From Hell It Came

This movie is ultra low budget, has ultra low budget acting, and ultra low budget special effects, even for 1957. And the storyline is perhaps the most ridiculous in the history of the cinema. Why then would I grace this movie with an "average" five star rating? Quite simply, it is hilarious! Come on, you have to admire any filmmakers nerve when he makes a movie about a walking killer tree stump! The only thing that comes close in my mind is the killer bulldozer aka "Killdozer" from the mid seventies. Watching the murderous tree stump lumbering across a field in search of prey is about the funniest thing in my movie memory. I first saw this film sometime in the seventies on one of those late night horror film festivals, and I'll never forget it! How can something so bad feel so good?

Fans looking for absurd, cheesy entertainment from the 1950s will be well served by this cheap and schlocky B-movie, forever remembered in the hearts of bad film buffs as the one about the "killer tree". Forget THE GIANT CLAW, this is the real stuff. Anybody who's seen one of those old-fashioned low-budget 'jungle' movies made on a set in Hollywood will find FROM HELL IT CAME packed full of the stock clichés present from the period, from 'witch doctors' throwing magic exploding powder into flames, to strangely American-looking natives padding out the cast of village extras, to a script which vainly tries to make scientifically-plausible sense of the chaos whilst keeping a healthy level of mumbo-jumbo native superstition bubbling merrily away.

At the end of the day, the film concerns the activities of a walking tree to kill people. The special effects used to animate said tree are appalling; basically it's just some unlucky guy in a silly rubber suit, completed with a goofy face and painted-on eyes. The flexibility of the suit is zero, with just a couple of rubber arms sticking out from each side, so at any point the monster is required to perform an action, it just ends up looking ridiculous. The cast isn't much better; aside from dependable (but ageing) male lead Tod Andrews, there don't appear to be many real actors in the cast list. Most annoying of all is Linda Watkins' character. The American Watkins speaks with a truly grating Cockney accent all of the time, then later on turns out to have supposedly come from Australia! It beggars belief, it really does. Just another whacked-out element to an already incredible movie. An immortal delight for bad-film buffs everywhere.

Oh, sorry....that was the tree in Wizard of Oz. However, another malevolent animated tree is on the loose, but this time it's the dreaded Tabonga, who wanders around an island scaring guys in Hawaiian tourist costumes.

Actually, the plot shows some originality (even if the production quality is a laugh riot). A tribal chief on a tropical island somewhere commits the Unpardonable Sin by being friends with some American scientists who are studying....um, something, not sure what. So, some members of his tribe conspire together and kill him. Something about nuclear power resurrects him as a tree. Yup, a tree. Or at least, the stump of a tree, with a scowling face painted on. It appears to be inked by the same artist, with the same black magic marker, that did the alien's face in "It Conquered the World."

Anyway, the tree goes on a vengeful rampage and starts to get even with his murderers, one by one. Since guns and other typical weapons are (like always) useless against this thing, it's up to the scientists to find a way to stop this wooden creature before he wipes everybody out. Tension mounts to excruciating levels as Tabonga hobbles around, chasing and terrorizing horror-stricken islanders at about the velocity you would expect a tree to move at.

One of the all-time so-bad-it's-good classics from the golden age of drive-ins, right up there with Plan 9 and Robot Monster. It really is fun to watch, if nothing else than certainly for the laughs it provides. Best watched with friends; you can have a MST3K style "bark jokes at the screen" party.

Yes, by todays standards..Yada, Yada.. This one perhaps even by '50s standards was a bit low budget..

However, if you remember this one from when you were a kid, then you can still hold a place for it in your monster closet 8-) As a kid this thing scared me on the big screen, and I'm so glad I didn't know what I know today to spoil it for me. A very special time when we could go down town and watch a couple of these "monster" flicks on a Saturday.

Not to mention the fun time spent looking at all the stills out front and in the lobby !!

I still hold those original feelings inside and can enjoy watching these again, with the added enjoyment in the fact that I WANT to enjoy them and revisit my past.

...in this turkey! This stinkaroo rates in my personal 10 Worst Movies of all time. Lame plot,wooden(Ha-ha!)acting by all concerned,fake natives(complete with "New Yawk" accents)running around in shower curtains they must have swiped from the local motel,dialogue that makes "Me Tarzan,you Jane" sound like Masterpiece Theatre,the lamest catfight in cinematic history,I could go on and on. A couple of scenes really stand out in my mind: The tree drops the girl into the quicksand,upon which she obligingly pushes herself out deeper into the bog(so she can sink quicker and get the hell off the set ASAP?)Next,how in hell does the witch doctor manage to throw his spear completely over the Tabanga at a range of only 3 feet? However,if they decide to do a remake of this clunker,I know who can play the Tabanga-Vin Diesel! He'd be perfect for the role-he has all the acting ability,charisma,and facial expression of a tree!