The Big Picture: Schlocktober 2013: From Hell it Came

[Urameshi13]

It's funny that you frame the white scientists as douchey. A lot of what they're saying sounds like rants from pseudoliberals on a message board talking about how backwards conservatives are.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

It's funny that you frame the white scientists as douchey. A lot of what they're saying sounds like rants from pseudoliberals on a message board talking about how backwards conservatives are.

Amen. The entire "holier than thou, I'm brilliant and everyone else is some poor rube we need to civilize" is exactly the sort of thing hardcore liberals do while supposedly portraying any perceived enemy as the judgmental, smug one. Case in point, talk to a smoker and one of those do-gooding anti-smoking types, and see which one acts like the douchey scientists.

 

[immortalfrieza]

It's ridiculous just how hilariously bad the horror movies, plots, and effects were back then. It's hard to believe anybody actually though any of the movies Bob covers in Schlocktober were ever good, not to mention classics. Then there's ones like this, who went even further and sucked even for back then.

I know one thing for sure, Bob needs to have Schlocktober year-round.

 

[Stabby Joe]

Along with the casual racism and sexism, I also find the heavy smoking an amusing example of the period. Oh people smoke in films still but in many of these type of creature features they smoke in labs, hospitals, around animals and children and of course makes it into the dialogue in a contrived way.

Also the title amuses me, "From HELL it Came". Hell? I don't think the original guy deserved all that, even in the context the film gives itself.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

So our monster is a tree stump that spends most of the picture carrying people around and dropping them while the brass section does its thing?

...Can't imagine why this didn't work!

I know this was even at the time considered a bad movie but is this seriously the sort of thing that passed for horror in the '50s? A spooky creature murders people to some bombastic orchestra piece?

And film historians call that the "golden age of Hollywood," I'm utterly stupefied.

 

[TheArchbishopJubilee]

"and to hell it can go."

I love it!

While the 1950s were certainly a racist time, I actually kinda like the theme of westerners bringing science and modern medicine and having to fight ancient tribal religion and tradition along with semi-xenophobic distrust of outsiders. Especially since there are regions of the world where "traditional medicine" is as commonly used as actual medicine, to say nothing of homeopathy and faith healing back here in the west.

While the movie definitely had racist overtones, I find it funny that things have more or less flipped. If the movie was done today, all the villains would be white (and probably members of the military and/or businessmen), they would be there to infect the natives with poison for shits and giggles, and the heroes would be the natives using tribal medicine and whatnot to kill off the creature. And if a white or American character was a hero, they'd have to immediately side with the natives and go all Dances With Wolves within five minutes of being introduced.

Excellent point. This "flipping" is something that seems to go unnoticed. Bob doesn't realize that his commentary reflects and augments the very cancer that he seeks to expose. He points out, for instance, that the heroes are "white people" -- thus, with a single pregnant word, divides the world into "white people" and "black people" -- but doesn't follow the thought long enough to realize that this is, in itself, a racist comment; as if it doesn't proceed from an already racially marred conscience.

 

[Swifteye]

Animated Tree monster with a grudge. Maokai was typecasted way back when.

 

[Habballah]

Bob,
I think you've done a fairly well job with precious October pics. This,
was um......
I don't see why you covered it?

Puppet master, some asian zombie movie, but this? Hum.
this belongs up there with everything else?
Or are you covering periods of horror movies?
And even so,
this was still your pic?

 

[Tim Chuma]

I have finally ordered "The Boxers Omen" after hearing about it so much. There was a fad on supernatural horror/black magic movies in the 1980s in Hong Kong.

I did buy the Oily Maniac a while back, still not sure how it even makes that noise since it is oil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtFsIQsFY04

Somehow Yoda and Darth Vader ended up in this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljDbjpfXgms

 

[Ashcrexl]

The way Bob said "Yeah-hah, one of these" reminded me hella lot of James Rolfe.

 

[Triaed]

He is killing the villagers one by one? By carrying them back to the quicksand pit?
Man, that is going to take forever!

It reminds me of the immortal alien in Hitchiker's Guide who wanted to insult everyone in the known universe, personally... in alphabetical order

 

[maximara]

I've heard of this movie before, either through James Rolfe or Svengoolie. Being men of 1950's movie science, wouldn't they first think that the monster is an evil tree and that wood is combustible? Who would think to shoot a knife in a tree before burning it?

How many people thought that burning the mummy shambling after them was a good idea? Let's face it horror movies of this period depended on the majority of the characters being totally clueless.

 

[maximara]

Is this seriously meant to be scary? I can't imagine how this ever scared anyone outside of a jump scare from sudden movement, or the closest this tree thing can do.

If you think this is bad you should see "The Creeping Terror" (1964). While it walks faster then our killer tree it looks worse...like a killer carpet. There are times you can actually see the actor's feet in that get up.

The really funny thing is there is this voice over explaining what is going on for a good hunk of the picture. I suspect the script was so bad that they slapped that on to cover that fact up.

I have to wonder if any of these were for the Drive-in crowd and subscribed to the 'It's not like they are actually going to pay attention to the movie' idea.