Mulher Diabólica

This film begins with a biochemist named "Dr. Dan Scott" (Jack Kelly) feverishly working on a research project involving human adaptation to disease by using fruit flies. Although his experiments on various animals were a tremendous success he now wants to try it on an injured or sick human being. But complicating matters is the fact that his main sponsor, "Dr. Richard Bach" (Albert Dekker) vehemently disagrees with human research without further testing. He changes his mind, however, when he meets a patient named "Kyra Zelas" (Mari Blanchard) who is suffering from terminal tuberculosis and doesn't have long to live. To everyone's surprise, upon injecting the experimental formula, she fully recovers within hours. Unfortunately, both doctors soon learn that the serum has side effects they never reckoned with. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly decent horror film which definitely benefited from the complete disdain Kyra had for any and all social norms that most people have to observe. She was totally without conscience and human feeling. Even so this movie was clearly a grade-B film and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

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 ****

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".

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.

Although 1956's "She Devil" came from the same team that made its superior cofeature "Kronos," director Kurt Neumann must share the blame for a script that remains faithful to its source, Stanley G. Weinbaum's "The Adaptive Ultimate," but fails to capitalize on its possibilities as science fiction. For a change we have not one but two scientists conducting research on the 'most adaptive' insect of all, the fruit fly (foreshadowing Neumann's final film "The Fly"), trying to perfect a miraculous cure-all serum, which works on animals but has yet to be done on a human being. A terminally ill patient without any hope to live seems the best choice for a guinea pig, and that turns out to be Kyra Zelas (Mari Blanchard), receiving one injection of the wonder drug before making an incredibly rapid recovery. Not only does she radiate perfect health but she also proves immune to all disease, impervious to injury, and able to change hair color from brunette to blonde and back again during moments of crisis. Kyra also develops an amoral streak that sees her bash in a man's skull for his money, strangling another man's wife so she can wed his millions, then casually drive his car off the road to become a wealthy widow. More soap opera than horror, as the younger doctor (Jack Kelly) inevitably falls for his test subject while the elder (Albert Dekker) occasionally wonders if their achievement is against the laws of nature. One watches in the vain hope that something more than minor film noir will result, and sultry Mari Blanchard does deliver, in a role that would have been a perfect fit for Allison Hayes.