She Demons
The movie opens with the Astor Pictures logo and a pair of hands pounding a jungle drum. Title and credits rolls over same. Pictures of a roiling ocean are followed by scenes of a hurricane. A WDTV news broadcast tells us about Hurricane Emily. The motor launch Valpaso which was on a cruise when the hurricane struck is missing. On board is the daughter of a prominent businessman and three employees of Turner Electronics Corp.On a deserted island beach, Jerrie Turner (Irish McCalla) is sitting on a blanket and combs her hair. Fred Maklin (Tod Griffin) carries the last of her clothes up from the water. Jerrie is not amused by Fred's levity. Sammy Ching (Victor Sen Yung) and Kris Kumana (Charles Opunui) carry the radio up to the blanket. Fred and Kris step away to talk. Kris does not recognize the island, despite familiarity with the region. Sammy works the radio, but it can only receive, not transmit. Sammy picks up a military channel and discovers that they plan to bomb the island for practice. Kris found fresh human footprints. They all walk down the beach to investigate. Kris chants and prays, then announces, "This is island of evil." They discuss the possibility of animal people inhabiting the island.The four castaways make camp and build a fire. Sammy works on the radio. Sammy picks up a radio broadcast. The wreckage of another boat was found, so it was assumed their party is dead. That means no rescue is expected. They bed down for the evening. They hear drumbeats, but decide to wait until morning to investigate.Fred, Jerrie and Sammy explore the island the next morning. They wander through dense jungle. Jerrie wanders off and is menaced by a large snake, but Fred rescues her. They come to a clearing to rest. Sammy spots a pin on the ground. It is Sammy's fraternity pin; they have been wandering around in circles. Jerrie decides to lead the group back to the beach. Unfortunately the camp has been destroyed and Kris has been murdered. He has two spears in his body and the radio has been destroyed. They follow blood stains down to the water's edge and find another body. They haul it up the beach and turn it over. It is the body of a woman, but her face is mutated. She has snaggled teeth, bulging eyes and the skin is rotting away. Jerrie turns away in disgust. Kris' knife is buried in her chest. Jerrie proclaims, "Woman's body with the face of a demon." Fred pulls the knife out of the body and proclaims the creature is a she demon. They bury Kris in the sand and erect a cross. Fred decides they are safer in the jungle interior.The three remaining survivors wander through the jungle and hear running water. They discover a boiling river and follow it. They hear drums and follow the sound. Two women, scantily clad, pound drums while six other women (The Diane Nellis Dancers) dance around a fire. Another woman reclines on a rock wall. The reclining woman joins the six and they continue their dance. Armed Nazi troops stop the festivities. Igor (Gene Roth) arrives, carrying a whip, and orders his men to round up the women. The women are herded back through a tunnel and onto their compound. Fred follows and discovers bamboo cages. The women are locked in.Colonel Karl Osler (Rudolph Anders) prepares a syringe. He chats with his wife, Mona (Leni Tana). Igor enters the lab with news, but Mona turns away and demands he leave. Osler reproaches his guard for disobeying orders never to enter the lab. Mona is covered from head to toe, her face covered in bandages. A woman struggles, strapped to a gurney. Osler injects her with the syringe and transfers fluid to his wife. The woman on the gurney turns her head. She now looks like the creature found on the beach. Her fingernails have grown into long claws. Osler observes, "Always the same reaction. A mindless animal. In a few days youll be human again as before."As Sammy, Jerrie and Fred approach the compound they are shocked to see Igor whipping a woman. She is chained to a post and dies from her abuse. Igor warns the other women not try to escape. Fred goes to woman on the post and releases the body. She Demons in a cage lunge for the three and they flee to an entrance into the mountain. A set of stairs leads them down into a room cut out of the volcano. They explore an adjoining room and find Osler's lab. Igor is attracted to the noise the caged women and the she demons make. He discovers the woman he whipped has been taken down. He calls his men and tells them to search the area. Igor sees the door to the lab entrance opened. He descends the stairs and enters the lab. It appears to be empty. Fred, Sammy and Jerrie do their best to hide and be quiet. Jerrie disturbs a flask on a table which breaks. Igor finds Jerrie. He likes what he sees. Fred confronts Igor with a knife. He orders Sammy to take Jerrie to safety. Fred and Igor fight, doing a fair amount of damage to the lab. The three escape, but Igor still has some fight left. Fred and Igor scuffle in the compound. Igor falls back into the cage and the she demons kill him. The she demons escape into the jungle. A guard arrests our castaways and they are delivered to Osler.Osler tells the three the story of how he came to occupy the island. He acknowledges that the women were abducted from another island ten years earlier. His medical research was to find a remedy for scar tissue. They use volcanic lava for part of their energy generation. Osler proudly shows his "guests" the lava and the power generating machinery. Mona Osler enters the lab. This time she is wearing a black dress, black veil, and her head is covered with white bandages. She wishes to visit with the strangers. Osler explains that Mona is his wife and was formerly his lab assistant. She was severely burned in a lab accident involving exhaust from the lava. The women are used to provide a chemical DNA donation to help his wife return to normal. Jerrie is separated from the men. Sammy and Fred are tortured for killing Igor and then locked in a bamboo cage.In the residence, Osler tries to tempt Jerrie with a glass of champagne. She is dressed in one of Mona's black dresses, complete with necklace and earrings. They are alone and Jerrie finally learns of Osler's plan for her. Osler drinks the champagne, get drunk, and then throws himself at her. Mona overhears the exchange, including the blackmail threatening of Fred and Sammy. Osler finally tells Jerrie he will turn her into a She Demon. Jerrie hits Osler over the head with the champagne bottle and runs from the room. She makes it outside and finds Fred and Sammy in the cage. Unable to free them, she runs into the jungle.Jerrie works her way through the jungle. She encounters a she demon. The guards search for Jerrie. Mona finds her first and tells her she is there to help. The two women chat. Mona tells her about a rowboat on the other side of the island. Jerrie insists Fred and Sammy accompany her off the island. Mona gives her a key to the cage. Jerrie returns to the compound, opens the cage and frees her companions. The three make for the jungle, but this time are stopped by Osler himself.Fred and Sammy are now locked in the jail cell in the laboratory. Jerrie is strapped to a gurney. Mona is also present, sitting in a chair and hooked to a machine. The bombing by the Navy starts. Mona stops her husband and tells him she aided Jerrie. The volcano starts to erupt. The quake loosened the jail door and Fred and Sammy escape. They free Jerrie. The lab wall gives way and Osler is covered with lava. Mona shoots the guard on the stairs allowing them to escape. Mona refuses to leave. She removes a portion of the bandages to show why she can't leave the island. Her face is a mass of burnt tissue. She reenters the lab to die like her husband. Jerrie, Sammy and Fred make their way through the debris to a tunnel that leads outside. The island is coming apart. The guards try one final time to kill or capture the three escapees. They are dispatched and our castaways make it to the ocean. We close with a scene of Jerrie, Fred and Sammy rowing out to sea.
murder