She Demons (1958)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Richard E. Cunha

Writers:

Richard E. Cunha (story) and
H.E. Barrie (story) ...

Release Date:

1 January 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Horrific Nazi Experiments Gone Awry!

Plot:

Heroic, but dull, Fred Maklin and beautiful, but spoiled, Jerrie Turner wash up on an uncharted tropical island...

Plot Keywords:

Island | Disfigurement | U.S. Air Force | Nazi | Bomber

Cast

Irish McCalla	...	Jerrie Turner
Tod Griffin	...	Fred Maklin
Victor Sen Yung	...	Sammy Ching
Rudolph Anders	...	Col. Karl Osler
Gene Roth	...	Igor
Leni Tana	...	Mona Osler
Charles Opunui	...	Kris Kamana
Whitey Hughes
Bill Coontz	...	Storm Trooper
Billy Dix	...	Storm Trooper
Larry Gelbman	...	Storm Trooper
Maureen Janzen	...	She Demon
Grace Mathews	...	She Demon
Michael Stoycoff	...	Storm Trooper
The Diane Nellis Dancers	...	The She Demons

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Screencraft Enterprises

Goofs:

Continuity: The German soldier gets pushed into the cage with the She-Demons. The impact forces the cage gate open, he is then attacked by the She-Demons with the gate still open. The camera cuts away and then back to the cage and now the gate is closed even though his body is in the same position. He is in the way of the swing of the gate, so it couldn't have closed.

Quotes:

Fred Maklin: Please... I beg of you. Do what you want with us, but in heaven's name release the girl!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Horrible Honeys (1988) (V)

The Island of Deranged Nazi Dr. Moreau

I like to sometimes think of myself that I've seen a large share of horror, cult, Sci-Fi and exploitation movies from all eras and from all over the world, but the truth is that these genres are simply an inexhaustible source of material. I never even heard of "She Demons" before, for example, even though it sounds right up my alley with crazed monsters, cuckoo scientists and bizarre make-up effects! Not that this film is a great discovery or anything, but it's interesting and ahead-of-its-time 50's shlock. "She Demons" is more or less a trashy variation on H.G. Wells' classic tale "The Island of Dr. Moreau", albeit expanded with malignant Nazi doctors and their relentless experiments as well as some really weird but typically 50's environmental research regarding new energy sources. Following a devastating hurricane at sea, four castaways (the spoiled daughter of a wealthy industrialist and three of her employees) wash ashore a tropical and seemingly uninhabited island. However, the place soon turns out to be the private resort of an escaped Nazi doctor and a handful of his soldiers. Unaware that the Third Reich doesn't exist anymore since more than 10 years, the doctor continues his work and even invented a super intelligent new way to generate energy by extracting heat from the volcano underneath the island. This discovery would pretty much make him the most genius and celebrated man on earth, but he's a Nazi and – on top of that – also a dangerous psychopath who replaces the beautiful faces of kidnapped women with animal DNA in order to attempt saving his own horribly mutilated wife. It's up to the courageous shipwrecked to stop the doctor's vile experiments and at the same time not to fall victim to the soldiers and/or creepy female mutations. This all may sound like a lot of potentially fascinating story lines and more than enough excitement for a relatively short (slightly under 80min) movie, and than I haven't even mentioned the obligatory and totally implausible developing love-story between the lead characters yet, but "She Demons" is actually a rather boring viewing experience with far too many 'nothing going on' moments. The plot ideas are effective and the make-up effects are definitely quite nasty considering the time of release and the lack of budget, but the pacing is just intolerably slow. The dialogs seem to last forever – particularly the Nazi dude's explanation regarding what he does on the island – whereas other extended parts a little too obviously serve as time-filler, like the She-Demons ritual dance act. What is up with that? Did filmmakers back in the fifties automatically assumed that ridiculous ritual dances were obligatory in movies that are set on tropical islands? The cast is terrible and lead starlet Irish McCalla is hugely annoying and unattractive despite her extremely positive and promoting self-image. One to avoid if you have good taste, but worth a look if you like silly demonic masks, demented speeches and messed up science guys with hideous German accents.