Product Details

• Actors: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers, Roy Gordon, George Douglas
• Directors: Nathan Juran
• Writers: Mark Hanna
• Producers: Jacques R. Marquette, Bernard Woolner
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 2, 1997
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790731223
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,125 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... especially when you're fending off The Attack of the 50-Foot Woman! One of the most beloved camp classics of the 1950s begins with a three-way recipe for sci-fi disaster: Cheating husband Harry (William Hudson) is married to alcoholic heiress Nancy (Allison Hayes), but he's got a scheming mistress named Honey (Yvette Vickers) and a burning desire for Nancy's lavish inheritance. But before the greedy lovers can say "Super-Size Me," the insanely jealous Nancy gains a towering advantage: After exposure to radiation from a spherical alien satellite, Nancy grows to a height of (yep, you guessed it) and proceeds to wreak havoc as a giant dame with an attitude problem. As often happened with cheesy sci-fi and horror films of the Eisenhower era, the movie's deliriously exploitative poster promised more than the movie actually delivers, which perhaps explains why director Nathan Juran (whose next film was the comparatively lavish The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) opted to be credited as "Nathan Hertz." And while the special effects are cheesy and cheap (involving oversized miniatures, repeated process shots, see-through double-exposures, and a giant, rubbery arm used for King Kong-like clutching scenes), it's still possible to feel a hint of compassion for poor ol' Nancy, and that--along with the enjoyable performances of Hayes, Hudson, and Vickers--is probably why Attack has gained such a loyal cult following over the decades. Fueled by atomic-age paranoia and timeless human foibles, it's a feminist revenge thriller with lasting appeal, remade in 1993 with better special effects and Daryl Hannah in the title role. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Nancy Archer has had an alien encounter and it's left her 50 ft. tall! Now she sees the men in her life from a new angle--looking down on them--and it's time to fight back! Year: 1993 Director: Christopher Guest Starring: Daryl Hannah, Daniel Leroy Baldwin, William Windom

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am Woman, watch me grow, November 2, 2001

By 

Michael M. Wilk "Eccentric" (Howard Beach, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Attack of 50 Foot Woman [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When I was a little boy living in the Woodside Housing Projects in the early 1960s, a status symbol amongst the kids was how many times one had seen "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" on TV. It seemed like it was on TV every week, on the Zacherley-hosted "Chiller Theater". Clips from it were even featured on the opening intro of "Chiller Theater", along with clips from "Plan 9 From Outer Space", "The Ape Man", "Killers From Space", "The Cyclops", and "Frankenstein's Daughter". Kids were easy to please back then.
This soon-to-be 45 year old kid STILL loves this film. "Attack" is essentially a trashy soap opera, featuring a philandering husband, an alcoholic heiress, a sexy "other woman", and, to top it off, a 30 foot giant who, in the words of artist Frank Dietz, looks like a gigantic Fred Mertz in a Roman costume!
Alcoholic heiress Nancy Archer (played by the voluptuous Allison Hayes, who died WAY too young), sees a flying saucer, which looks like the bubble Glinda travels in in "The Wizard of Oz". The 30 foot Fred Mertz lookalike emerges from the craft, and covets Nancy's fabulous diamond, "The Star of India". He wants it to power his spacecraft, or maybe for his own personal jewelry collection. Of course, everyone thinks that Nancy is just seeing pink elephants, including her two-timing, fortune-hunting husband Harry. Harry and his sexy girlfriend Honey Parker, (played by red-headed vixen Yvette Vickers) want Nancy committed, so they can get their greedy, sweaty little hands on her millions. What they don't bargain for is that Nancy has become contaminated by radiation from her encounter with Fred Mertz. Nancy then grows to a statuesque 50 feet, her hair turns honey blonde in the process, and she goes on a rampage, determined to wreak her vengeance on the slimy Harry and the sluttish Honey. The image of Ms. Hayes, in her matching bedsheet bra and half-slip, is an unforgettable icon. The film is a little slow going, and the "Attack" doesn't come til the last 10 minutes of the film, but it is fascinately, entertainingly awful to watch. The women's clothes look like they came straight out of a 1958 Frederick's of Hollywood catalogue, the dialogue is atrocious, and the special effects are cheesy-you can see through the Fred Mertz giant and the titular character (yes, it's a pun). The film also has that crazy 1950s iconography. The "desert community" home of the Archers (I like to think that they didn't live far from Las Vegas), the big cars with tailfins, and, of course, the sexy "broads". One can imagine what Russ Meyer would have done with this film! My favorite line occurs in the film after Nancy's first encounter with the jewelry-snatching giant, and Nancy says to Harry, "I think he was after my diamond!" I may also add, on a personal note, that two of my dearest friends, a married couple, are named Nancy and Harry. We all get a big laugh out of it! One final anecdote: I'm pretty sure Federico Fellini saw this film and was impressed. The hilarious Italian comedy "Boccaccio 70", comprises of 3 stories directed by different directors. The Fellini-directed story, "The Seduction of Dr. Antonio", deals with a straightlaced, uptight moralist and his encounter with a 50-foot tall Anita Ekberg. WOW!

