From Hell It Came
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| From Hell It Came | |
|---|---|
Allied Artists Pictures | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
From Hell It Came is a 1957 American
Plot
Kimo, prince of a South Seas island whose residents are suffering a plague epidemic, is accused of murdering his father, the chief of the island natives. Kimo is alleged to have administered to his father poisonous medicine provided by a group of American scientists stationed on a field laboratory on the island. The true murderers of Kimo's father—Tano, a witch doctor, and Maranka, the new chief—sentence Kimo to be executed by having a knife driven into his heart. Kimo begs his wife Korey to exonerate him, but she denies his innocence. He swears revenge on Tano, Korey, and the new chief, Maranka. After his execution, Kimo is buried in a hollow tree trunk.
American doctor Terry Mason arrives to the island on assignment to help conduct research and treat natives affected with the plague. She is greeted by Dr. William Arnold, one of the scientists already stationed on the island. They meet up with fellow scientist Professor Clark, and Terry is introduced to Mrs. Kilgore, who runs a
Later, Terry and William come across Kimo's grave, and find a
Korey laments that Maranka, for whom she betrayed Kimo, acts coldly towards her in favor of another woman, Naomi. Jealous, Korey tries to attack Naomi with a knife, but the pair encounter the Tabanga. Naomi flees, and the Tabanga kills Korey by throwing her into a pit of quicksand. It then finds Chief Maranka and fatally throttles him. Tano and the other natives, after learning that Kimo has been resurrected as a Tabanga, lure the monster into a pit, which they set aflame. However, the Tabanga emerges from the fiery pit and finds Tano again. It throws Tano down a hill, causing him to be impaled on a woody plant below.
At the insistence of some natives, the scientists go out searching for the Tabanga. The Tabanga abducts Terry and attempts to throw her into the quicksand. Eddie, an American who was previously stationed in the same location as one of Terry's prior assignments, fires shots at the Tabanga. One of the bullets hits the knife which still protrudes from the monster's chest, causing it to be driven fully into its heart. The Tabanga sinks into the quicksand, dead. William and Terry embrace, and a native asks Professor Clark if he is willing to replace Tano as the island's medical practitioner.
Cast
- Tod Andrews as Dr. William Arnold
- Tina Carver as Dr. Terry Mason
- Linda Watkins as Mrs. Mae Kilgore
- John McNamara as Prof. Clark
- Gregg Palmer as Kimo
- Robert Swan as Tano
- Baynes Barron as Chief Maranka
- Suzanne Ridgeway as Korey
- Mark Sheeler as Eddie
- Lee Rhodes as Norgu
- Grace Mathews as Orchid
- Tani Marsh as Naomi
- Chester Hayes as Maku / The Tabanga
- Lenmana Guerin as Dori
Production
The Tabanga monster was designed initially by Paul Blaisdell[2] (also known for his work on The She-Creature, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Not of This Earth and It! The Terror from Beyond Space) and was manufactured by Don Post Studios. Blaisdell was only paid to sketch the monster, not to actually build it or operate it. Blaisdell's design was of a thin, spindly tree-monster with long spidery branches, which proved too narrow to fit a man inside of the costume. The producers reworked Blaisdell's design and filled the creature out more, making him much shorter and squatter, and shortening his arms. Actor Chester Hayes wound up playing the monster in the film, and Blaisdell marveled at how the man was able to operate and maneuver the heavy rubber suit. This was the second and last feature film to be produced by the Milner brothers.[5]
Release
From Hell It Came was released by Allied Artists in 1957 on a double bill with The Disembodied.[6]
Critical reception
According to film historian Tim Healey, From Hell It Came deserves an honored place in the canon of the world's worst movies.[7] Author and movie critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film one-and-a-half out of four stars, writing that, "As walking-tree movies go, this is at the top of the list."[8] In his review for AllMovie, originally written in 2013, Bruce Eder panned the film:
The sheer badness of Dan Milner's From Hell It Came is mitigated ever so slightly by the efforts of Paul Blaisdell, who created the vengeful tree-creature called the Tabonga. Now, the creature itself it pretty ludicrous in its actual on-screen appearances, but given the fact that we're talking about a killer tree-stump...and a low-budget, the fact that Blaisdell was able to devise anything at all that, even for a fraction of a second, might be scary, is the one part of the movie that does work. Nothing else does...All of which leaves ridiculously campy fun as the sole reason to watch this very mildly entertaining misfire, which is funnier in the telling than the watching.[4]
A reviewer for TV Guide awarded the film two out of five stars, calling it "silly" and "really goofy".[9]
Home media
Through its Warner Archive Collection,
on April 25, 2017.Notes
References
- ^ a b Eggertsen, Chris (March 4, 2010). "Not So Scary... Top Ten Worst Movie Monsters!". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-0786440993.
- ^ ISBN 978-0786477777.
- ^ a b Eder, Bruce. "From Hell It Came (1957) - Dan Milner". AllMovie. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ The Strange Creature of Topanga Canyon: Paul Blaisdell, His Life and Times
- ^ It Came from 1957: A Critical Guide to the Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy By Rob Craig
- ^ Tim Healey (1986) The World's Worst Movies. London, Octopus Books: 8-9
- ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
- ^ "From Hell It Came - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- ^ Stomp Tokyo review of film
External links
- From Hell It Came at IMDb
- From Hell It Came at AllMovie
- From Hell It Came at the TCM Movie Database
