Whatever you think you’re looking at; it’s supposed to be a wasp.
The government sends all kinds of living things into orbit to see what will happen to them in space. Does being in space change the structure of a living thing? It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves. One of the creatures sent into space are wasps. They were supposed to be exposed to radiation for 40 seconds. Instead, they were exposed for 40 hours. The rocket with the wasps on board goes off course and ends up in the jungle. In a place the natives call Green Hell. Why is it called Green Hell? I don’t know.
The scientists in charge of the program are Dr. Quent Brady (Jim Davis) (Yes, Jock Ewing from the TV show Dallas) and Dan Morgan (Robert Griffin). Six months later the scientists read an article about monsters in Africa. Knowing that the radiation exposure could affect the wasps, mutating them, they go to investigate.
Dr. Lorentz (Vladimir Sokoloff) lives in the jungle taking care of the natives. Brady and Morgan are told that he would know if there were something out there killing people. They trek across the jungle to find him. Next, we have reels and reels of stock footage. By now it’s mostly a jungle movie. They get to Dr. Lorentz’s hospital and find that he went to Green Hell to find out what is going on. They next learn the doctor was killed by one of the giant wasps. They find the wasps on the ridge of a volcano. They now need to find a way to destroy the wasps before they spread.
"The Monster From Green Hell" was released in 1958 and was directed by Kenneth G. Crane. This much maligned film was produced by Al Zimbalist. He is famous for some of the worst low-budget horror movies you may never have seen. “Robot Monster” 1953 “Cat Women of the Moon” 1953 and “King Dinosaur” 1955 to name a few. He is well known for the abundant use of stock footage in his movies. For example, someone actually timed “Monster from Green Hell” and determined that it is approximately 40% stock footage. Zimbalist’s monsters also are not notable.
Take for example the plastic wasps in “Green Hell” and the “Robot Monster’s” gorilla suit with the diving helmet head. One thing you will not find in “Monster from Green Hell” is the funny campy dialogue that I enjoyed in “Robot Monster”. You now know that “Monster from Green Hell” is not even campy it’s pretty much just awful, but it does have a few diehard fans. If you love stock footage and you’re OK with giant plastic bugs, like I am, then have I got a movie for you.