Monster from Green Hell

Eine positive Sache muss man dem Film Monster from Green Hell lassen - das titelgebende Insektenmonster taucht zwar erst in der letzten Minute des Films auf, aber die Macher füttern uns damit ziemlich regelmäßig während der gesamten Geschichte und das auch noch im hellen Tageslicht. Aber das bedeutet nicht, dass es dem Film an Qualität mangelt - es ist immer noch viel zu viel Geschwätz, bei dem sich die Schauspieler (besonders in der finalen Szene) zu überbieten scheinen, wer die klischeehafteste Phrase rezitieren kann. (17.03.2022)

Poster tagline: THE MAMMOTH MONSTER THAT TERRORIZED THE EARTH! TODAY IT’S DESTROYING AFRICA, TOMORROW… THE WORLD!!! If I had to show someone a film where the plot is stretched out just to fulfill a studio contract that says the runtime must be at least 60 minutes, it would be this one. It starts quite normal, though, with scientists sending living animals into space to see how cosmic radiation affects their bodies. Due to technical difficulties, a rocket loaded with a crate of wasps goes astray and lands somewhere in Africa. There, in a jungle under an active volcano, the wasps grow to enormous size (due to the effect of the radiation they have absorbed in space) and terrorise the local population. And so our two main characters, scientists, set out on a journey to put a stop to it. After the initial wasp attacks, when they frighten animals and kill two black men, we walk, walk and walk through the jungle for about 45 minutes, occasionally fainting from lack of water, visit one massacred village, then, almost imperceptibly, there’s a spark between a charming scientist and the daughter of a local doctor, and we walk again. The journey itself is the result of a combination of footage from somewhere in the Californian hills and actual African landscapes, and this blending of visually disparate images beats each other up until your eyes hurt. Then in the final showdown with grenades and flowing lava, the special effects are so rudimentary that even Ed Wood and Bert I. Gordon would be embarrassed. The only plus point is the monster itself – a puppet (at the end even three in one shot!) of a big, fat cross between a flesh fly and a wasp, with large elephant-like tusks and terribly cute, gently fluttering wings. Boo, boo, boo. Truly a monster to love, suitable for your monitor wallpaper :o) (10.03.2013)