Monster from Green Hell

This low-budget, 1950s B movie featuring a killer monster set in a picture-postcard Africa is chock-full of hackneyed stereotypes about the Dark Continent interspersed with massive doses of stock footage. Making matters worse is the creeping paternalistic view of the West as the great bestower of civilization to native people who are written off as incurably immature and naive (“You don’t organize a safari overnight. Particularly when you’re buying beads, brass wire, mirrors from the hostile natives“).

Right on cue, the protagonist dredges up the moral duty of civilized man in order to justify his actions (‘You come from a country so far from here, why should you be concerned about what happens to us?’ ‘Oh, a feeling of responsibility, I guess’). It feels like he’s on the verge of breaking out in a rousing chorus of “The White Man’s Burden” (1899). At any rate, we have to keep in mind that when this film came out, both the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Gabon were still European colonies, which goes a long way to explaining the mentality of the time.

In short, there’s basically no there there in this Kenneth G. Crane film. The dull plot stretches credulity with its endless walking from place to place and is overflowing with forgettable characters portrayed by a cast that leaves plenty to be desired (Jim Davis and Robert Griffin are anything but scientists). The appallingly ugly special effects consist of a “swarm” of truck-sized wasps – which look more like stag beetles – sporting a stinger on the front (!) of their body along with what appear to be disco balls whose many facets apparently represent the ommatidia.

Who would we recommend such an abomination to? Other than die-hard completists, no one. Entomophiles should head to “Them!” (1954), while fans of exotic adventures on African soil are advised to try “The Leech Woman” (1960).