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a bargain!, June 8, 2007

By 

C. A. Luster "The Rook" (Burke, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cult Camp Classics 1: Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958 / Giant Behemoth / Queen of Outer Space) (DVD)

If you enjoy 1950s campy B movies, then I don't see you going wrong here with this first set. For details just search each of the movie titles and you see each movie alone runs almost as much as this set and you will see from the reviews they are all kind of legends as far as the genre goes. They actually are some of the best of that period of B movies. I know I like all three of these in this set. I can say I compare the "50 ft Woman" to the "War of the Colossal Beast" and "The Giant Behemoth" to "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". The last one with Zsa Zsa Gabor on the planet of women is not to be missed if nothing more than to see how far we had plunged into skimpily clad women with bad lines in B class SciFi moviedom. Hmmm does B stand for bad? Well even if it does these movies are entertaining for most fans of science fiction.

The first two movies in the set are black and white movies but they look like they have been gone over and cleaned up. "Queen of Outer Space" is in color and very clear and sharp. I got my set a few days ago so my wife and I watched the first two in the set a couple nights ago and the third last night. All the DVDs are sharp and clear. Each had a commentary available by someone in the movie. "Does anyone know if the costumes, sets, and music for "Queen of Outer Space" was done by people that later worked on "Star Trek"? The mens uniforms and radios definitely looked like they came from the "Forbidden Planet" wardrobe. I'm definitely glad I got this set.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good to see these films again, June 26, 2007

By 

R. Gorey "Behemoth" (New York) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cult Camp Classics 1: Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958 / Giant Behemoth / Queen of Outer Space) (DVD)

Prints for these films look fine, and it's good to see such modest movies cleaned up and given the DVD treatment, though some purists will question the minor letterboxing on "50 ft. Woman" and "Behemoth". Yvette Vickers commentary on "50 ft. Woman" is a treat. She remembers the film well and speaks fondly of it and of her time spent making the movie. Be aware though: the advertisements say the trailer for "Woman" is on the DVD, but for some reason it isn't. Strange: probably an oversight. "Behemoth" looks sharp and clear, but Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet's commentary does a great disservice. They clearly don't respect the film at all, and spend much of their time insulting it, even mocking it, before wrapping up with "well, I guess now we know why they never made a sequel to this movie." Wish they'd had some affection for the film, or had at least familiarized themselves with it before offering such caustic feedback. By the ninth or tenth time they say, "Ray Harryhausen would have done this SO MUCH better" the novelty wears thin, and one wonders what Harryhausen himself might have said about the movie. "Queen of Outer Space" has the novelty of color, and the surprising pedigree of a Ben Hecht screen story. Kudos to Warner Bros. for putting these films out, and yes, the "Behemoth" disc has the often cut ferryboat scene, for those who are interested. Too bad about the shoddy "Behemoth" commentary, but fans should enjoy thoroughly these long-awaited B movies.