She Demons (1958)

SHE DEMONS is a low budget quickie of the 1950s with plenty of potential and not a lot of impact. It has all the ingredients to make a successfully entertaining B-movie, including: horrific deformed monsters, a two-fisted hero, whipping, native girls dancing in bikinis, women in prison, Nazi experiments, a sadistic German officer, and an erupting volcano. Somehow it manages to fumble the ball somewhere along the line, providing only two (count 'em) scenes of excitement: a prolonged battle between our hero and the whip-wielding Nazi bad guy, and the eruptive climax. The rest is talk, scene-setting and more talk, but the film isn't without its charms.Chief of those is Irish McCalla, the statuesque blonde playing the female lead. A commanding mix of Monroe, Mansfield, and Dors, she goes easy on the eye even if her acting isn't up to scratch. Sadly, little is made of McCalla, but her presence definitely helps. Tod Griffin is less impressive as the hero; he seems to spend more time standing around than actually doing anything, and I definitely needed to see him fighting the Nazis more.The film deserves kudos for having a third lead played by an Asian, Victor Sen Yung, who delivers much of the comic relief. He's fine, as is veteran Rudolph Anders as the sinister German surgeon conducting experiments on the native girls. Sadly, too much of this film is filler – the German's explanations go on for an age, for instance – and it lacks the serial atmosphere that would have made it a classic. Nonetheless, aside from the somewhat insipid direction this delivers a few vicarious thrills for fans of such fare.

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.

A small group of people become shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island. When one member of their group is attacked by a hideous looking female, the others realize they are not alone. Following the sound of a drum, the groups stumbles upon a Nazi encampment where all sorts of experiments are performed on several caged females. The group is discovered and must fight for their lives if they aren't to become the next Nazi casualties.I found She Demons much better than its reputation would suggest. I can obviously see the problems with the movie, but much of it is enjoyable in a corny, cheesy, 50s sort of way. Any movie with Nazis on a tropical island in 1958 has to have some fun, goof-ball moments. And the production values are above average for a 50s B-quickie like this. Many of the stage-bound sets overcome their limited budgets.And then there's the cast. The survivors are as unlikely a group as you'll see. First, there's the rich, spoiled beauty played by Irish McCalla. She has a way of delivering lines as I would imagine a living statue might - very little real emotion. Second is our hero played by Tod Griffin. A more buffoonish lead I've never seen. He's one of those guys you see in older movies who insists on pulling up his pants to his armpits. He also is fond of spouting some incredibly silly dialogue. Finally, Victor Sen Yung is the flunky. He was annoying as Charlie Chan's Number 1 son and is equally annoying here. He has the same delivery and tries out some of the same lame jokes.One scene in She Demons warrants special mention. When our group of castaways comes across the Nazi doctor, they naturally ask about his fiendish plan. What follows is the usual Mad Scientist Reveals His Whole Plan Scene. But this one is more detailed that most. His response has to be the longest explanation a mad genius ever gave in a movie. It goes on and on and on... I found it to be quite a hoot.If you're a fan of silly 50s horror/sci-fi movies, you might find a thing or two to enjoy here.

1958's She Demons is a fine example of late 1950's schlock horror. Those of you that have read other reviews of mine are familiar with my admonition not to take films such as these too seriously and appreciate them for what they are: Escapism and not-too-high quality fun.Several persons are shipwrecked on an uncharted island a dozen years after World War Two's end. Unbeknownst to them a group Nazis are conducting medical experiments on attractive young women in order to find a way to restore the appearance of the commander's wife who was horribly disfigured in an accident. The shipwrecked survivors include the spoiled brat daughter (Irish McCalla) of the man who sponsored the trip; the others are males in his employ. While fighting the Nazis as they wait to be rescued, McCalla and male lead Tod Griffin fall in love as she overcomes her youthful callousness.The very blonde and attractive, but not overly talented, McCalla should have had a more substantial career in B-films. I enjoyed her in this one very much. But I am getting ahead of myself. The camp commander/head research doctor, played in a very over-the-top fashion by Rudolph Anders, develops a romantic interest in the leggy McCalla, which of course his wife finds out about and does not appreciate. Around this are exotic dances by curvy women with ugly (the She Demons!) faces, made so by the brutality of the doc, and torture sequences that, although obviously phony, are a bit much even by today's standards.(Even the poorest quality films have poignant moments). The film ends when the Americans shoot up the island during target practice, conveniently allowing our heroes to escape. She Demons works, but only because it is schlock horror. The film's sets are laughable, the plot very thin and requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, even for a film such as this. The Nazis are portrayed in the cheesiest fashion I have ever seen, and I have seen many Nazis in film during the post war era. Anders is a delight as the head Nazi. His affectations are so pronounced that one cannot possibly take this film seriously. But, now is a good time to remind that there was a time when this sort of film was taken more seriously than today's more jaded and sophisticated viewers. I am certain that in 1958, some viewers were disturbed and frightened by this story as they sat in the theater or outdoor drive-in and munched popcorn.Director Richard Cunya was responsible for another film such as this in 1958. Giant From the Unknown appears with She Demons on a Sinister Cinema Drive-In double feature I purchased from them several years ago. This one is best viewed late on a weekend night after long, tough week. It is of interest only to those with a passion in films of this genre, made in this era.