This movie is ultra low budget, has ultra low budget acting, and ultra low budget special effects, even for 1957. And the storyline is perhaps the most ridiculous in the history of the cinema. Why then would I grace this movie with an "average" five star rating? Quite simply, it is hilarious! Come on, you have to admire any filmmakers nerve when he makes a movie about a walking killer tree stump! The only thing that comes close in my mind is the killer bulldozer aka "Killdozer" from the mid seventies. Watching the murderous tree stump lumbering across a field in search of prey is about the funniest thing in my movie memory. I first saw this film sometime in the seventies on one of those late night horror film festivals, and I'll never forget it! How can something so bad feel so good?
80 Reviews
great memories!
goodvibe-125 December 2004
I was 4 or 5 when we saw this. It would be another thirteen years or so before it would be shown again on television, but my brother and sister and watched it that night back in the mid-70's. What a hoot!
Around that same time acquired a full-sheet poster of the movie from a now-defunct movie warehouse in Philly. Wished now I would have kept it, but I traded it for some awesome old western lobby cards.
The "Tobonga" is one of my favorite childhood monsters. I remember the next day after watching it the first time I rode my tricycle up over the hill beyond where we lived to join another group of kids. My brother pointed to a stump that was part of a fence post and warned me about the tree-monster! I turned and pedaled all the way home as fast as I could! That old stump is still there! That was in '64 or 65'.
Loved the quicksand! Always been a fan of jungle flicks, so I must credit this awful little film for that!
Around that same time acquired a full-sheet poster of the movie from a now-defunct movie warehouse in Philly. Wished now I would have kept it, but I traded it for some awesome old western lobby cards.
The "Tobonga" is one of my favorite childhood monsters. I remember the next day after watching it the first time I rode my tricycle up over the hill beyond where we lived to join another group of kids. My brother pointed to a stump that was part of a fence post and warned me about the tree-monster! I turned and pedaled all the way home as fast as I could! That old stump is still there! That was in '64 or 65'.
Loved the quicksand! Always been a fan of jungle flicks, so I must credit this awful little film for that!
The human actors are more wooden than the tree.
Hey_Sweden12 January 2014
Hilariously stupid schlock favourite has a deliciously ludicrous premise and overall is good fun, although for a while it's overly talky. It isn't until the final third that we see some priceless killer tree action. The filmmaking Milner brothers, director Dan and co-story author / producer Jack (who'd also done "The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues" previously) bumble their way through this kitschy combination of South Seas atmosphere, lame acting, very silly lines, and not very special effects. All of these elements make "From Hell It Came" a cinematic stinker that one can treasure.
A group of scientists on a remote island are trying to provide medical care to the locals, but the witch doctor and new tribal chief will have none of it. They execute Kimo (Gregg Palmer), son of the previous chief, for having the audacity to accept the help of these meddling Americans. But Kimo vows to return, and so he does, as something called the Tabanga, a lumbering humanoid walking tree (played by wrestler turned stuntman & actor Chester Hayes), and he proceeds to get his revenge. The scientists, meanwhile, don't ever look too concerned.
Starring as supposedly heroic doctor Bill Arnold is Tod Andrews ("Beneath the Planet of the Apes"), looking stone faced throughout. Playing the requisite female lead is pretty Tina Carver, whose character Terry Mason is portrayed as brainy but not too sensible, and eventually it's obviously her destiny to be carted away by the monster. Robert Swan, as witch doctor Tano, and Baynes Barron, as new tribal chief Maranka, are reasonably fun villains. Linda Watkins, however, is fatally annoying as motor mouthed trading post operator Mae Kilgore, affecting an absurd accent for the part.
One supposes that Jack Milner and screenwriter Richard Bernstein deserve credit for coming up with a different sort of monster for the atomic age. In any event, "From Hell It Came" is a real gas certain to have its audience chuckling often. It comes complete with a moral that "American magic is better", which just makes it all the more amusing.
Five out of 10.
A group of scientists on a remote island are trying to provide medical care to the locals, but the witch doctor and new tribal chief will have none of it. They execute Kimo (Gregg Palmer), son of the previous chief, for having the audacity to accept the help of these meddling Americans. But Kimo vows to return, and so he does, as something called the Tabanga, a lumbering humanoid walking tree (played by wrestler turned stuntman & actor Chester Hayes), and he proceeds to get his revenge. The scientists, meanwhile, don't ever look too concerned.
