15 Metros de Mulher

I was really excited to hear that there was going to be a remake of my favorite movie, but bitterly disappointed when I realized that it would be starring Daryl Hannah in the title role. She's not a very sexy actress nor is she very good-looking by my standards. I've always thought she was a bit on the skinny side. This role needs someone with a certain amount of sex appeal like Markie Post, Emma Samms, Victoria Principal or maybe even the actress playing Honey Parker, Cristi Conaway. I think this movie was just made to show off a new special effect technique, but even then, she still just looks like a normal woman on one of those table top train sets like I used to own. They could have used more of the extreme camera shots like used in Eddie Murphy's godzilla scene in "The Nutty Professor." Much of the movie's script has been updated though and two of the all male roles are now played by actresses [the deputy and one doctor].Some of the lines from the first movie are repeated verbatim, but the attack is still less than a true attack as seen on the original's movie poster. The violence is played down instead of up. The ending, though, is a bigger let down and a far cry from the historical last scene from the original. That strange grinding noise you hear through the movie is actually Allison Hayes rolling over in her grave.

A smartly feminist reading of the 1958 camp classic is the basis of this made-for-TV remake which needlessly opens up the proceedings by adding some 25 minutes of “character development” – which, basically, means new personalities who further traumatize or assist the distressed titular female. Daryl Hannah has trouble coping with the ugly duckling part of the story but grows nicely into her role once the gigantic transformation comes along and in which she is curiously but attractively decked out in cavewoman garb!

Excepting the rather obnoxious Daniel Baldwin (as Hannah’s philandering husband), the rest of the cast is capable enough: Frances Fisher is Hannah’s helpful shrink, William Windom is her greedy tycoon father and, best of all, Cristi Conaway is Baldwin’s sexy mistress who practically changes to a more outrageous wig with every new scene she’s in; I knew nothing of her going in but, being sufficiently impressed I looked up her resume' on IMB and, what do you know, she was once married to an actor of presumably Maltese origins named Salvator Xuereb!!

This is all well and good, perhaps, but I still wouldn’t say that this is an improvement on the unjustly maligned original; for one thing, there are no giant aliens to be seen here and, worse still, the goofy fat deputy is (predictably, under the circumstances) replaced by a squeaky, tomboyish girl. The sheriff and his deputy are here depicted as being avid drive-in cinema-goers and, at one point, Hannah rips off the roof of a cinema which is screening the 1958 original! The new coda is also quite amusing: having been received inside the spaceship which caused her enormous growth, Hannah is joined by two other gigantic beauties who, sure enough, look upon their tiny hubbies as they go confessing to their various infidelities in interstellar group therapy!

I bought a 4-movie pack that has this movie. I expected it to be the original from the 50s but instead got this remake. Well... it's a campy bad movie but surprisingly not as annoying it could have been. Something about the vibe was fun enough to not be too boring. Giant Daryl Hannah is nice to look at, and Daniel Baldwin is having at least a little bit fun performing the boyfriend/husband/whatever guy he is.

The only thing I was disappointed there was not horror at all. The giant girl doesn't do much rampaging you would expect from this kind of movie. I guess there was no budget to destroy buildings. However, it's not a very long movie, so it's easy to watch if you want something weird.

Of course it is! This is the type of B-movie that you'll enjoy. I didn't expect to see HANNAH in this role. But it was fun in a corny kind of way. Although it is still the classic story just like the original, it is "made for tv." But thats okay because Hannah leads that "glamor blonde bombshell life" that her beauty stops the film from falling apart. (5)

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993)

** (out of 4)

Remake of the 1958 cult classic has Darryl Hannah playing a smart woman who constantly allows herself to be taken advantage of. Her father uses her for her money while her no good husband (Daniel Baldwin) is constantly cheating on her with some trash from their town. After an encounter with a spaceship, the wife grows fifty feet and plans on setting everything straight. This isn't a "so bad it's good" movie like the original. It's not really bad but it's not really good either so in the end I must say that the film comes off as a disappointment because there's so much they could have done with the story but in the end they ended up doing very little. The funny side of the actual story could have made a good comedy but the film really comes off as lazy and not trying to get any laughs. The entire movie seems more interested in trying to develop characters and one has to ask themselves why. Do we really want to see the sad Hannah rise up (not that way) and overcome the tragedy in her life? Do we care that her mom was a nut? Why the filmmakers decided to add this type of thing or the shady deals of her father is beyond me but it really takes away from the sci-fi aspects of the film. The special effects are pretty lazy as well as are the performances. Hannah doesn't do too bad of a job but she certainly can't compare to the original film's star. Baldwin adds very little as the jerk husband. There are a few nods to the original film as well as Arkoff and Corman but the film needed a lot more of this and a lot less of the character development.