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!
Review of She Gods of Shark Reef