Starring as supposedly heroic doctor Bill Arnold is Tod Andrews ("Beneath the Planet of the Apes"), looking stone faced throughout. Playing the requisite female lead is pretty Tina Carver, whose character Terry Mason is portrayed as brainy but not too sensible, and eventually it's obviously her destiny to be carted away by the monster. Robert Swan, as witch doctor Tano, and Baynes Barron, as new tribal chief Maranka, are reasonably fun villains. Linda Watkins, however, is fatally annoying as motor mouthed trading post operator Mae Kilgore, affecting an absurd accent for the part.
One supposes that Jack Milner and screenwriter Richard Bernstein deserve credit for coming up with a different sort of monster for the atomic age. In any event, "From Hell It Came" is a real gas certain to have its audience chuckling often. It comes complete with a moral that "American magic is better", which just makes it all the more amusing.
Five out of 10.
Absolutely Laughable...But Certainly Unique
mrb198012 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Hollywood sci-fi story lines from the 1950s generally featured invaders from outer space ("The Thing", "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers", "War of the Worlds") or man-made experiments that had gotten a little out of control ("Monster on the Campus", "The Colossus of New York", "The Magnetic Monster"). This movie broke away from the pack and featured a monstrous walking tree-monster that had sprouted from the grave of a murdered South Seas island chief. At least THAT part was creative.
The movie opens with the execution of Kimo, the chief who had been a little too friendly with the American scientists who had established a base on the island (in a small shack in the jungle). The tree-monster rises from Kimo's grave and wreaks merciless havoc on--surprise--Kimo's enemies before the hero (Tod Andrews) shoots the monster, which falls into a sawdust-covered pond--oops, I mean quicksand--whereupon it sinks out of sight.
Mixed in with the story is a subplot with the sex-starved (and older) Mrs. Kilgore, a love story (Andrews and Tina Carver), lots of expository (and very dumb) dialogue, the most ridiculous fight between women ever captured on film, and a tense "chase" scene with the monster, who walks about one-half a mile per hour.
You really have to watch this movie to appreciate it. The plot is certainly original, although the action on screen is ridiculous and laughable. You've been warned.
The movie opens with the execution of Kimo, the chief who had been a little too friendly with the American scientists who had established a base on the island (in a small shack in the jungle). The tree-monster rises from Kimo's grave and wreaks merciless havoc on--surprise--Kimo's enemies before the hero (Tod Andrews) shoots the monster, which falls into a sawdust-covered pond--oops, I mean quicksand--whereupon it sinks out of sight.
Mixed in with the story is a subplot with the sex-starved (and older) Mrs. Kilgore, a love story (Andrews and Tina Carver), lots of expository (and very dumb) dialogue, the most ridiculous fight between women ever captured on film, and a tense "chase" scene with the monster, who walks about one-half a mile per hour.
You really have to watch this movie to appreciate it. The plot is certainly original, although the action on screen is ridiculous and laughable. You've been warned.
An immortal delight for bad film buffs
Leofwine_draca14 July 2016
Fans looking for absurd, cheesy entertainment from the 1950s will be well served by this cheap and schlocky B-movie, forever remembered in the hearts of bad film buffs as the one about the "killer tree". Forget THE GIANT CLAW, this is the real stuff. Anybody who's seen one of those old-fashioned low-budget 'jungle' movies made on a set in Hollywood will find FROM HELL IT CAME packed full of the stock clichés present from the period, from 'witch doctors' throwing magic exploding powder into flames, to strangely American-looking natives padding out the cast of village extras, to a script which vainly tries to make scientifically-plausible sense of the chaos whilst keeping a healthy level of mumbo-jumbo native superstition bubbling merrily away.
At the end of the day, the film concerns the activities of a walking tree to kill people. The special effects used to animate said tree are appalling; basically it's just some unlucky guy in a silly rubber suit, completed with a goofy face and painted-on eyes. The flexibility of the suit is zero, with just a couple of rubber arms sticking out from each side, so at any point the monster is required to perform an action, it just ends up looking ridiculous. The cast isn't much better; aside from dependable (but ageing) male lead Tod Andrews, there don't appear to be many real actors in the cast list. Most annoying of all is Linda Watkins' character. The American Watkins speaks with a truly grating Cockney accent all of the time, then later on turns out to have supposedly come from Australia! It beggars belief, it really does. Just another whacked-out element to an already incredible movie. An immortal delight for bad-film buffs everywhere.
