She Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

I love this movie so much

Very disappointing...

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely the worst movie.

She Gods Of Shark Reef is a Roger Corman film where two fleeing Americans are washed up on the shore of an uncharted desert island with nothing but females inhabiting it. Bill Cord and Don Durant are the lucky guys and the main industry of the island is pearl diving. Despite the fact that one of them is a fugitive from the law these two think they've got it made.But as the old adage goes if something looks too good to be true, chances are it is. These women worship the shark as a deity and that's a deity that forever needs feeding. And somehow in their religion as in many others they've divined that the shark likes virginal women.Other than they don't like outsiders in general Queen Jeanne Gerson of this Amazon culture also feels that with these two healthy American men the virgin supply might start shrinking. Though you have to wonder how without men did these Amazon cultures start and keep going.All I can say is that Roger Corman did Happy Days one better by having a whole film devoted to shark worship. And the Happy Days folks thought just the Fonz jumping a shark tank was the be all end all.

This is a very early Roger Corman film, though it bears little similarity to most his brilliant films. While this is a low-budget film, the dialog, acting and direction are so lackluster that it's hard sticking with the film.The dull mess begins with a couple crooks doing bad things (such as bashing a guy over the head). Eventually, their boat is wrecked and they find themselves on a Polynesian island (actually one of the Hawaiian ones) populated with only women. Apparently some company owns the place and the women spend their time working for the pearl diving industry. The crooked guys want in on the action and the ladies are amazingly dull and listless--so it's easy to understand that they seem somewhat immune to their charms. There's more to the film than this, but who cares?! The film lacks the cheesy charm you'd find in a Corman film like "Wasp Women" or the humor of "Bucket of Blood" or the creepiness of his Poe-like tales. Instead, it looks like it was just an excuse to go on location for a working vacation.Dull and pointless.

Two American brothers find themselves on an island(inhabited only by women, woot!)encountering trouble from the female tribal leader whose suspicious nature, in regards to a god she serves, creates tension and fear among the people. Chris(Bill Cord) is a polite, well mannered man who attempts to keep his greedy no-good brother Lee(Don Durant) out of trouble, falling in love with Mahia(Lisa Montell), the girl who rescued him from being shark food. Mahia is forbidden to associate with Chris, but her burgeoning love for him causes angst and anxiety, and soon they will have no choice but to leave the island as tribal leader Pua(Jeanne Gerson) has signaled for the police. Lee is responsible for the senseless murder of a security guard, killed during a gun smuggling operation which went sour. Lee is dependent on his big brother to help find him sanctuary from the authorities out to catch him. Lee, feeling pressure regarding their limited time before a ship would be in the area, needs to find a means off the island. There are far worse things than watching cute island girls Hawaiin dancing, but it doesn't exactly move the plot along..it almost feels like Corman, the epitome of "prolific", is more dedicated to presenting the Hawaiin location as a travelogue for tourism than the story itself. Eventually, though, the story picks up as Chris and Mahia's love is tested by both sides, his brother and her island family. When Lee steals pearls and kills one of the island guards, this only adds to an already difficult situation..along with Pua who they kidnapped and Mihia, the two brothers had to stop off at the nearby reef in order to wait out until conditions on the water were better for travel. Pua isn't about to let them off that easy and Lee's antics sure don't help matters. Brother against brother and Mahia narrowly escaping Pua's attempts to sacrifice her to the sharks to appease their gods thanks to Chris, there's plenty of drama unfolding in Corman's little movie. Not one to let a setting(or set)go to waste, Corman had the uncanny ability to whip a story up around any location. Attractive cast and lush environs, Corman utilizes beauty well, taking advantage of what is provided him. Some striking underwater photography as Mahia is shown saving the two hunks from certain death, herself also rescued more than once by Chris. Sharks are established as quite the threat even though they are not the great whites we normally think about in a terror situation.

1956 was an extraordinarily prolific year for director Roger Corman. It saw the filmmaker complete no less than eight (8!) pictures, including four that would prove among his most popular: "It Conquered the World," "Attack of the Crab Monsters," "Not of This Earth" and "The Undead." Toward the end of the year, Corman & Co. repaired to the Hawaiian island of Kauai and shot two films simultaneously: "Thunder Over Hawaii" and "She Gods of Shark Reef." Hardly on the same level as those other four films, the first was a tale of modern-day pirates, and the latter a story about two brothers, one a murderer on the lam, who are stranded on an island (in the Philippines or Indonesia, the viewer must infer) that is populated solely by pearl-diving women. These gals are ruled by a shrill-voiced termagant in a muumuu, and worship the sharks that infest the local reef. (No viewer, apparently, has ever been able to figure out who the titular "she gods" are!) Ultimately released in 1958, the film is a fun little "B picture" that, at 63 minutes, flies by fairly quickly. Corman has since been quoted as saying, in reference to these Hawaiian productions, "Visually, these two movies are probably the most beautiful I've ever shot." Sadly, you'd never know it by looking at this DVD from the never-dependable Alpha Video. Colors look completely washed out and blurry (although not quite as egregiously as on this company's DVD of Corman's "Swamp Women"!) and the sound is horrendous, often buried under the crash of perpetually booming surf. Indeed, this DVD looks so very crummy that it is almost impossible for a viewer to imagine "She Gods" in a "beautiful" pristine state, as theatre goers must have seen it 50 years ago. I cannot conceive of anyone but a die-hard Corman completist finding any satisfaction from this dismal-looking product. Thanks again, Alpha Video!