She Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

The Age of Commercialism

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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

As soon as I saw "Directed by Roger Corman," I knew I was in for a rough ride. Though it clocks in at just 63 minutes, SHE-GODS OF SHARK REEF seemed longer than FANNY AND Alexander. (Yes, I do watch good movies on occasion.)Filmed in Hawaii, it follows brothers Chris (Bill Cord) and Lee (Don Durant). Lee is on the run from the law after killing a security guard in a failed heist. Chris, being a loyal sibling (and not overly sensible), aids and abets his brother's escape by boat. They encounter a storm and are shipwrecked on an island inhabited by mostly nubile Polynesian lasses, who spend their time diving for pearls and engaging in odd rituals. Chris becomes romantically entangled with Mahia (Lisa Montell), who just happens to be the next sacrifice to the shark god the island women worship. Needless to say, our man Chris ain't about to let that happen to the girl he loves! Meanwhile, Lee gets it into his head to steal the women's cache of pearls. When all is said and done, Lee is eaten by what must be the smallest killer shark in history, while Chris and Mahia leave the island together.The film is in color—rare for '50s-era Corman. For some reason, though, the production process never allowed for more than three color tones at a time. Other items that caught my attention: during the scenes on the reef, the ocean's roar damned near drowns out the dialogue; a dead shark will never seem alive, no matter how hard you push it through the water; one of the shark scenes is repeated later in the film; I think the stock footage of lightning used here also turned up in the opening of "Gilligan's Island"; and for fans of 1950s beefcake, the two male leads spend the entire film bare- chested.To Corman's credit, he drew passable performances from his cast of unknowns. And the footage of the Hawaiian Archipelago is quite lovely, despite the color limitations noted above. SHE-GODS OF SHARK REEF is not bad enough to be entertaining, nor is it good enough to be watchable. But at least it didn't bring out the visceral hate that Corman's NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST aroused in me.

Nothing really makes sense in this film, but then, as it was an obvious B film B film (i.e.- made as a double feature filler for an B film that was top billed (or an A B film?)). But, in such a film, can anything really be expected? I mean, the buff guys are bland, the babes are bland. Even the sharks are bland. On the plus side, the sharks used in this film are much more realistic than the mechanical shark used in Spielberg's Jaws, made nearly 20 years later. Some reviewers have claimed the sharks were real, but dead, yet, even in scenes of the attacks on humans one can see movements of the head that are not done with cords or anything guiding them. So, kudos on this one small point for Corman and company. Of course, given the film's release on a public domain DVD package, there is no quality in the print used. The colors in the film are faded and almost sepia. A cheesy opening ballad plays over the opening credits. Then the music gets worse. The acting is wooden, the screenplay abysmal, and there isn't even much fun exhibited in this atrocity. Yet, I must say I love crap like this. Thankfully, there is not a pretentious moment in this film. Hell, we never even get to know why the hell Lee and the swami guy killed the guy on the dock in the opening scene. Of course, stuff like this always happens in films like this. A few years later, in Coleman Francis's abysmal The Beast Of Yucca Flats, a similar murder opens that film, and goes its length similarly unexplained. Well, on second thought, I guess it's not really unexplained for, as Mahia philosophizes when she pleads, at film's end, to Chris, they must leave the evil on the island behind. So, that's it- Lee was just evil. After all, he made a smart aleck remark to his brother implying he wanted to bring Mahia back with them so he could pimp her. Or was it Pua that was evil? Or both? Well, Lee's dead, so it must be….oh, hell.She Gods Of Shark Reef is a film that is good for one reason- killing time when one is too lazy or wired to do anything else. On that level, it succeeds as well as….drooling. Ah, but what drools are made of….or something poetic sounding like that.

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.

One way of looking at this movie is that it's one of the worst to come from its time and place. In this context, we see two young, good-looking hunks, both outlaws, who end up stranded on a tropical island inhabited by primitive hot white women who all speak broken English and cling to weird taboos and traditions, such as believing the sharks are gods, or some such nonsense.Another way of looking at this movie is that clever editing could have turned it into a touching story about two men who, while vacationing in Hawaii near the Hospital for Brain Damaged Women, discover just how attracted they are to each other soon after one of them tries to stop being gay by dating one of the native women. In this sense, one could consider this movie a well done piece of cinema history, especially since it was ahead of its time on the topic of civil rights.It is by imagining the latter scenario that this movie can be made entertaining enough to sit though. If you watch this by taking everything at face value, this flick is way too boring to finish. I'd say the only major motivation anyone would have to watch this movie is if they'd purchased some sort of boxed set that includes this, which is, incidentally, the only reason I watched it.The full synopsis goes like this: Two young, well-built dudes end up stranded on a Hawaiian beach and decide to never wear shirts again. They encounter a civilization of aforementioned broken English-speaking women led by a psychotic mother matron character who is obsessed with local tradition, which involves human sacrifice to appease the shark god. This means feeding a few of the young hotties to a mid-sized shark that may or may not be alive.One of the guys, Chris (Bill Cord) eventually falls in love with one of the native babes, Mahia (Lisa Montell), much to the irritation of Chris's ambiguously gay partner, Jim (Don Durant). Since the mother matron (Jeanne Gerson) is a nasty old woman who hates men, she decides to have Mahia sacrificed to the shark god to make herself feel better about neither Chris nor Jim finding her attractive.SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF: it's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but it's far from the best. The good news is that this sucker is, I do believe, public domain. Those who might search for it could possibly locate it online for free.