At the end of the day, the film concerns the activities of a walking tree to kill people. The special effects used to animate said tree are appalling; basically it's just some unlucky guy in a silly rubber suit, completed with a goofy face and painted-on eyes. The flexibility of the suit is zero, with just a couple of rubber arms sticking out from each side, so at any point the monster is required to perform an action, it just ends up looking ridiculous. The cast isn't much better; aside from dependable (but ageing) male lead Tod Andrews, there don't appear to be many real actors in the cast list. Most annoying of all is Linda Watkins' character. The American Watkins speaks with a truly grating Cockney accent all of the time, then later on turns out to have supposedly come from Australia! It beggars belief, it really does. Just another whacked-out element to an already incredible movie. An immortal delight for bad-film buffs everywhere.
If you saw it in the movie theater, you know.....
flyboy-1725 November 2008
Yes, by todays standards..Yada, Yada.. This one perhaps even by '50s standards was a bit low budget..
However, if you remember this one from when you were a kid, then you can still hold a place for it in your monster closet 8-) As a kid this thing scared me on the big screen, and I'm so glad I didn't know what I know today to spoil it for me. A very special time when we could go down town and watch a couple of these "monster" flicks on a Saturday.
Not to mention the fun time spent looking at all the stills out front and in the lobby !!
I still hold those original feelings inside and can enjoy watching these again, with the added enjoyment in the fact that I WANT to enjoy them and revisit my past.
However, if you remember this one from when you were a kid, then you can still hold a place for it in your monster closet 8-) As a kid this thing scared me on the big screen, and I'm so glad I didn't know what I know today to spoil it for me. A very special time when we could go down town and watch a couple of these "monster" flicks on a Saturday.
Not to mention the fun time spent looking at all the stills out front and in the lobby !!
I still hold those original feelings inside and can enjoy watching these again, with the added enjoyment in the fact that I WANT to enjoy them and revisit my past.
This was amazing in a so bad its good sort of way.
juneebuggy2 June 2020
I had a great time watching this, in a so bad its good sort of way. Its black & white, from the 50's , low budget, unintentionally funny and filled with wooden acting, plot holes and ridiculous dialogue. At times I couldn't believe what I was seeing, really? This is meant to a horror movie, a tree is walking around killing people. The killer tree costume is cheap and laughable. The fact that a lady scientist is checking the tree stump for a heartbeat is...bizarre.
Story is unique to say the least and follows a wrongfully accused South Seas prince who is executed, but vows revenge and soon returns as a walking, killing tree stump. We also follow a group of scientists and a frisky older widow lady with a terrible Australian accent The tree monster is a mixture of voodoo, radiation (as all 1950's horrors movies were obliged to have) and X39 -a random drug the lady scientist cooked up.
An unintentional comedy bumps the rating up, might even be worth a higher rating because I won't forget about this gem any time soon.
Story is unique to say the least and follows a wrongfully accused South Seas prince who is executed, but vows revenge and soon returns as a walking, killing tree stump. We also follow a group of scientists and a frisky older widow lady with a terrible Australian accent The tree monster is a mixture of voodoo, radiation (as all 1950's horrors movies were obliged to have) and X39 -a random drug the lady scientist cooked up.
An unintentional comedy bumps the rating up, might even be worth a higher rating because I won't forget about this gem any time soon.
It's the ROOT of All Evil... ;=8)
MooCowMo20 November 1999
Huge, waddling, grimacing tree trunk menaces fake "natives" on a "Pacific Atoll" (looking suspiciously like Southern CA...), reaking havok and revenge. Unlike the silly stumps in "Navy VS The Night Monsters", the Tabonga is actually a full-grown man-tree. Well, grown in 2 days: moost have od'ed on those Miracle Grow spikes...Anycow, it comes not from Hell, but from the grave of a fake native, Kimo(Greg Palmer, "The Zombies of Mora Tau"), murdered by the native elders for hanging out with those awful American scientists. The scientists include Dr. William Arnold (Tod Andrews, "Hang 'em High", "Beneath the Planet of the Apes") and Professor Clark(John McNamara,"War of the Colossal Beast"). Rounding out the cast is Linda Watkins("The Parent Trap") as the obnoxious Mrs. Kilgore, the obvious comic relief spurting out an obvious fake "cockney" accent. A stellar cast indeed!! Anycow, because his doughy, vacant wife, Korey, played amateurishly by Suzanne Ridgeway("Love's A-Poppin'"), helps set him up, Kimo declares his revenge on her and all of the elders. Then, the dopey American scientists uproot the tree, bring it back to life "in the name of science", & allows it to SLOWLY amble about the island, killing off everyone who has done him wrong. Of course, we all know that evil monsters carry off fair maidens, so the Tabonga grabs plucky female scientist Dr. Terry Mason(Tina Carver, "Hell on Frisco Bay") & waddles off with her. Vine-ally, a good shot with a Remmington hits a knife lodged in the Tabonga, and it falls over dead into the quicksand. This laughably foolish cowncept is one of the all-time cheesy howlers. The Tabonga is arguably the slowest monster in moovie history, right up there with the clanky, over-built robot from "Robot Monster vs the Aztec Mummy" and the perversly slow carpet monster from "Creeping Terror". Try not to laugh as you watch the Tabonga toss fake natives down hills & into quicksand, dodge spears, and lumber slowly about the "island". Shady writing, wooden performances, and sappy direction all point that this pulpy fertilizer has far mooore bark than bite. This tepid pile of wood chips was the last hurrah from long-time editor-turned-director Dan Milner, who quickly vanished into well-deserved obscurity following this film. You herd it through the grapevine from the MooCow first: "From Hell it Came" is a compost classic!! :
The trees, the trees; they're coming for us
dfloro29 October 2020
My late wife and I used to have a running joke (originating around the time of Sonny Bono's skiing accident) about the inevitable revenge upon people by the oft' mistreated trees. The "plot" of this grade-Z flick isn't exactly that, but when a tree stump becomes capable of slow, lumbering motion, I literally dare you not to laugh out loud!
