Scientists Quent Brady (Jim Davis of later 'Dallas' fame) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin, "Serpent of the Nile") are testing the effects of space travel on various animals. This turns out to be unwise, since when their last spacecraft crashes back down in Africa, the wasps on board have mutated into enormous predators. Brady and Morgan travel to the west African region of "Green Hell" both to confirm their worst fears and to hopefully do something about the problem.
"Monster from Green Hell" is no "Them!", not by a long shot, but it's not the worst movie of this kind that you'll ever see. For this viewer, it wasn't so much a "bad" movie as it was a fairly disappointing one. For a movie running only an hour and 10 minutes, it's pretty short on monster action. (That said, the filmmakers, led by director / editor Kenneth G. Crane, subvert conventional wisdom by making sure we see their monster within the first 10 minutes.) Until then, we wait through a fairly long trek through the jungle complete with such elements as restless natives and an active volcano.
The music by Albert Glasser is good, although you're never ever convinced that you're really in "Africa". (This flick utilizes a bunch of stock footage, but was mainly shot in California.) The acting is mostly alright, with Davis as an engaging hero who also utters the frequent (and largely unnecessary) narration. Joel Fluellen ("A Raisin in the Sun") is allowed to play his character with at least some dignity, while Eduardo Ciannelli ("Gunga Din") and Vladimir Sokoloff ("I Was a Teenage Werewolf") do well in supporting roles. However, Barbara Turner (wife of Vic Morrow at the time and mother of Jennifer Jason Leigh) is pretty underwhelming in her feature debut as the female lead; she's fared better as a screenwriter of things like "Cujo", "Georgia", and "Pollock".
The effects in "Monster from Green Hell" are definitely not great but they ARE entertaining, and the final 18 minutes or so are worth the wait. In general, this is a fair "giant creepy-crawlie" creature feature from the Atomic Age of sci-fi.
Five out of 10.
"Monster from Green Hell" is no "Them!", not by a long shot, but it's not the worst movie of this kind that you'll ever see. For this viewer, it wasn't so much a "bad" movie as it was a fairly disappointing one. For a movie running only an hour and 10 minutes, it's pretty short on monster action. (That said, the filmmakers, led by director / editor Kenneth G. Crane, subvert conventional wisdom by making sure we see their monster within the first 10 minutes.) Until then, we wait through a fairly long trek through the jungle complete with such elements as restless natives and an active volcano.
The music by Albert Glasser is good, although you're never ever convinced that you're really in "Africa". (This flick utilizes a bunch of stock footage, but was mainly shot in California.) The acting is mostly alright, with Davis as an engaging hero who also utters the frequent (and largely unnecessary) narration. Joel Fluellen ("A Raisin in the Sun") is allowed to play his character with at least some dignity, while Eduardo Ciannelli ("Gunga Din") and Vladimir Sokoloff ("I Was a Teenage Werewolf") do well in supporting roles. However, Barbara Turner (wife of Vic Morrow at the time and mother of Jennifer Jason Leigh) is pretty underwhelming in her feature debut as the female lead; she's fared better as a screenwriter of things like "Cujo", "Georgia", and "Pollock".
The effects in "Monster from Green Hell" are definitely not great but they ARE entertaining, and the final 18 minutes or so are worth the wait. In general, this is a fair "giant creepy-crawlie" creature feature from the Atomic Age of sci-fi.
Five out of 10.