[.ca] She Demons

The Wicked World of Wade Williams:
I was pissed off recently when I picked up a copy of SHE DEMONS,(from the 'Wade Williams Collection'). If the guy owns the damn film, why couldn't he wait until he locates a decent print before rushing it to DVD? In the film there's a scene where a bevy of not-as-yet demonic beauties does a ritual dance before the camera; as each woman dances before the camera she has her moment when the camera gets a chance to focus on her face close up. Someone, probably long ago, had clipped out the crucial frames for each woman's close up in front of the camera. You may have seen other films where this "clipping" has been done, I know I have. What's up with that? Are they making prints to sell or something? This clipping of frames is not the kind of thing a casual observer will notice, but for me it mars the film horribly. I remember watching BATMAN (was it 1985?) at the Grand in Oakland. It was a few days after the movie had been released, but damn if someone had not already snagged crucial frames, like the shot where Joker kills his TV. Seems like the picture I'm getting of one Wade Williams is he doesn't really care about these films except as money makers. He has no love for the genre, and therefore does not really care about video collectors either. Bob Burns S.F.

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...

Jungle Fever...:
On a remote, uncharted island in the south pacific, strange things are happening. Nazis have set up camp, kidnapping a troupe of dancers (The Diana Nellis Dancers to be exact) and subjecting them to diabolical experiments at the hands of an evil SS officer / scientist named Osler (aka: The Butcher)! Enter 4 castaways, Gerri (Irish McCalla) and 3 guys to whom I paid little attention (when you see Ms. McCalla you'll understand why). Gerri's a rich, spoiled brat. Her zillionaire father footed the bill for the expedition which landed her and her cohorts on the island. Well, our heroine and friends soon encounter the lost dancing girls, and we are treated to a fairly good little jungle-hoochy-koo number! Then, those mean old nazi-boogers show up, pooping all over the party! It's a battle between the forces of good and evil, as Osler tries to get Gerri to be more than a friend! Unfortunately for Hitler jr., Gerri does befriend his wife, who's badly burned face is the reason behind Osler's experiments. The actual SHE DEMONS themselves (dancing girls turned icky through Osler's serum) don't do a whole lot, except for exterminating the worst of their nazi tormentors! The rest is pretty standard fair, but Irish McCalla makes it all seem worthwhile somehow! Check her out in her black evening dress! Wowzers...

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 ï¿1/2 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 beauties. Unfortunately, beauty can be fleeting on this island. You see, twelve years ago the Fuehrer sent Colonel Osler (aka the Butcher), played quite smarmily by Rudolph Anders, to this uncharted island to continue his experiments on the exploitation of lava for the generation of electricity. The doggoned evil scientist has actually figured out the secret of perpetual motion, but this sort of plays second fiddle to his continued experiments to turn scar tissue back into healthy skin (the Fuehrer didn't want any of his master race soldiers baring scars when they came back from the war). In an unfortunate accident several years earlier, Osler's wife Mona was severely burned, and the Colonel is attempting to restore her beauty by extracting "character X" from the faces of attractive native females (whom his crack staff of clueless soldiers have somehow managed to capture) and injecting it into his wife's skin (underneath all those bandages). Unfortunately, the medical procedure tends to turn these hot island girls into grotesque monsters so ugly that they have to sneak up on the dipper just to get a drink of water. The special effects makeup is rather pathetic, but the girls definitely do look ugly after their visits to the lab. Well, our heroes get captured, the scientist and the rich girl fall in love, Osler does the whole evil madman shtick, etc. You know. Surprisingly, it all ends up being pretty darned entertaining, and the big "reveal" scene at the end is something not to be missed. I do have to mention these soldiers on the island, though; these guys make Sgt. Schultz look like a prize German soldier. Hiding from them is no trouble whatsoever; they wouldn't even recognize Hitler if he came up and kicked them in the shins. Okay, I also have to admit that some of the dialogue is pretty cheesy, but it makes for some good laughs. The only real complaint I have with this film is the fact that the gorgeous native girls (in their pre-She Demon forms, of course) were not featured nearly enough for my liking. When all is said and done, though, She Demons is everything a 1950s B movie should be.

" I didn't know I had it in me!" - Irish McCalla:
This vintage example of schlock cinema is from the same clowns who gave us "Frankenstein's Daughter." Take note, the flick has one redeeming quality: Irish McCalla. Baby boomers will remember this statuesque blond as Saturday TV's "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle." (Take a moment, guys, and recall pre-adolescent fantasies). She plays a spoiled rich girl, shipwrecked with three men on a remote island. No, it isn't that kind of story. They discover Nazis who use scantily clad "island" girls as human guinea pigs. If one blends Nazis dressed in black Gestapo uniforms, island babes, and bondage and torture scenes, the whole thing begins to resemble a '50s men's magazine. The head Nazi and resident mad scientist, known as The Butcher, subjects the island girls to genetic transfers that temporarily transform them into monster women. These "she demons" commit murder and mayhem. Things get explosive when The Butcher lusts after Irish. Just then, the volcano starts to rock-'n'roll and you know the rest. Victor Sen Yung (Charlie Chan's No. 2 son) is around for comic relief. Comic relief is really a moot point. The "so dumb, it's funny" fan club will already be rolling on the floor. The chief Nazi guard is familiar B movie character actor Gene Roth. If that name doesn't ring any bells, he played the sheriff in "Earth Vs. the Spider" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches." Roth also appeared as the heavy in some of the later Three Stooges comedies. The Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, version of this little flick adds the scream queen's cogent commentary and plunging analysis in a rounded and thrusting manner. ;-)