It's a man, it's a tree, it's a Tabanga
bkoganbing12 June 2017
I always ask this question when reviewing a film like When Hell It Came, was the cast offered nothing better?
Set in the South Seas after some atomic testing scientists Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, and William Clark are there to study the effects of atomic radiation on the natives. It seems as though some typhoon blew the atomic debris in their direction.
But there's some nasty native politics brewing, Gregg Palmer son of the old chief is executed on some trumped up charge concocted by the new head guy and corroborated by Palmer's own wife who is two timing him. Before he dies Palmer says he's coming back to settle accounts.
By God he does when his casket is buried vertically in the ground with him growing out like a tree, one ugly looking tree with a knife that was used to kill Palmer sticking from the bark. When he's uprooted he moves like a Triffid and he's got lots of scores to settle.
They call what he is a Tabanga and he's both ugly and quite laughable instead of scary. The cast just looks anxious more like they're waiting for their checks to clear. Linda Watkins who plays the woman who runs the trading post hams it up with her cockney accent like she just came from a road company of My Fair Lady.
If you're into bad science fiction for laughs this is your film.
Set in the South Seas after some atomic testing scientists Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, and William Clark are there to study the effects of atomic radiation on the natives. It seems as though some typhoon blew the atomic debris in their direction.
But there's some nasty native politics brewing, Gregg Palmer son of the old chief is executed on some trumped up charge concocted by the new head guy and corroborated by Palmer's own wife who is two timing him. Before he dies Palmer says he's coming back to settle accounts.
By God he does when his casket is buried vertically in the ground with him growing out like a tree, one ugly looking tree with a knife that was used to kill Palmer sticking from the bark. When he's uprooted he moves like a Triffid and he's got lots of scores to settle.
They call what he is a Tabanga and he's both ugly and quite laughable instead of scary. The cast just looks anxious more like they're waiting for their checks to clear. Linda Watkins who plays the woman who runs the trading post hams it up with her cockney accent like she just came from a road company of My Fair Lady.
If you're into bad science fiction for laughs this is your film.
I Think I'm Stumped!
Hitchcoc13 December 2006
There are a number of movies that my high school friends and I used to joke about. They are mostly the campy works of the 50's that showed up on television on the late show. This was one of our favorites. The soul of a fallen native being brought to life in a tree stump with a scowl on its face. Now my friends claimed that if you looked carefully, you could see the thing had shoes. I never saw this. What is most striking to me is that the natives seemed to be white men with black grease paint on their faces; some looked sort of Italian. They also spoke with the strangest timbre that didn't seem to fit their situation. Like the mummy movies, the mobility of the thing didn't seem to offer much of a threat. In a confrontation, one should only have to walk fast; I guess it's the old element of surprise. If you see this, don't take it too seriously. Be happy that we have a battery of old horror movies that gave us such joy.
I've known the Tabanga since I was a child...
kga5814 September 2005
I won't go into the plot, which was told by previous posters. All I can say is this movie is a blast from the past. My brothers and I used to catch this and many other movies of its kind on a local Saturday night horror show called WEIRD. FROM HELL IT CAME and the Tabanga are old, dear friends. I own a DVD of it as well as a lobby card featuring a "terrifying" climactic scene of leading lady Tina Carver being abducted by the tree monster. The Tabanga is one of 50's monster maker Paul Blaisdell's best and most imaginative creations--right up there with the "cucumber monster" Beulah, from IT CONQUERED THE WORLD. He worked with all these cheapie movie producers and made some of the most memorable beasts of the 50s. This movie is highly recommended for bad cinema buffs or lovers of nostalgia!
