If there’s one thing the
post-nuclear age science-fiction horror genre pictures of the 1950s proved, it’s
that there were as many classy and nuanced terror shows being created as there
were cheap and campy drive-in double features.
Falling into the latter camp (no pun intended) is the 1957 demonic walking
tree movie From Hell It Came, a film
critics at the time infamously quipped ‘And to Hell it can go!’.
The second and final film production
of the Milner Brothers and final directorial effort of Dan Milner better known
for The Phantom of 10,000 Leagues,
this double bill to the equally whitewashed and hilariously xenophobic The Disembodied fits in perfectly with
the so-called ‘so bad it’s good’ subgenre of thrown together high camp. Where films like Poltergeist, The Guardian
and Charisma illustrated rare
examples of the effective otherworldly killer tree trope, From Hell It Came sits at the very opposite end of the spectrum
eliciting unabashed unintentional snickers instead of screams.
Set in the South Seas on a
remote island jungle amid one of the most nakedly whitewashed Polynesian tribes
depicted on film ever, From Hell It Came concerns
a village prince unjustly executed by his fellow natives who places a vengeful curse
on the tribe moments before his death.
Not long after, a hulking anthropomorphic tree (i.e., poor sap stuck in
a mostly immobile rubber costume) dubbed the Tabanga rises from the grave site
of the man which wreaks holy terror on the natives and American doctors
stationed nearby the village. Amid witch
doctor superstitions is some measure of post-nuclear fears involving the island
being downwind of atomic testing but for the most part this is a movie about
scantily clad “natives” and western doctors running away from a murderous
walking tree. If this sounds like
something ripe for the MST3K boys to heckle to death (who reportedly rejected
the film from their show), it probably is.
Starring a cast of primarily
western actors including Baynes Barron (The
Ten Commandments) as the evil tribal chief responsible for invoking the
killer tree’s wrath and former professional wrestler Chester Hayes as the
hulking Tabanga, this film like Night of
the Lepus isn’t the kind most involved with it will look back on
fondly. Outside of an interesting visual
effect involving the beating heart of the killer tree and a somewhat gruesome
stabbing scene, From Hell It Came is
some pretty silly fare that has only grown funnier with time as the low budget
drive-in creature feature of the 1950s in retrospect evolved into a wholly
original subgenre.
While reasonably well shot
with some intentional humor added in by an overly chatty nurse, most of the
rest is a hoot which will tickle your ribs. Where most low budget creature features now
aim for canned camp, From Hell It Came was
made at a time when people thought a guy in a thick rubber tree costume with an
expression akin to someone making a bowel movement would frighten
audiences. As such, it’s a curious
object of a movie that for all it’s awfulness should give fans of the kitschy
50s camp a fun time. No, this is not a
good movie or a scary one but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a blast
watching this cheese fest.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki