From Hell It Came
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| From Hell It Came | |
|---|---|
| File:Fromhellitcame.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Dan Milner |
| Screenplay by | Richard Bernstein |
| Story by | Richard Bernstein Jack Milner |
| Produced by | Jack Milner |
| Starring | Tod Andrews Tina Carver Linda Watkins John McNamara Gregg Palmer Robert Swan Baynes Barron Suzanne Ridgeway Chester Hayes |
| Cinematography | Brydon Baker |
| Edited by | Jack Milner |
| Music by | Darrell Calker |
Production company | Milner Brothers Productions |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
From Hell It Came is a 1957 American horror/science fiction film, directed by Dan Milner and written by Richard Bernstein, from a story by Bernstein and Jack Milner.[1] It was released by Allied Artists on a double bill with The Disembodied.
Plot
A South Seas island prince is wrongly convicted of murder and executed by having a knife driven into his heart, the result of a plot by a witch doctor (the true murderer) who resented the prince's friendly relations with American scientists stationed on a field laboratory on the island. The prince is buried in a hollow tree trunk and forgotten about until nuclear radiation reanimates him in the form of the "Tabonga", a scowling tree stump. The monster escapes from the laboratory and kills several people, including the witch doctor, whom the Tabonga pushes down a hill to be impaled on his own crown of shark teeth. The creature cannot be stopped, burned, or trapped. Only when a crack rifle shot from one of the scientists drives the knife (which still protrudes from the creature's chest) all the way through its heart does it finally die and sink into the swamp.
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
- Suzanne Ridgeway as Korey
Production
The iconic Tabonga monster was designed 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) but was manufactured by Don Post Studios. This was the second and last feature film to be produced by the Milner brothers.[3]
Release
It was released by Allied Artists in 1957 on a double bill with The Disembodied.[4]
Through its Warner Archive Collection, Warner Home Video released the film on DVD on November 11, 2009,[5] and on Blu-ray on April 25, 2017.
Reception
According to Tim Healey, it deserves an honored place in the canon of the world's worst movies.[6] Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film 1½ of 4 stars, writing, "As walking-tree movies go, this is at the top of the list".[7] Bruce Eder from AllMovie panned the film, writing, "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... 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".[8]
References
- ^ Not So Scary... Top Ten Worst Movie Monsters!
- ^ Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist by Randy Palmer
- ^ 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
- ^ Stomp Tokyo review of film
- ^ Tim Healey (1986) The World's Worst Movies. London, Octopus Books: 8-9
- ^ Leonard Maltin (ed.), Leonard Maltin's 2001 Movie & Video Guide, Plume, ISBN 0-452-28187-3. The review was later moved from Maltin's annual guidebook that included recent movies into Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide: From the Silent Era through 1965, 2nd edition (2010), Plume, ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
- ^ Eder, Bruce. "From Hell It Came (1957) - Dan Milner". Allmovie.com. Bruce Eder. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
External links