You don't wanna eat THOSE apples.....
MartianOctocretr520 April 2006
Oh, sorry....that was the tree in Wizard of Oz. However, another malevolent animated tree is on the loose, but this time it's the dreaded Tabonga, who wanders around an island scaring guys in Hawaiian tourist costumes.
Actually, the plot shows some originality (even if the production quality is a laugh riot). A tribal chief on a tropical island somewhere commits the Unpardonable Sin by being friends with some American scientists who are studying....um, something, not sure what. So, some members of his tribe conspire together and kill him. Something about nuclear power resurrects him as a tree. Yup, a tree. Or at least, the stump of a tree, with a scowling face painted on. It appears to be inked by the same artist, with the same black magic marker, that did the alien's face in "It Conquered the World."
Anyway, the tree goes on a vengeful rampage and starts to get even with his murderers, one by one. Since guns and other typical weapons are (like always) useless against this thing, it's up to the scientists to find a way to stop this wooden creature before he wipes everybody out. Tension mounts to excruciating levels as Tabonga hobbles around, chasing and terrorizing horror-stricken islanders at about the velocity you would expect a tree to move at.
One of the all-time so-bad-it's-good classics from the golden age of drive-ins, right up there with Plan 9 and Robot Monster. It really is fun to watch, if nothing else than certainly for the laughs it provides. Best watched with friends; you can have a MST3K style "bark jokes at the screen" party.
Actually, the plot shows some originality (even if the production quality is a laugh riot). A tribal chief on a tropical island somewhere commits the Unpardonable Sin by being friends with some American scientists who are studying....um, something, not sure what. So, some members of his tribe conspire together and kill him. Something about nuclear power resurrects him as a tree. Yup, a tree. Or at least, the stump of a tree, with a scowling face painted on. It appears to be inked by the same artist, with the same black magic marker, that did the alien's face in "It Conquered the World."
Anyway, the tree goes on a vengeful rampage and starts to get even with his murderers, one by one. Since guns and other typical weapons are (like always) useless against this thing, it's up to the scientists to find a way to stop this wooden creature before he wipes everybody out. Tension mounts to excruciating levels as Tabonga hobbles around, chasing and terrorizing horror-stricken islanders at about the velocity you would expect a tree to move at.
One of the all-time so-bad-it's-good classics from the golden age of drive-ins, right up there with Plan 9 and Robot Monster. It really is fun to watch, if nothing else than certainly for the laughs it provides. Best watched with friends; you can have a MST3K style "bark jokes at the screen" party.
What can I say about a movie whose best performance is by a tree?
soulexpress23 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
On a South Seas island, a tribal prince named Kimo (therapy?) is wrongfully executed for his father's death. Before he dies, Prince Kimo vows that he will return from Hell to make his executioners pay for their crimes. He does, indeed, return from Hell—as a murderous tree called Tabanga, or the Spirit of Revenge. There's also a sub-plot involving political intrigue in the native tribe, but it's not worth getting into.
In many ways, this is your classic low-budget '50s sci-fi loser: wafer-thin plot, wooden acting (pun intended), dull dialogue, the requisite dumb-looking monster, the usual made-up science (radiation, of course, is the culprit); the non-existent directing and production values . What makes this one stand out, though, is that I found myself rooting for the tree monster. After all, Prince Kimo died over a crime for which he was framed by his cheating wife and her scheming boyfriend (who wants to the tribe's next king). As such, I applauded when Tabanga threw his widow into the quicksand and watched her die. That's not the reaction this type of film is supposed to elicit!
Additional items of note: a native hurls a spear at Tabanga from about three feet away but still misses; the Australian character Mrs. Kilgore, a middle-aged widow who is perpetually horny and outright annoying (not to mention extraneous to the plot); the Polynesian natives are all played by white people with New York accents; and conveniently for Tabanga, his victims all faint the moment they set eyes on him. Makes 'em easy to kill, doesn't it?
As one reviewer wrote: "From Hell It Came, and to Hell it can go!"
