The She Beast (1966)

hyped garbage

How sad is this?

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is a very scary movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It is not has scarier has The March of 1931 version of Dracula. But still pretty good. This is scarier then A Nightmare on elm street. It is scarier then the April of 1931 version of Dracula. But not has scarier has the 1931 version of Frankenstein. But it is scarier then Friday the 13th. It is scarier then the 1910 version of Frankenstein could ever be. But it not has scary has The wolf man. But it is still pretty scary. This is scarier then The Exorcist of Halloween. This one of the best horror movie from the 60's. See it. It is a great movie.

Notable actors: Barbara Steele! Ian Ogilvy! Mel Welles!This is the least serious Barbara Steele sixties horror film you'll sit through, and I'll tell you right now that if you are a Barbara Steele fan be warned as she disappears halfway through the film. I thought I was getting some sort of deal where Babs was possessed by some undead witch, but the witch is played by someone else! I want my money back...I'd be saying if I'd actually paid to watch this.Babs and her equally snidey, sarcastic husband are on holiday in Romania, clearly there just to make fun of the locals and the communist regime everyone is under (over and over again, throughout the film). They end up at some terrible hotel in the middle of nowhere and meet "Ex" Count Van Helsing, descendant of the famous vampire killer, who tells them the story of a witch who cursed the area before she was drowned in a lake. Not interested, the couple retire to bed for some filthy squeezy, only to find that the hotel owner is watching them. One serious assault later, the couple head off, crashing into the aforementioned witch/lake. A truck driver fishes the two out of the lake and drives back to the hotel, which had me guessing rightly that this must be a very low budget film. Turns out that the guy is okay, but Babs seems to have been replaced by that horrible witch we saw being killed at the start of the film. The rest of the film details the husband and Van Helsing's attempt to get rid of the witch's spirit and bring back Babs...and (sigh), this involves a lot of slapstick comedy. That's the thing with this film. It whips from out and out horror, like the witch rather bloodily killing a guy with a sickle, to Keystone Cops type car chases and for me doesn't gel too well. It's almost got the same atmosphere as the Fearless Vampire Killers, which isn't a good thing in my book. I know Michael Reeves has got a cult following for The Witchfinder General (and for dying so young I guess), and as a first film a lot of it works, but the comedy seems too forced for me. Nice Italian cinematography, mind you.

I had read negative reviews about this film all these years and also that director Michael Reeves was "horrified by the outrageously comical final car chase scene shot by the second unit", but, as a matter of fact, all the film has a comedy tone and funny elements, even in its creepiest moments (as when the she-beast throws away the sickle she has used to kill, and it falls on top of a hammer, forming the communist symbol). The story takes place in Transylvania, so there are constant jokes (in the Cold War style) about the backwardness and inefficiency of the Romanian authorities, capitalist characters make fun of communist characters and vice versa, and it goes on like that until the happy ending with lovers reunited (and a final little joke, delivered by Barbara Steele). As a matter of fact, this treatment makes the film seem better than it is, although it is not as bad as some claim. Steele spent only one day with the production (a day in which she was used to very good advantage), so most of the action is left to a very young and thin Ian Ogilvy (he was only 23), New Zealander John Karlsen as a descendant of Dr. Van Helsing, Mel Welles chewing the scenery, and the ugliest witch you will ever see in a movie (called Vardella, by the way, but apparently Martha Reeves never heard about this).

Much has been made of young film-maker Michael Reeves, especially what great heights he might have achieved in his career had he not died so tragically young (25 to be precise). Most of this mouth-watering yet unfulfilled expectation hinges upon the brilliance of his third and final film, the Vincent Price classic Witchfinder General. Having said that, Reeves' second film – The Sorcerers, starring Boris Karloff and Catherine Lacey - is also an adeptly crafted bloodcurdler, greatly admired by critics and genre addicts alike. Since he attained such an esteemed reputation in his brief lifetime, one would assume that Reeves' first film must also be a cracker… perhaps not up to the heights of his 2nd and 3rd films, but certainly a superior offering showcasing the young director's budding brilliance and mastery. A good, interesting little debut at the very least, surely? Wrong! The She-Beast is a largely terrible horror entry, very muddled in conception and clumsily put together, with almost none of what would become the director's trademark skilfulness and artistry. If he'd died after this film it's unlikely anyone would have remembered him at all.In modern-day Transylvania, elderly recluse Von Helsing (John Karlsen) lives in a cave where he spends half his time drinking himself into a stupor and the other half re-reading accounts of legendary past events in the neighbourhood. He is particularly interested in one terrible incident from 200 years previous, the capture and drowning of a local witch in the neighbouring lake. At the point of death, the witch placed a curse on the entire village and promised that one day she'd return and have her vengeance. Back in the present, British couple Veronica (Barbara Steele) and Philip (Ian Ogilvy) end up in the village whilst on a tour of eastern Europe. Following a bust-up with a drunken innkeeper, they make a hurried getaway but, as they pass the lake, a mysterious force affects the steering on their car and they crash into the water. To Philip's horror, his wife doesn't make it out of the lake… instead, her unconscious body is possessed by the long-dormant spirit of the witch, transforming Veronica from an attractive young woman into a hideous monster with murderous vengeance on its mind. Philip and Von Helsing race against time to find a way to exorcise Veronica and return her to her natural state before she is lost forever.There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the plot other than a reliance on derivative ingredients – witch's curses, village mobs, the possession of a pretty young innocent, etc. (all things that have been over-used in terror pictures of its era). At the very least, however, The She-Beast should have enough mileage in it to be a semi-enjoyable horror movie in the familiar old style. Unfortunately, it simply doesn't work… it is awkwardly structured, woodenly acted, wildly overplotted and – worst of all – massively disorganised in terms of style and purpose. Disparate elements are thrown in for no good reason, such as touches of political commentary about the nature of eastern bloc existence and ill-fitting flashes of comedy (including a truly bizarre Keystone Cops-style car chase near the climax). These jumbled elements simply bring a sense of confusion and incohesion to the film, distracting the audience from what ought to be the central storyline. It wouldn't matter if they worked, if they added a worthwhile extra dimension to the film, but they don't… meaning that, as a result, everything comes across as muddled and incoherent. A couple of effective jumps remain, plus the odd memorable scene amid the chaos, but overall The She-Beast is a huge let-down from its wunderkind director.