BY DARREN ALLISON
From the era of giant bugs and atomic testing comes this low-budget howler about mutant wasps. When scientists try to understand the effects of radiation on earth creatures, the result brings them to an area of Africa known as “Green Hell,” where wasps have mutated into monsters!
?Monster from Green Hell (1958) is one of those rare breed of creature features that sticks hard in and among those special childhood memories. Perhaps not right up there in terms of prestige or class, but certainly scattered among the Toho or Eros movies that at one time littered the drive-ins and later swamped many tv schedules. What these films actually lack in terms of polished production values, they more than made up in relation to their pure entertainment value.
Under the direction of Kenneth G. Crane, Jim Davis, (later of TV’s Dallas), plays Dr. Quent Brady, the scientist who starts the whole mess. The film also stars Vladimir Sokoloff (The Life of Emile Zola, Mission to Moscow) as the sceptical Dr. Lorentz and Joel Fluellen (A Raisin in the Sun) as Arobi, who warns Brady to beware of the African location. The locals don't call it “Green Hell” for nothing! Monster from Green Hell was co-written by Louis Vittes, famed writer of the cult classic I Married a Monster from Outer Space. The film sticks pretty much to the tried and tested formula, while a lot of location footage is either stock footage or borrowed from other low- key features of the period. But regardless of the repetitive style and basic formula, Monster from Green Hell remains a cracking piece of enjoyable fun. The creature effects (although blatant and not exactly subtle) blend in without too much trouble. They’re playing in the same ballpark, an even palette which places them on par with everything else that is on offer here, and therefore blend into the action somewhat seamlessly and without too much distraction.
The special-edition Blu-ray release features a rather impressive 4K transfer, including both the widescreen (1.85:1) and full frame (1.33:1) versions of the film, This exceptionally clean transfer also includes the rare, colourised version of film’s climax. I can’t be sure how rare this actually is in American territories, but I can distinctly remember the inclusion of the colour climax when shown here in the UK on the Channel 4 TV network. Monster from Green Hell comes as the latest in a series of collaborations between The Film Detective and The Wade Williams Collection.
?Bonus material includes a featurette Missouri Born: The Films of Jim Davis, an all-new career retrospective with author/film historian C. Courtney Joyner, The Men behind the Monsters, an essay by author Don Stradley featured in a full colour booklet and a full length audio commentary with artist/author, Stephen R. Bissette.
It’s another highly impressive release which is bound to be welcomed by fans of the big bug sub-genre as well as science-fiction fans in general.
*And if that wasn’t enough, The Film Detective has just informed me that June 21st will see their release of John Agar’s Sci-Fi cult classic The Brain from Planet Auros (1957) and will also feature a new 4K restoration. A review will follow.
(Darren Allison is the Soundtracks Editor for Cinema Retro magazine).
https://www.thefilmdetective.com/
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