In many ways, this is your classic low-budget '50s sci-fi loser: wafer-thin plot, wooden acting (pun intended), dull dialogue, the requisite dumb-looking monster, the usual made-up science (radiation, of course, is the culprit); the non-existent directing and production values . What makes this one stand out, though, is that I found myself rooting for the tree monster. After all, Prince Kimo died over a crime for which he was framed by his cheating wife and her scheming boyfriend (who wants to the tribe's next king). As such, I applauded when Tabanga threw his widow into the quicksand and watched her die. That's not the reaction this type of film is supposed to elicit!
Additional items of note: a native hurls a spear at Tabanga from about three feet away but still misses; the Australian character Mrs. Kilgore, a middle-aged widow who is perpetually horny and outright annoying (not to mention extraneous to the plot); the Polynesian natives are all played by white people with New York accents; and conveniently for Tabanga, his victims all faint the moment they set eyes on him. Makes 'em easy to kill, doesn't it?
As one reviewer wrote: "From Hell It Came, and to Hell it can go!"
I wood recommend this if you're out on a limb
liquidgardener18 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
How can you go wrong? A walking tree monster on a South Seas island with kookaburra birds crying in the background (they are from Australia....do they even inhabit the South Sea atolls??), pine trees growing in profusion on the atoll (uh??), oak trees (I ain't no botanist, but I can't recall if oaks grow there, either), the maiden who betrayed the Tabonga literally swimming herself out to the middle of the quicksand, and the Tabonga threatening to throw the good doctor into the quicksand, despite she's the one who revived the dying tree (I thought the myth of the Tabonga was a creature of revenge....what's he upset with her for? The acting in this film?).
I saw this as a kid and recently picked up a DVD of it. Still a hoot, a wonderful romp in Saturday afternoon "B" sci-fi movies. Dig this, it will grow on you....
I saw this as a kid and recently picked up a DVD of it. Still a hoot, a wonderful romp in Saturday afternoon "B" sci-fi movies. Dig this, it will grow on you....
Even in the 50s this looked bad
nickenchuggets1 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I really don't know how anyone involved with this movie worked on it with a straight face. Believe it or not, it actually has credits in the beginning, suggesting that real human beings were behind its making. Why would anyone want their name attached to this? I used to think that pretty much all old movies were good, even the campy ones, but this one is just so bad it has nothing to hide. The story starts with a guy named Kimo getting executed. He's part of a tribe that lives on a tropical island, but the people there are dying from bubonic plague, and Kimo has been accused of giving people intentionally harmful medicine. Among the "plague" victims is Kimo's father, but in reality, Maranka (the chief) is the real cause of his death. Kimo is killed by being stabbed through the heart with a ceremonial dagger, and his corpse is buried inside a tree. Meanwhile, an american researcher named Terry (Tina Carver) comes to the island to help cure the plague that has been affecting the natives. She meets Dr. Arnold (Tod Andrews) and some of his associates. When Terry and Arnold go outside together one day, they find Kimo's burial site, which has been somehow covered by a tree stump. One of the islanders says this is indicative of a type of monster called a Tabanga, which is a being resembling a tree that comes back from the dead in order to wreak havoc and get revenge on people. After cutting its roots and bringing it back to the lab, Terry and the others try to experiment on it, but the next morning, it's gone. Shortly after, Korey (Suzanne Ridgeway), Kimo's former wife, tries to kill another island woman named Naomi with a knife because she is married to Maranka. The Tabanga shows up, grabs Korey, and throws her into some quicksand, where she drowns. It then seeks out chief Maranka and kills him just by nudging against him. The natives now realize that the monster is actually a resurrected Kimo, and try to bait him into a pit they dug in order to trap him. This succeeds, and the natives set Kimo on fire. However, he doesn't die, and after killing some more islanders, he manages to make his way to the lab and capture Terry. The Tabanga intends to throw her in quicksand, so the other scientists set off in pursuit and manage to kill the Tabanga by shooting the knife still lodged in its heart. This pushes it all the way through, killing the tree stump. This movie is just totally ridiculous. It's bad enough that the monster in the film is literally a walking piece of a tree, but it goes one step further and has utterly terrible acting. For the most part, I didn't think it was horrible, but the people involved just didn't sound very interested in the plot they were in, but how could you blame them? The part where Naomi and Korey fight each other is funny because of how horribly their movements are choreographed. I thought it was hilarious how the creature eventually grabs Korey and dumps her in the quicksand with absolutely no emotion. The costume is terrible, and it just makes the experience more entertaining. Overall, I should have been angry at this movie for being so bad, but it's so inept it actually ends up being a masterpiece. It's so fundamentally broken on every level that it becomes a prime example of how not to make a movie. That doesn't affect the score I gave it though. It's really bad. It's also worth noting that the monster costume was made by Paul Blaisdell, who also made the costume for the alien in The Terror From Beyond Space, which was another film with awful special effects.
