La Sorella di Satana

The She-Beast
Il Lago di Satana / Revenge of the Blood Beast / Satan's Sister / Sister of Satan

Italy/UK 1966
produced by
Paul Maslansky, Michael Reeves
directed by Michael Reeves
starring Ian Ogilvy, John Karlsen, Barbara Steele, Mel Welles, Jay Riley, Richard Watson, Edward B.Randolph, Peter Grippe, Lucretia Love, Tony Antonelli, Kevin Welles, Woody Welles
written by Michael Reeves, music by Paul Ferris

Van Helsing

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Travelling through (communist) Transylvania for their honeymoon, British newly-weds Philip (Ian Ogilvy) and Veronica (Barbara Steele) accidently drive their car into a lake in which a witch was drowned 200 years ago, and when they are saved from the lake, Veronica is not only dead, she has also inexplicably turned into an old hag. And that old hag soon enough returns to the land of the living, walks off and starts killing the villagers whose ancestors have been responsible for her demise. Philip wants to report everything to the police, but everybody seems to be more than eager to not involve the authorities, especially professor Van Helsing (John Karlsen) - yup, a descendant of the Dracula-killer -, the only one who seems to have at least a vague idea about what's going on. Van Helsing seems to be the best option for Philip though, since he promises to return Veronica alive once the exorcism is performed on the witch, and the two of them even manage to capture and sedate the witch ... but then the authorities get their hands on the body after all, which amounts to our heroes stealing a police car followed by an extensive chase sequence until they reach the lake and manage to exorcise the witch for good - and wouldn't you know it, that really does return Veronica, with not a single memory of what had happened.

The first film of the soon-to-be-celebrated horror genius Michael Reeves - who took his life way too early - is still basically a cheap piece of Euro schlock: The story is formulaic, the special effects are not always up to their goals, and the whole thing could have done with a higher budget. But to dismiss She-Beast as nothing but another piece of trash would be wrong nevertheless, this is a film with its highlights: Where other films of its ilk take themselves way too seriously, She-Beast puts an ironic spin on the on-screen goings-on, where other movies feature bland characters portrayed by a wooden cast, the actors here do their (hammy) best to bring the roles to play alive. Add to this a Keystone Cops-like carchase and a handful of jokes about the communist system, and you've got ... well, not a masterpiecebut a film you won't regret watching nevertheless.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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