From Hell It Came (Warner Archive Collection) (1957)

[The Great Owl]

On a South Seas island, a native prince is wrongly accused of murdering an old chief after he attempted to treat the chief by using modern medicine provided by American scientists, who are on the island to investigate radioactive fallout from nuclear testing. The prince is executed in a gruesome ritual, but not before he swears revenge on the true killers of the chief and promises to come back from the dead to avenge himself. Sure enough, the prince eventually rises up from the grave in the form of a terrifying walking tree stump who lumbers after his victims and efficiently puts them to their deaths. The American scientists find themselves fighting for their own lives as the walking tree, the "Tabanga", continues its rampage.

At 71 minutes, From Hell It Came is flawed and often illogical, but nonetheless fast-paced and wildly fun. I rather liked the story element involving the distrust of many of the natives toward the modern medicine treatments, because, sadly, it invites comparisons with the bewildering anti-vaccination movement that is proliferating here in America today. The lead character, the Tabanga, is rather wooden...har har har...but it's certainly never boring to watch. The special effects of the Tabanga, which pretty much involved putting a man in a large tree suit, complete with an enormous scowling face, are crude, even by 1950s standards, and this is the main cause of the critical animosity toward this film, but, as a fan of these old-school monster movies, I found its rampage scenes to be entertaining.

This Warner Archive Blu-ray sports an impressive audio and video presentation, since the 2K restoration of this modest-length film is given plenty of heft by the BD-25. There are no extras, aside from the original trailer, but this film sells itself, and no supplements are needed.

From Hell It Came is not a lost masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it delivers for what it is, and I'm grateful to Warner Archive for giving it to us by way of such a strong presentation.