Attrocious
jodyxweiss9 May 2021
What to say about this movie....
dirk_and16 April 2020
The best actor is the tree. Tobonga walks slower than a zombie, yet manages to catch and kill people (not really sure how it kills either other than the one woman feinting and him carrying her and dumping her in the quicksand..... (am I the only one who thought when they grew up that quicksand would be a much bigger problem than it is?)
This movie has 3.7 stars and I can't for the life of me figure out where the other 2.7 come from. For anyone that rated it over a 1, please explain what you would do to make this movie any worse.
This movie has 3.7 stars and I can't for the life of me figure out where the other 2.7 come from. For anyone that rated it over a 1, please explain what you would do to make this movie any worse.
Devil demon of the islands!
BandSAboutMovies5 June 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Sure, Paul Blaisdell created the effects for The She-Creature, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Not of This Earth and It! The Terror from Beyond Space, but this is the only movie in which he made a tree person.
Yes, this film is about the prince of a South Seas island wrongly executed by a witch doctor who hated the fact that the prince became friends with Americans. Well, those foreigners pay him back by irradiating the island and reanimating the royal victim, who has been buried inside a tree. Now he is known as Tabonga, an angry tree stump that demands bloody retribution.
This movie is one of the many reasons why quicksand concerned me as a child, as the tree man throws his unfaithful widow into the sinking muck and then tosses the witch doctor down a hill. He can only be stopped by white men and their guns, which hasn't really changed for so many since this was made sixty some years ago.
Written by Richard Bernstein (Terrified!) and Jack Milner, this was directed by Jack's brother Dan, who worked as an editor on the Bozo the Clown TV show (he also made The Fighting Coward and The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues).
Look, it's not great, but the tree man reveal is better than most entire movies. It has that going for it at least.
Yes, this film is about the prince of a South Seas island wrongly executed by a witch doctor who hated the fact that the prince became friends with Americans. Well, those foreigners pay him back by irradiating the island and reanimating the royal victim, who has been buried inside a tree. Now he is known as Tabonga, an angry tree stump that demands bloody retribution.
This movie is one of the many reasons why quicksand concerned me as a child, as the tree man throws his unfaithful widow into the sinking muck and then tosses the witch doctor down a hill. He can only be stopped by white men and their guns, which hasn't really changed for so many since this was made sixty some years ago.
Written by Richard Bernstein (Terrified!) and Jack Milner, this was directed by Jack's brother Dan, who worked as an editor on the Bozo the Clown TV show (he also made The Fighting Coward and The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues).
Look, it's not great, but the tree man reveal is better than most entire movies. It has that going for it at least.
One for the Children's Matinee movie list
studuckett31 May 2021
Clumsy amateur dramatics on this film. Not a patch on other films from this era or genre. The vengeful tree stump is quite amusingly unique. But the suspence is weak, while the dialogue is laughable and the entertainment value is limited. Not bad enough to be funny, so one for the kids to watch instead. 3/10.
"horror" film on an island
ksf-218 June 2018
Doctors have landed on "the south sea island", to help the natives with illness, but the local witch doctor doesn't appreciate the interference. and of course, there is the witch doctor's love triangle issue. one of the native villagers DOES co-operate with the medical doctors, and it doesn't go well for him. Now there is a walking tree stump (!) walking the island, knocking people off one by one. it's quite amusing... it walks so slowly, a child could easily outrun (out-walk) it, and yet it's still killing people. Stars Tod Andrews, Tina Carver, and Linda Watkins. It's all pretty silly, but plays well enough. It's rated 3.5, after only 900 votes on imdb, but it's really not so bad. There are so many worse horror films rated higher than this! it's all played a little tongue in cheek. Not so bad. Shows on Turner Classics now and then. This appears to be one of only THREE films that Dan Milner directed... looks like he spent most of his career editing films. The script is a bit silly, and some of the acting is cheesy, but its all in good fun.
The Tree of Knowledge?
kapelusznik1816 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Insane movie about a killer tree known as "The Tabanga" played by Chester Hayes-the guy who played the Chicago Cub catcher in the "Babe Ruth Story"-that takes revenge against all those who were responsible for the murder of the native chief and his son Kimo,Gregg Palmer. It's Kimo who was framed for his father's murder by new chief Maranka, Baynes Barron, and his witch doctor partner in crime Tano,Robert Swan, together with his unfaithful wife Korey, Suzanne Ridgeway, who was having and affair with , behind Kimo's back, Chief Maranka. After being executed by chief Maranka's men Kimo was buried feet first in the local native cemetery cased in a hollowed out tree stump that in time fused with his body to become the vengeful and deadly "Tabanga".
