American scientists Quent Brady (Jim Davis, whom some of you geriatrics may remember from Dallas, but I’ll always think of his turn in 1979’s Charles Band produced sci-fi romp The Day Time Ended when I see his face) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin) get their jollies sending all sorts of living creatures into space to test the final frontier’s effects on animals.
This gets fucked up lickity-split, and a rocket carrying space-mutated wasps crash lands of the coast of Africa sending the buzzing bastards into the not-at-all foreboding area known as “Green Hell”, where they then proceed to go on a rather unreasonable deadly rampage.
Because they caused all of this with their reckless rockets (and were doubtless legally obligated to do so), Brady and Morgan head down Africa way and attempt to put an end to those wicked wasps… and maybe say “I’m sorry” to the families of those that the wasps killed… but probably not…
Also there is a rather fucking awesome scene of a monster wasp fighting a large snake (all done with some fun stop-motion animation)!
Monster From Green Hell has a few things going for it (besides that snake versus wasp business mentioned previously) which help it rise above it’s threadbare origins, chief among them; the film’s eponymous creature realized via a full-on practical creation that brings to mind the giant ants featured in 1954’s Them! (there is a hillside appearance of the beast here that is similar to a shot in that film as well) with it’s bulging eyes and snapping pinchers.
Additionally, the film’s plot is pretty ambitious for a B-picture destined for Drive-In double features with it’s spacey science shit, African setting (in name only as this shit was filmed in Griffith Park in L.A., not to mention the good ol’ stock footage… remember that budget!), and giant creatures (realized through the aforementioned stop-motion, as well as full-sized props). It makes for a truly entertaining pulp/comic book ambience that makes the film truly memorable amongst the deluge of “giant insects run amok” films that filled theaters at the time.
Also memorable is the hand-tinted final sequence that adds a little visual panache to the proceedings.
Speaking of “panache”, the fine folks over at The Film Detective have included a few bonus features on this Blu-ray release including an informative audio commentary courtesy of legendary Swamp Thing artist Stephen R. Bissette (who provides a ton of great info and trivia concerning the film’s production… but man, he almost nails the Misfits knowledge before colliding straight into his own ass a second later), a retrospective on Davis’ career hosted by author/film historian C. Courtney Joyner, and a booklet featuring an essay from author Don Stradley.
All in all, Monster From Green Hell is an enjoyable creature feature/sci-fi/safari hybrid that will surely be welcomed into any monsterkid’s creepy collection!
