Jeanskynebu
the audience applauded
Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
MartinHafer
In the 1940s, Chester Morris and Tom Conway were reasonably successful and respected actors. Both made B series films (Boston Blackie and The Falcoh respectively) as well as A and B films...quite a few of them. But by the mid-1950s, both these actors were having problem finding roles on TV or films...and they were sadly reduced to acting in a schlocky film like this. Fortunately for Morris, he still had a few good projects in him (such as "The Great White Hope") but Conway would soon become a pathetic guy without work, a home as well as broken health. A sad end for a very good actor.In this film, Chester Morris plays Dr. Lombardi--a stage hypnotist with amazing powers. He is able to exert amazing power over people and claims to even be able to use age regression to bring out a physical manifestation...in essence, a monster. As for Conway, he plays Timothy Chappel, a guy who wants to exploit Lombardi's reputation in order to strike it rich. Little does he know that Lombardi's Svengali-like powers are real...and he's a very dangerous man. Apart from looking at how beautiful Lombardi's muse (Marla English) is, there isn't a lot of positive things to say about this cheap film. The monster, in particular, is pretty comical looking...and instead of instilling fear in the audiences watching the movie, it likely just elicited laughter. Plus, nothing about this film even seems scary...just kind of silly.
Eric Stevenson
When I first heard about this film, I thought it was going to be typical 1950's B-movie stuff with someone in a cheesy costume going around attacking people. I was quite disappointed to find that most of this film wasn't even about that at all! It was mostly about this hypnotist who tries to seduce a woman by having her look into her past lives or something. It was hard to follow and I wasn't even sure how the title She-Creature was a part of this. It amounted to very little. If there's anything good about it, I guess it was at least a little unique.This wasn't even quite standard for films of the time. It really is just a pointless movie. I couldn't even tell that that creature was female! I don't know if I've ever seen more spinning papers in a movie before. That's probably why this is a dead horse trope. It's clichéd even by the standards of this time period. *
mark.waltz
Oh no, not another rubber monster coming out of the ocean! Yes, another rubber monster coming out of the ocean, and boy does she have female troubles! Complete with breasts, this scaly creature with crab claws appears to be some ancient ghost, reincarnated as the living human beauty Mara English who ends up under the thumb of the psychotic Chester Morris. "Beauty like yours must not be destroyed. It belongs to me", he tells her, utilizing her in a sort of traveling freak show that claims that she has led many lives and that the she-creature that escapes the ocean to kill was one of those lives. Veteran Hollywood actors from the 1930's make an embarrassing return to the screen in what ranks as one of the worst science fiction/horror movies of the late 1950's. "I can make you grovel in the dirt" is just an example of the truly hideous dialog that veteran actor Morris ("The Big House") must say which also includes, "No one can take you from me. I live only for you. You're the light that shines out of my darkness!" If your eyes haven't started rolling by the time he says this gem of dialog, you must have fallen asleep! Also involved in this poster child for Elvira/Mystery Science Theater favorite is the former Falcon, Tom Conway, once one of the most dashing "B" leading men and now an aging shell of himself desperately trying to keep his sophisticated wit but barely able to contain his disgust over what he's involved in. El Brendel, who annoyed me with his fake Swedish accent in movies of the early 1930's, is here again, given equally bad dialog to annoyingly spout. Freida Inescort, one of the underrated gems of the 1930's, gets a somewhat showy character part as a patron of the mystical, and escapes unscathed. As for English, all she is required to do is look lovely. She basically poses, not acts, and her retorts to the ridiculous dialog veteran actor Morris must say is delivered blandly. Dark, gloomy photography makes this look extremely cheap, and when the creature and its descendant finally meet each other, it is not a reunion to be remembered. Basically, the film can't even succeed on a camp level without someone spouting wisecracks at the screen because it really ranks as ultra-boring and something that could definitely induce sleep should insomnia hit.
GL84
Following a hypnosis session at a party, a rash of murders leads the police to the professor who conducted the experiment, and eventually find that he inadvertently triggered his assistant to undergo a process that reverts her into a prehistoric creature and race to stop the creature's rampage.This one wasn't all that great, as it definitely has it's problems. One of the biggest factors against the film is the fact that the plot to this one drags the film out far longer than it really should since there's just not a whole lot of creature action in this. It's held off to such a small section of the film as the vast majority of this one is not in the slightest bit considering on the antics of the released creature, concentrating more on the disproving of his techniques which is quite a vast section of the film. Not only is these the endless scenes of him at parties and showing of her going around trying to build a case of his phoniness that comes off as the main focus here, there's not a whole lot here which makes it seem interesting or exciting and this leaves the film just wandering around and just plain stalling for creature action as it winds through them, leaving the few moments of action fun but entirely all-too-brief. Since the longest attack seems to last at least two or three minutes and it's not the finale, that comes up as a big stumbling block in this one to hold back the tempo and pacing found here being yet another factor which leaves the film to end on a whimper than a bang. These big issues, along with a lame romance angle that feels forced the second it's introduced and really doesn't do much to help the film, really do hold this one back from it's main positives here. The main factor that helps this along is that the titular creature does look good and rather original in its design, as the beast is cleverly designed and quite frightening when it appears in it's rather chilling form while it also has a fair mystery in whether or not it's a real creature or a figment of the imagination. That comes from the strange attacks here that leave enough clues behind into being unsure of this, and that leaves this one with a couple of tense and somewhat thrilling creature attacks here from it's appearance at the sea-side shack, the attack on the couple in the car and the strong series of continuous appearances along the beach including the final half which features some more decent action. These here make this one quite fun, but it's not enough to save it.Today's Rating/PG: Violence