There's also the fact that a number of nuclear tests were conducted around the south sea island, where the story takes place,of Kalay that may well have given the dead as a door nail "Tabanga" a new leaf or leaves on life. There's also handsome white witch, as he's known by the local natives,doctor William Arnold, Tod Andrews, and his partner Prof. Clark, John MacNamara, whom both chief Maranka and Tano want out of the way, by having them killed, in them taking away their business by curing the infected, from radiation, natives from the nuclear explosions.
***SPOILERS*** The "Tabanga" guided by the dead Kimo ends up killing all those that did Kimo in but when he goes after Doc. Terry-No relation to Perry-Mason, Tina Carver,who in fact save it from ending up as chopped fire wood the tables-Wooden or otherwise- suddenly turned on it. Grabbing Terry and taking her to the local quicksand pit to bury her alive the "Tabanga" ends up getting shot to pieces, by the entire movie cast, before it could dump Terry into the watery slime. Unbelively bad but at the same time entertaining movie that is to take place on a south sea island with the uncivilized and backwards natives there speaking both perfect English with what sounded like heavy Bronx New York accents.
There's also the fact that a number of nuclear tests were conducted around the south sea island, where the story takes place,of Kalay that may well have given the dead as a door nail "Tabanga" a new leaf or leaves on life. There's also handsome white witch, as he's known by the local natives,doctor William Arnold, Tod Andrews, and his partner Prof. Clark, John MacNamara, whom both chief Maranka and Tano want out of the way, by having them killed, in them taking away their business by curing the infected, from radiation, natives from the nuclear explosions.
***SPOILERS*** The "Tabanga" guided by the dead Kimo ends up killing all those that did Kimo in but when he goes after Doc. Terry-No relation to Perry-Mason, Tina Carver,who in fact save it from ending up as chopped fire wood the tables-Wooden or otherwise- suddenly turned on it. Grabbing Terry and taking her to the local quicksand pit to bury her alive the "Tabanga" ends up getting shot to pieces, by the entire movie cast, before it could dump Terry into the watery slime. Unbelively bad but at the same time entertaining movie that is to take place on a south sea island with the uncivilized and backwards natives there speaking both perfect English with what sounded like heavy Bronx New York accents.
Yeah, I gave it an 8
bruceball21 August 2019
So I gave this atrocity an 8 because it scared the bejesus out of me when I was a youngster. I mean trees that come to life in general are pretty creepy (Think Poltergeist) This movie has so many facets of bad its hard to list them all. Bad make up bad acting bad accents bad cat fight (Yes, its possible !) bad monster reminds me of an Easter candy - I think its the eyes But as with a lot of really bad movies I feel compelled to watch again on occasion. Good fun for the whole family !!
All time Classic!
stuartbell644 October 2013
Another classic from the 50's,a time when imagination was used, unlike so many of today's productions. This is quite simply a popcorn classic,a movie that will keep your attention for many different reasons. The plot is very straightforward, the highlight of course being the "monster", which has to be seen to be believed!
The film can never be called boring as it rips along, all 71 minutes of it, at a fair old pace. Regarding the actors,Tod Andrews and Tina Carver as the good doctors are fine, but it's Linda Watkins as Mrs Mae Kilgore that steals the show for me. No matter what people say about this movie, it will always be remembered in some form, hated or loved. Me? I love it!
The film can never be called boring as it rips along, all 71 minutes of it, at a fair old pace. Regarding the actors,Tod Andrews and Tina Carver as the good doctors are fine, but it's Linda Watkins as Mrs Mae Kilgore that steals the show for me. No matter what people say about this movie, it will always be remembered in some form, hated or loved. Me? I love it!
One of the dumbest movies of all time.
mhorg201819 June 2018
I've seen a lot of bad movies. Especially anything shown on the Syfy(less) channel from 2000-2010 and beyond. This, as bad as it is, its certainly better than those - but not by much. Basically it's a walking tree that kills people. Yes, you read that right. A WALKING TREE that KILLS PEOPLE. And the only channel that shows it, is Turner Classics. Kind of lie to call this a classic. And I can't believe that with all the great movies yet to be saved on Blu Ray, that this silly snoozefest has been given that honor. Needs to be seen once and then never again. Unless it's on opposite anything on the SYFY channel that isn't the Expanse. Then watch it twice.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
