She Devil

FYI: I first saw this movie as a youngster and vividly remember it, even though I can't say it was one of my favorites. In late 2004, I watched episodes of Science-Fiction Theater, a TV series from the mid-1950's. An episode of the series titled "Beyond Return", aired in late 1955, presaged the movie with the same story and even specific points (the evolution of the meek terminally ill woman to a murderous villainess, the changing of the woman's hair color, etc.) by at least a year. The TV episode is credited to Doris Young but that may have been as screenwriter, not necessarily as the original author. I'm sure that both the TV program and "She Devil" are from the mind of Stanley Weinbaum's 1935 story titled "Adaptive Ultimate".

Dr. Scott has created a miracle serum. When he's given it to animals with horrible injuries or on the verge of death, they quickly recover and are healthy. So, they want to try it out on a human...but ethically the only way they could do this is to give it to a terminal patient with no hope for recovery. Kyra (Mari Blanchard) is dying of advanced tuberculosis and she very willingly agrees to be the guinea pig. Amazingly, she soon completely recovers. However, there are unforeseen complications--she is now virtually indestructible AND she's evil!

Soon, Kyra is off doing rotten things...and with seeming impunity. In a really, really neat scene for a 1950s film, she bashes some poor guy over the head while stealing something. When the police are searching for her, she hides out in a dressing room and wills her hair color to change...and it does on camera! Then, she just walks off...as they're looking for a brunette and she's now a platinum blonde! And, she seems to exude sex appeal that turn men into puppets in her hands! What's next for this budding sociopath with X-Men powers?!

Overall, this is a highly entertaining film that doesn't always make sense. Why didn't the doctors go to the police? This never made complete sense.

When will the scientists in these 40s/50s sci-fi/horror films learn to stay away from the pineal gland? It only leads to misery and death. In She Devil, a brilliant scientist has developed a formula to help treat sick and injured patients. With the consent of a dying patient, Kyra Zelas (Mari Blanchard), Dr. Dan Scott (Jack Kelly) injects her with his formula. Once Kyra's pineal gland (here we go) is sufficiently stimulated, her disease immediately goes away. She's cured and everything's great. Well, not really. Not only did the serum cure Kyra, but it gave her other powers as well - the ability to heal instantly and the ability to change her hair color at will (which comes in handy when you're evading the police). It also took away many of her inhibitions and turned her evil. Killing to get what she wants doesn't seem to faze the new and improved Kyra.

I loved She Devil much more than I should have. The IMDb rating of 5.6 is probably more indicative of the film's quality, but I found it much more entertaining than that. I compare it to the way I felt about another film I found much more entertaining than IMDb's rating would suggest - The Devil's Hand. In some ways they're very similar. Both are B&W, neither has a particularly outstanding cast, both are from the same time period, both are low budget thrillers, and both feature similar themes - man's destruction at the hands of a woman.

What appealed to me most as I watched She Devil was Kyra's quick transformation from a sickly, docile woman to a beautiful, confident killer. Once she's cured, you can see the change on her face almost immediately. It came as little surprise when she popped the old guy on the head and took his money, changed her hair color (now that was a surprise), and coolly slipped past the police. What a fun scene! The main reason I sat down to watch She Devil was Mari Blanchard. I saw her in an episode of It Takes a Thief and was intrigued. She didn't disappoint. As Kyra, she commands the screen and dominates everything. Neither of her co-stars comes close to comparing to the screen presence she possessed. I'm looking forward to discovering more of her work.

Two scientists (Albert Dekker and Jack Kelly) treat a young female patient's medical trauma with an injection that has a profound effect: the woman's black hair becomes luminously blonde, she gains an irresistible sexual magnetism, but she also becomes an impulsive thief and killer possessed with the instinct to get whatever she desires at any cost. Mari Blanchard is ideal in her role as the gorgeous femme fatale, who has also gained an immunity and cannot be stopped even by her own doctors who've created her. Albert Dekker (popular to fans for his title role of DR. CYCLOPS) spews a lot of hokey dialogue in his remarkably self-assured manner. The younger Jack Kelly is his assistant hovering on falling under Blanchard's spell. Another fun 1950s 'B' . **1/2 out of ****

They created an inhuman being who destroyed everything she touched! The woman they could not kill!

This film was written, produced and directed by Kurt Neumann, best known for "The Fly" (one of his next features). He was also allegedly considered for the director's chair on "The Bride of Frankenstein", though I must say I am glad James Whale got the job.

Worth noting is that the source material came from Milwaukee native Stanley Grauman Weinbaum, who sadly died at age 33 and never saw his work brought to the screen. Weinbaum, though not well known today, was influential in the 1930s and H. P. Lovecraft praised his work.

While all of the film is quite good, the best part is probably the awesome sequence of a car driving off a cliff... no dummies were killed in the making of the movie!