Rating summary

Movie		0.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

From Hell It Came Blu-ray Movie Review

What Fresh Hell Is This?

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 23, 2017

Anyone who has ever trolled a movie site claiming that some popular hit or certified classic is "the worst movie ever made" should be required to order this new Blu-ray of the walking tree epic, From Hell It Came ("FHIC"), which achieved honored status in Tim Healey's compendium of The World's Worst Movies. The 1957 release from Poverty Row studio Allied Artists spends two thirds of its running time building up to the onslaught of a lumbering monster that's about as scary as a block of wood (which is exactly what it is). But every film has its fans, and the Warner Archive Collection is adding FHIC to the same Blu-ray collection that boasts masterpieces like Bad Day at Black Rock and The Big Sleep, because fans demanded it. They won't be disappointed. WAC has done its usual first-rate work in bringing this prime exemplar of "so bad it's good" cinema to Blu-ray.

On a remote atoll in the South Seas, an American scientific expedition alternates between measuring fallout from atomic testing and bringing Western medicine to the indigenous population. The latter activity is a sore point with the local tribe's medicine man, Tano (Robert Swan), whose supremacy is challenged by the American team—and Tano is not a man to be trifled with. In the film's opening sequence, he presides over the execution of Kimo (Gregg Palmer), the son of the late chief, who has supported the Yankee efforts and whose death clears the way for his father's best friend, Maranka (Baynes Barron), to succeed the deceased leader. Ritually stabbed through the heart, Kimo is buried upright in a hollowed block of wood. A mysterious growth sprouts from his burial site, maturing into a "Tabanga", a hardwood avatar of Kimo's revenge. Among the Tabanga's targets is Kimo's duplicitous wife, Korey (Suzanne Ridgway), who gave false testimony against him in the expectation of marrying the new chief. (He discards her after she's served her purpose.)

While FHIC is waiting for the Tabanga to grow and take its shuffling revenge, it passes the time in the soap opera stew of the American encampment, where the widowed Mae Kilgore (Linda Watkins) is still so traumatized from having surreptitiously witnessed Kimo's execution that her Cockney accent comes and goes (and when it's there, it's even less convincing than Dick Van Dyke's in Mary Poppins). Mrs. Kilgore's fright doesn't deter her from her project of landing yet another husband to succeed the two she's already buried, but the expedition's chief physician, Dr. William Arnold (Tod Andrews), has his heart set on a fellow doctor, Terry Mason (Tina Carver). The latest arrival on the island, Dr. Mason seems blithely indifferent to the growing threat from both native unrest and homicidal vegetation. Indeed, it's she who is directly responsible for turning the Tabanga loose upon the unsuspecting islanders, when she injects it with an experimental drug after the team has dug it up for study. The group's research scientist, Dr. Clark (John McNamara), provides the requisite philosophical commentary on themes of cultural relativism and man vs. nature.

The Tabanga isn't remotely intimidating, but it's a certainly a sight to behold, and it effectively dispatches the villains who engineered Kimo's execution. Then it makes the fatal error of menacing the comely Dr. Mason, apparently unaware that the monster owes its life to the physician's TLC. With one of their own at risk—and a pretty woman at that—the Americans quickly rally to destroy a monster that local legend has proclaimed indestructible.

From Hell It Came Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

From Hell It Came was shot by Brydon Baker, who enjoyed a long and successful career as director of photography for the cut-rate Westerns and monster movies produced by the second string studios collectively known as "Poverty Row". For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, a fine-grain master positive was scanned at 2K by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility, followed by the usual color-correction and cleanup. The result cannot transcend FHIC's limited budget (or transform it into a good film), but within the limits of the source, the Blu-ray offers a crisply detailed black-and-white image that allows the viewer to revel in the often amusing cheapness of the sets and costumes, many of which look like they were purchased for Halloween. (Even in B&W, it's obvious that every outfit worn by a native was machine-manufactured rather than handmade.) The standout scenes feature the Tabanga itself, whose gnarled and knotty bark is a fascinating study in form battling function, since it has to be both intimidatingly solid, yet flexible enough for an actor to walk while wearing it. Blacks are solid, shades of gray are finely rendered and contrast is strong. WAC has mastered FHIC with it usual high average bitrate, here 34.997 Mbps, and even with that generous allotment of space, the 71-minute film fits comfortably on a BD-25.

From Hell It Came Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

FHIC's original mono audio has been taken from the magnetic master and encoded on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. The same low-budget origins that are evident in the visuals are apparent here as well, with underwhelming sound effects and limited dynamic range. Still, the dialogue is always clear (and, in a few instances, the ADR is obvious), and the score by Darrell Calker, a ballet composer turned "B" movie staple, provides unintentional comedy, accompanying the ridiculous proceedings onscreen with deadly serious instrumentals.

From Hell It Came Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The sole extra is the film's trailer (1080p, 1.78:1; 1:56), which has been remastered in 1080p. WAC's 2009 DVD of FHIC was similarly bare.

From Hell It Came Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

FHIC is a terrible movie and has been rated accordingly, but that hardly matters. Its badness is what distinguishes it and has inspired and sustained its loyal cult following. In Leonard Maltin's memorable phrase: "As walking-tree movies go, this is at the top of the list." WAC's new Blu-ray is one for the fans, and in that respect, it is recommended on its technical merits. Blind buyers beware.