SHE DEVIL (1957)

SHE DEVIL (1957)

Tagline: Female Monster! They created an inhuman being who destroyed everything she touched!

(Sci-Fi, Horror, When a Fruit Fly Isn’t a Fruit Fly) [G]

Note: This movie wasn’t given an MPAA rating, but it would have been a [G]. 

I may be old-fashioned and conservative, but somehow I feel that there is something unnatural, perhaps even dangerous about this. 

In this one, Dr. Dan Scott is trying to invent a serum that will allow humans to adapt to and overcome any injury or disease they get. Of course, he decides the best way to do this has got to be bugs. The next stage for him is a test on humans and he finds someone that takes him up on the offer, (Kyra Zelas fits the bill). After trying the serum Kyra’s tuberculosis is cured but she begins exhibiting dangerous and murderous behavior. Can she be stopped before everyone in her path feels the wrath of the SHE DEVIL?

First off, what this movie does really well is keep things moving just enough to keep watching. I really wasn’t expecting to like this one at all, but clearly, I am on some sort of crazy mission to review all the 1950s sci-fi I can get my hands on. Almost everything about this movie at least from my perspective was fairly well done with a few exceptions I will get to later in the review. In spite of the movie’s title, this really isn’t a horror film by any means. 

Acting wise the lead role of Kyra Zelas is played by Mari Blanchard. She does have a few quick scenes in here where she is fairly timid, but for the bulk of this movie, she is just playing a really mean lady so it’s hard to tell if the acting is all that great. She wasn’t asked to have any range. This was the only sci-fi role I could find that she is in. Jack Kelly plays Dr. Dan Scott and is oddly one of the more likable mad scientists in 1950s sci-fi. He wasn’t evil, he was just irresponsible. Jack Kelly’s other big sci-fi role was as Lt. Farman in FORBIDDEN PLANET. We also get quite a bit of screen time from Albert Dekker who plays Dr. Richard Bach. He does pretty well in this movie and seems to be the smartest person in the room, but he’s also flawed which makes his character a bit more realistic. 

What I liked about this film was that the "she-devil" has the cool feature of being able to change at least part of her appearance and even heal at will. I also loved that Dr. Dan Scott has a freakin panther in his lab. You don’t see that very often. The score for this movie is also pretty well done. We get those subtle chords when you’d expect them and everything is well composed. 

The only issues with this movie are some of the sci-fi stretches in how the “she-devil” got the way she is and even more nuts is how they try to resolve the issue. Outside of that, we also have a scene where one character shoots another, and there is really nothing in the character's past that would have led you to believe there was any way he’d do something like that. The dude is a billionaire and I don’t think you get to that level with a mentality that makes you so easy to provoke you’d shoot someone. At least if that ever does happen, it’s pretty freakin rare. I didn’t love the ending but it fit everything else.  

Overall I don’t have enough complaints to really trash this movie much. I think Dr. Dan Scott is dumb, but I understand where love can really screw with your sense of morality if you get infatuated with some of low moral character. So maybe let this movie be a lesson to you on that front.

SHE DEVIL gets a 4 out of 7 for delivering an interesting little flick with decent acting and some interesting concepts (as bonkers as they were). 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF REGAL FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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