Customer Reviews

Devil Girl from Mars/Frankenstein's Daughter

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Catcom's double feature DVDs are some of the best bargain DVDs on the market today. Usually offering some of the more fun public domain titles with better than average prints and structured like seeing a Drive In Double feature complete with trailers, cartoons and commercials.
The format is cute and the best part is that they hardly cost a thing to buy!

If your a fan of B-cinema like myself, than this couble feature of two of the 50s most hilarious Sci-Fi flicks is a must see.

I had already posted a review on Frankenstein's Daughter(1958), a film that ranks among the funniest bad movies of all time. Directed by the "great" Richard Cunha, this film sought new depths of hilarity with a hilariously non-female Monster that is supposed to be created from the body of a babe. A horny medico who overacts to no degree.
Some of the worst death scenes ever recorded and how about that song sung by Harold Lloyd Jr.? Hoo boy.
Yeah, bad film fans line up for this one!

The other film is one that I have not reviewed yet, but have viewed before and that is the AMAZING "Devil Girl From Mars"(1954). This one is a camp classic. Supposedly Britain's answer to the Sci-Fi craze that was state side, this one can hardly compare. "The Day the Earth Stood Still"(1951) this ain't.

The plot is a flimsy one about a group of boring, disparate people that are trapped in a Scottish Inne that has become besieged by the lone female invader from Mars. She's a hot number wearing tight black leather,a cape, skull cap and mini-skirt and wants to find men to help repopulate her planet(Mars) and find her own suitable mate. The guys actually DON'T want to go!

I have to give credit to the filmmakers for the feminist slant, very far ahead of it's time, especially for the 50s. The Devil Girl's delicious look is also far ahead of it's time. The leather look not catching on for awhile and the mini-skirt not becoming a sexy mainstay until the 60s.

The film is certainly funny in it's straight faced absurdity, but there's precious little action and it's bizarre that in such a crisis all that most of them can do is down the booze!

Several hilarious attempts are made to destroy our beautiful invader, but to no avail. Not one guy makes a "move" on her, which defies credibility in my mind. The closest we get is when the old doctor gets an eyeful of her the first time and looks over her figure intoning,"I never thought a person from Mars would look so HUMAN!"
Than again this was the 50s. Things like this were still taboo. You couldn't show an Earth man enjoying the company of a Martian invader.

I feel that to make this not a complete fantasy that the destructive elements were added in, otherwise it would be too much to swallow. So the Devil Girl is "Evil" and blows things up with her Raygun at random and uses her Refrigerator Robot to blow more stuff up. Yay!

The body count ain't much either, save for this loser named "David" who is blown away for no apparent reason save for the Devil Girl's remark that he was "inferior earthling". I agree! What was he on screen for like less than a minute? Some chick at the inne called
him "creepy", so I guess that means he had to die.

There's also some other funny stuff including priceless dialouge like "There's a woman from Mars!"-"Oh no, now I'll have to make another room!" or that Scottish guy's yell of "Shoot Mun, Shoot!". That one I had to replay a few times!

The direction is far too stage bound to be truly exciting, but the acting isn't all bad. All the women are good actresses including future Hammer starlet Hazel Court as a beautiful model who just happens to be staying at the inne providing a "healthier" love interest for the hero(Hugh Mcdermott). Adrienne Corry is attractive as a barmaid in love with an escaped killer(Peter Reynolds).

The most memorable performance of course is Patricia Laffan as Nyah, the Devil Girl from Mars. With her busty figure and that sexy exotic look she remains one of the Sci-Fi genre's most memorable femme fatales.
So, Sci-Fi cheeze fans unite! See this one. It's a CLASSIC.

The DVD also provides two cartoons including a Popeye from the 50s and one of those great 40s Superman catoons. I this one he fights...mummies! There's also highly inappropiate, but amusing commercials on hand. My favorite was the set for toy cars. It looks fun, what with it's Drive in(Playing "Have Gun Will Travel"!) and car wash(!), it looks like it was fun.

All in all, this DVD was way too much fun for the two dollars I paid for it. Perfect for the rainy Saturday afternoon of a schlockaholic.

Very nice dvd. Had an old vhs copy off tv. It was faded and Blurry. Collect old scary movies so this was a great find. DJS