L'attaque de la femme de 50 pieds

ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN (1993-MADE FOR CABLE TV) ** 1/2 Daryl Hannah, Daniel Baldwin, Cristi Conaway, William Windom, Frances Fisher, Paul Benedict. Special effects laden remake of the campy sci-fi classic about a troubled woman whose close encounter with a UFO transforms her into a giantess. Easily head and shoulders above its laughable predecessor, Hannah makes the most of her towering performance in a film that tries to mix feminism with kitsch. She gives Allison Hayes a run for her money in her behemoth bikini. Directed by comedian/"Spinal Tap" star Christopher Guest (too bad he didn't think of this as a vehicle for his wife Jamie Lee Curtis. Yowsa!!)

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.

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.

OK, so it's a cheesy remake of a camp classic.... But it is all good, harmless fun....

Darryl Hannah stars as the titular character - a wealthy heiress who grows to 50 foot tall after she gets angry. After a freak encounter with aliens, she grows to an enormous size after an argument with her husband (Daniel Baldwin) and her father. It's a perfect remake of the 50's classic, updated to match the current 90's time frame - with big business and big bucks hanging in the balance.

Some argue that another actress could have been cast as the lead, but Darryl was at the height of her popularity during the early 90s and is perfect in this role. Others argue that this b-rated made-for-cable release was a case of her slumming in her career. Either way, this stands as a cheesy remake of the camp b-movie classic...

A definite afternoon cheezer pleaser...