She Demons

Quintessential B-flick looks better than ever
First off, I'll admit that this is one of my long-time favorite cheesey movies. It's got just about everything you could want in a B-movie: a shipwreck on an uncharted island, spunky heroine (Irish "Sheena" McCalla), stiff-as-cardboard hero, nubile native dancing girls, papier-mache cave walls, lecherous evil scientist, whip-cracking Nazis, embarrassing racial stereotypes, pasty-faced monsters, heart-touching sentimentality, low-key humor, volcanoes, lava, and a Hideously Disfigured Wife, whose face the scientist is trying to restore, natch. This heady mix of numerous beloved B-genres remains probably Richard Cunha's most technically accomplished work, and the most thought-provoking in his oeuvre. ...not as dizzyingly awful as an Ed Wood film, or as leaden as a Herbert L. Strock movie, but campy, enjoyable, rainy-Saturday-afternoon fare nonetheless. Bad film junkies cannot possibly be disappointed. As for the DVD, this has got to be the best presentation yet for this film...

Everything a cult B movie should be
She Demons turned out to be a much better film that I expected it to be. While there is absolutely nothing original about the plot, the film manages to retain one's interest from start to finish. Native girls, a mad Nazi scientist, atavistic she demons, bombs, volcanic eruptions -- what's not to like?

The film opens sort of strangely, with a news report about a recent hurricane followed by a plea for information from some rich guy whose daughter's boat is missing. Then we cut to our shipwreck survivors: poor little spoiled rich girl Jerrie Turner (stalwart blonde Irish McCalla, whom some may recognize as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle), scientist Tod Maklin (Tod Griffin), comic-relief sidekick Sammy Ching (Victor Sen Yung), and a native captain who doesn't even survive long enough to witness the big native girl dance scene. And what a native girl dance scene it is. These aren't your run-of-the-mill natives; these girls, made up of the Diana Nellis Dancers, include some real...

Ricard Cunha's Lasting Memorial to Cheese
First off, let me say that "She Demons" is a favorite Z picture of mine. As a kid I always looked forward to the times it played on "Chiller Theater." I mean, where else could you get mad scientists, Nazis, disfigured go-go dancers (with the phoniest make-up), paper mache scenery, AND Irish McCalla?

To be fair, the film has a few scares at the end, especially when the mad scientist's wife discloses all too clearly her reason for not leaving with the heroes and the death of Mr. Nazi Mad Scientist himself. The DVD transfer is excellent, and though this is not the sort of picture in Ed Wood's league, it is still enough fun for inviting a few friends over and doing your own version of "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

And the best reason for owning it? Where can you get such sublime awfulness...

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