feel the "Times" people may have been a bit too harsh in their assessment. Sure, the film is campy, and of course, its central conceit is patently ridiculous, but does the film give the viewer that one necessary ingredient--namely, fun--that all good movies should provide? Oh, yes!As the film opens, the viewer sees Kimo (handsome Gregg Palmer, the first in a long list of "no-name" actors here), the son of the former chief of this nameless South Pacific island, staked out, face up, on the ground. Wrongly accused of the murder of his old man by the real perpetrators, the new chief Maranka (Baynes Barron) and the evil witch doctor Tano (Robert Swan), and betrayed by his faithless wife Korey (Suzanne Ridgeway), Kimo is summarily put to death by having a dagger hammered into his heart, but not before he utters the words "I will come back from the grave to revenge myself...I shall come back from hell and make you pay for your crimes...." Kimo is then buried in a hollow tree trunk and forgotten. Soon after, the viewer makes the acquaintance of a group of American scientists who are also on the island, studying the radioactive effects from a distant nuclear blast. One of the scientists, Dr. Bill Arnold (Tod Andrews, the closest thing this film has to a well-known actor), is soon distracted by the arrival of the lady scientist whom he has long been pining for, Dr. Terry Mason (Tina Carver), and the team is later startled to find that a fully grown tree--with a grimacing expression on its trunk, and what look like eyes, to boot--has begun to grow out of Kimo's grave! The scientists extirpate the bizarre arboreal growth and bring it back to the lab, where they are stunned to find that the growth is exhibiting a heartbeat! Terry injects it with one of her serums, causing the tree to come alive, escape from the lab, and perambulate (!) over to the native village, to begin its promise of vengeance. Korey is the first to go, after the tree--which the natives call Tabanga--scoops her up and chucks her into the local quicksand pool. Can the new native chief and the scheming witch doctor be far behind?OK, I'm not going to lie to you: "From Hell It Came" IS a patently ridiculous little picture (the whole thing runs to a bare 71 minutes) but, as I said, it sure is fun, AND has a number of other selling points that help to put it over today, more than 60 years since its release as part of a double bill, along with "The Disembodied." For one thing, the acting by the film's leads is surprisingly decent (the thesping by those playing the natives...not so much), and the locales actually look convincing; one can almost imagine that the film WAS shot on a Pacific island. The film is fast moving and compact, thanks to director Dan Milner (whose 1955 film, "The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues," I had also recently enjoyed), with little flab, and, once you buy into its central outlandish conceit, quite a hoot. The film also looks very fine, thanks in part to cinematographer Brydon Baker--especially in the HD print that I just watched--and also contains any number of amusing lines, courtesy of screenwriter Richard Bernstein. For example, I love what Terry says when Bill asks her if she wouldn't prefer a normal, married life: "Being cooped up in a stuffy apartment, having my ears blasted by rock and roll music, isn't my idea of normal!" The picture also showcases one of the lamest, most unintentionally hilarious catfights ever put on film--that between Korey and Maranka's current galpal, Naomi. And as for Tabanga itself, it is a rather pleasing, if ludicrous, creation; another memorable product from Paul Blaisell, who would also be responsible for the monsters in "Day the World Ended," "It Conquered the World," "The She-Creature" and "Invasion of the Saucer Men." The tree monster here is actually a more intimidating proposition than the apple-throwing ones to be found in "The Wizard of Oz," which looked menacing but were still stuck in one place, as well as the one to be found in the 1958 British horror offering "The Woman Eater," which devoured its victims whole but was also immobile. Tabanga, I might add, was understandably nominated, in Harry and Michael Medved's "Golden Turkey Awards" book, for "The Most Ridiculous Monster In Screen History," losing to Ro-Man in "Robot Monster" (granted, it IS hard to beat an alien gorilla in a diving helmet!). But interestingly, "From Hell It Came" itself was NOT chosen for inclusion in Harry Medved's book "The 50 Worst Films of All Time." And it certainly does not deserve to be in that volume. There are far worse films out there--such as "Dracula vs. Frankenstein," The Horror of the Blood Monsters," "The Worm Eaters," "Blood Freak" and on and on--to be sure. The bottom line is that "From Hell It Came" might be silly, but it sure is entertaining. I'm glad that I finally caught up with it....

Apparently this particular 1950s sci-fi monster movie has managed to generate a sizeable cult over the decades, seeing that (believe it or not) it got a release on Blu-ray earlier this year. But I am not really sure why that cult managed to get generated in the first place, though I must confess that 1950s sci-fi monster movies are not really my thing. Still, I will confess that there is some entertainment to be found. The rubber killer tree suit is quite charming to the eye, certainly looking better than many modern day CGI monsters. And there are a few unintended laughs here and there, from the tropical island looking remarkably like southern California to the comic relief English lady, whose comic relief is so overdone that it becomes amusing in a way that wasn't intended. But I thought that the movie was somewhat lacking enough spark. Even though the movie is only 71 minutes long, it really feels stretched out and padded; the monster does not start its rampage until over 65% or so of the movie has passed! The movie is so leisurely - even to a degree with the monster scenes - that it doesn't excite or unintentionally amuse the audience enough. It could have been a lot worse, I admit, but it will somewhat try your patience at times.

An island native is executed by some fellow natives and then resurrected as a rubbery looking walking tree, almost but not quite like the talking trees in "Oz." As the tree walks along, very slowly, his eyelids and mouth flap a bit. He seeks revenge on those who wrongly had him killed and then carries off not one but two blonde female visitors before meeting his demise. One of the blondes, an American, has a very nice backside. The other, a Brit, has those classic 1950s car bumper bosoms. That's probably why the tree thing carries them around instead of killing them. Scientists and doctors from America actually revive the creature, having found it growing from the native's grave. A small child will find the tree's face scary, but everyone else is likely to have a good laugh watching it in action. Interestingly, not too many years later, American actor John Ashley would star in a loose remake as one of several drive-in flicks he shot in the Philippines.