''She Demons'' is a 1958 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

horror film, produced by Arthur A. Jacobs and Marc Frederic, directed and co-written by Richard E. Cunha, that stars Irish McCalla, Tod Griffin, and

Victor Sen Yung Sen Yung, later known professionally as Victor Sen Young (born Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1914 – c. November 9, 1980); one source lists his given name as Victor Cheung Young with the birth year 1915)) was an American character actor, best kn ...

. Made in the tongue-in-cheek style of

Men's adventure Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...

magazines,

Nazisploitation Nazi exploitation (also Nazisploitation) is a subgenre of exploitation film and sexploitation film that involves Nazis committing sex crimes, often as camp or prison overseers during World War II. Most follow the women in prison formula, only r ...

, and '' The Island of Lost Souls'', the film was distributed by

Astor Pictures Astor Pictures was a motion picture distribution company in the United States from 1930 to 1963. It was founded by Robert M. Savini (29 August 1886 – 29 April 1956). Astor specialized in film re-releases. It later released independently ma ...

in March, 1958 as a double feature with Cunha's '' Giant from the Unknown''.

Plot

During a tropical storm, a pleasure boat is shipwrecked on an uncharted island and is presumed lost with all hands after the storm clears. The four survivors' shipboard radio can receive but not transmit, and they hear that their castaway island will soon be used by U.S. Navy aircraft as a bombing target. Finding strange-looking human footprints and hearing the sound of jungle drums, three of the party explore the island. They soon discover the island is populated by deformed, fanged women who are the product of scientific experiments of Nazis led by a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or " insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly a ...

and war criminal, who rules the island with an iron swastika. The survivors eventually manage to blow up the island before the Navy jets can do so.

Cast

* Irish McCalla as Jerrie Turner * Tod Griffin as Fred Maklin *

as Sammy Ching * Rudolph Anders as Col. Karl Osler *

Gene Roth Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth (January 8, 1903 – July 19, 1976), known profesionally as Gene Roth, was an American film actor and film manager. Early years Roth was born in Redfield, South Dakota. He was the son of a German father an ...

as Igor *

Leni Tana Leni is a ''comune'' (municipality) and one of the main towns on Salina, one of the Aeolian Islands, in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, southern Italy. It is located about northeast of Palermo and about northwest of Messina. Leni li ...

as Mona Osler *

Charles Opunui Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

as Kris Kamana * The Diane Nellis Dancers as The She Demons

Analysis

's character is atypical compared to other Asian characters of the era, speaking ordinary American English, being a college graduate and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

member.

Production

After completing '' Giant from the Unknown'', Astor Pictures told Richard Cunha that the film would only be accepted if he made another co-feature, to be released by Astor on a double bill. This led Cunha to make ''She Demons''. Astor advanced $80,000, with Cunha completing the film for $65,000. Filming locations for ''She Demons'' were at

Ferndale, California Ferndale is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 1,371 at the 2010 census, down from 1,382 at the 2000 census. The city contains dozens of well-preserved Victorian storefronts and homes. Ferndale is the nor ...

Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the Ameri ...

, and Paradise Cove Pier in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...

. David Koehler handled the special effects. H.E. Barrie, who co-wrote the screenplay, also wrote the scripts for two of Cunha's other 1950s films, ''

Missile to the Moon ''Missile to the Moon'' is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film drama, produced by Marc Frederic, directed by Richard E. Cunha, that stars Richard Travis, Cathy Downs, and K. T. Stevens. The film was distrib ...

'' and ''

Frankenstein's Daughter ''Frankenstein's Daughter'' is an independently made 1958 American black-and-white science fiction/ horror film drama, produced by Marc Frederic and George Fowley, directed by Richard E. Cunha, that stars John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Donald ...

''.

Reception

Writing in

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

, film critic

Glenn Erickson Glenn Erickson is an American film editor and film critic. A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, he started in the film industry in 1975 as an editor of low-budget films and later worked in minor technical crew capacitie ...

described the film as a "totally bizarre oddity" and " e of the sleaziest kiddie matinee movies of the '50s," but also "a great party picture with everything camp enthusiasts enjoy – terrible jokes, hammy acting, terrible direction." Critic Joe Lozowsky wrote that the film is a "so-bad-it's good cult favorite," and that " ce head moron Gene Roth shows up with his bad accent, you can't help but expect Moe, Larry, and Joe Besser to blunder onto the cardboard set and trade eye pokes."

Notes

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0052187
Joe Dante on ''She Demons''
at

Trailers from Hell ''Trailers from Hell'' (branded as ''Trailers from Hell!'') is a web series in which filmmakers discuss and promote individual movies through commenting on their trailers. While the series emphasizes horror, science fiction, fantasy, cult, and expl ...

Original soundtrack for ''She Demons''
1958 films 1958 directorial debut films 1950s English-language films 1950s independent films 1950s science fiction horror films American black-and-white films American independent films American science fiction horror films Astor Pictures films Films directed by Richard E. Cunha Films set on islands Mad scientist films Nazi exploitation films Nazi zombie films 1950s American films