Another one from the ‘To Watch’ pile, I had about an hour free, so ‘From Hell it came’ it is! And dissapointing doesn’t cover half of it!

The plot? A group of the WHITEST Americans (and one VERY stereotypical British lady) are called to an exotic island where rumours of a murderous tree are running rife. The locals believe that a former Prince who was framed and killed by the islands witch doctor and the Prince’s wife, has cursed the island and has been ressurected as a killer tree to seek vengeance.

The Americans by contrast believe it may have something to do with a nuclear test blast that went off course and has irradiated the island. Honestly? Who knows.

The majority of the film is the Americans being distrusted by the islanders, as the Witch doctor has told them it was American Medicene that killed the prince’s father, the king of the island. But the reality is, it was the Witch doctor and the prince’s wife who did it as a power grab! But, is the tree monster real?! Well…yeh…yeh it is. The end.

Honestly? This is a very dull movie, only really helped by some of THE worst deliveries I’ve seen in a movie in a good while, and the tree Monster itself, which really doesn’t get nearly enough on screen time as I feel it should have.

75% of this film is just folks talking in a lab set, or on a backlot. The vast majority of the script is leading with an ‘American might and genius is great and amazing, and we’ll save these savages with our incredible technology and dashing good looks’ vibe. It’s…a very dated picture.

But yeh, the plots a washout. Ultra slow, low on action, pacings glacial. If it wasn’t for the handful of action scenes and the bad dialogue, it’d have been a total bust.

Direction and cine are about as good as it can get for low/no budget. Unremarkable is what I’d say. Definitely could be better, but isn’t the worst.

The performances are abysmal. Like, genuinely bad on a physical and line delivery front. And the tree monster is almost entirely moulded fiberglass. It’s hilarious.

I was hoping for more from ‘From Hell it came’ even if the tree monster was more prevalent, or if they gave the characters more to do, it would have vastly improved things…as it stands this felt really more like a backpatting commercial for how great Americans are. With some casual racism and stereotyping thrown in for good measure.

Not one I’d recommend, and probably one I won’t be in a rush to revisit any time soon. Simultaneously yawn worthy and groan worthy.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/from-hell-it-came/