The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Walon Green/Ed Spiegel
Starring: Lawrence Pressman
From: Wolper Pictures
A faux apocalyptic documentary that uses great real-life insect macrophotography to prove its point? Why the heck not? This could be the wackiest entry on my list for Spooky Season this year. If the Criterion Channel would have been able to get the rights to it, most assuredly this would have been perfect for the Surreal Nature Films collection they had earlier in 2024.
As is, this Oscar-winning documentary (! More on that at the end) is difficult to track down in HD quality. There is more than one 360p print on YouTube but that looks especially bad for something filled w/ nature footage. Olive Films released it on disc so good luck purchasing it now as physical media without paying a king’s ransom for it. For the record, I DID track down an HD stream-not in the usual spot that obscurities were found. If you know which exact terms to use for a Google search…
Most of the film is impressive-especially for the time-macrophotography which brought the world of insects to life. Various aspects are shown: species vs. species, procreation, the life cycle in a colony of bees, humans attempting to kill locusts to stave off their devouring of resources, etc. It is presented in a rather curious of-its-time fashion: That Guy actor Lawrence Pressman portrays fictional scientist Nils Hellstrom, an eccentric who believes that insects will outlive all humanity & explains why. A bizarre way to frame that footage, undoubtedly. It was believe it or not marketed as a sci-fi thriller upon release but allegedly, not too many carped about the misleading advertisement.
Besides the footage, the sensationalistic narration & commentary from Hellstrom is quite amusing as it seriously paints a picture that insects are fed up with man polluting the world (not to mention attempting to kill mosquitos that spread diseases like malaria) so one day they’ll eradicate us all. It does have horror elements sprinkled in and it is most pronounced in the finale that portrays a colony of ants as an unstoppable killer. Perhaps not a surprise that writer David Seltzer later went on to write The Omen and the killer bear Prophecy. A major asset was the rather groovy score which at times was fusion jazz and was always pretty sweet. Imagine my surprise during the end credits discovering it was from… Lalo Schifrin. I suppose that’s why it was so good.
The film is odd yet rather entertaining, even if perversely so at times. Whether or not it should have won an Oscar for Best Documentary can be debated… that is not even including the small detail that it somehow beat the excellent Nazis in France during WWII documentary The Sorrow and the Pity. I’ve seen both, and it is rather absurd Sorrow did not win. Even back then the Oscars could make some terrible decisions.
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