Womaneater (1959)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Womaneater (1958) ** (out of 4) Silly horror flick from Britain about a mad scientist (George Coulouris) who goes to the Amazon and brings back a tree that can give off a serum that can be used to bring the dead back to life. The only catch is that you've got to feed the tree young girls. This forgotten flick certainly isn't a good movie and sadly the end result doesn't live up to the nice title but there are enough interesting ideas here to make it worth sitting through at least once. It's a real shame that some of the Hollywood productions of the day didn't put more thought into their films. Sure, the idea of a tree that needs to be fed in order to bring the dead back to life is a silly idea but at least it shows a bit of imagination, which is something that was missing from countless other films from this era. I think the biggest problem is that there's really not much done with the idea. For the most part the tree stays down in the basement and we get to see it in action about three times. Nothing too special as we see the women enter the tree and that's pretty much it. The entire "tree" sub-genre never really took off and it's easy to see why simply because you can't do much with it. The film was certainly inspired by the sexuality from the Hammer horror films. Vera Day plays the dumb blonde here and I must admit that I was really amazed by her. Not her performance because it's pretty horrid but her breasts. Yes, I said it. There's a sequence here where her mechanic boyfriend just looks out them as she holds a light on them. The amazing thing in this sequence is seeing how her sweater, so tight to her body, actually splits her in two. I won't even try to explain it but you'll know the scene when it happens. These tight sweaters to show off cleavage where a big thing in this era and how it's used here is certainly the highlight of the movie. Coulouris is decent in his role but he doesn't bring too much life to the picture. The tree effects aren't anything overly special but there's a very good music score by Edwin Astley. WOMANEATER has been forgotten to time and that's understandable. There's certainly nothing ground breaking here and it's only recommended to those who must see everything the genre offered up during this era.

I suppose it is a banal observation that movies both reflect and perpetuated stereotypes.And we do have stereotypes here, as with all of this era and kind.But watching this reminded me of a more subtle and interesting phenomenon. The political dialog in the US (and likely elsewhere) is dominated by the successful party's mastery of the cinematic narrative. We just cannot help ourselves; we like to be shown that the world is so.But once you start that locomotive going, you inherit ALL the baggage of the cinematic narrative, Vincent Price comes uninvited with your John Wayne. This has nothing at all to do with conservative values; it is just a result of adopting the movie world as the basis for your beliefs.This is the purest example I know of a huge class of similar movies. In this movie, the scientist is a madman whose "science" has no resemble to real science. Instead, he has stolen a ritual and plant from Africa, with the unavoidable association with the dark race and inexplicable VooDoo.This scientist doesn't mind a bit "saving life by taking life," a catchphrase that is in my newspapers every day. And it is all driven by sex: he is replacing his aged mistress by a younger model. A torpedo bra of course and chirpy British accent denote that she really is dumb. But get this, she was an "exotic dancer" at a carnival. She, in fact, would be representative of the over half of the US population that believes in astrology and nearly half that believes in creationism.I can understand this thread of influence and consequence when it applies to nuclear energy: the US makes and uses a bomb, many, many movies are made showing the evil side. And we end up with a public that has an unnatural fear of all things radioactive.But this thread is more interesting and profound and has stifled stem cell research in the US.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

You really have to be a 50s B movie sci-fi/horror aficionado to fully appreciate this movie. The plot is poor, and the scenes a bit choppy. The horror in this movie is nothing in comparison to the movies of today. You won't see any blood or gore here. The monster is an odd looking plant that shakes it's limbs a lot. You don't actually see it devouring it's prey. This absurd looking creature is great. It's one of the funniest looking things that ever attempted to scare a movie audience. The terror of the 50s has mellowed a bit over the years. Its not so scary anymore but still holds it's own when pitted against other similar movies. It probably did it's job of scaring people well in it's own day. There are also a couple scenes that were supposed to be sexually suggestive and a bit racy back then but by today's standards it's pretty tame stuff. I was really surprised with "Womaneater". Although somewhat dated, it's still an entertaining movie. You have to remember that this is the 50s. This film is a classic example of that genre in the British style, which in this case, is almost undistinguishable from the American films. Some of the scenes will bring an unintentional smile to your face. Intended shock may produce a laugh. This is fun stuff. Lighten up, relax and enjoy the film. I think "Womaneater is very under rated and should be right up there with some of the other better known B monster movies of the 1950s. If 50s B monster movies are your thing, take a look at "Womaneater". You won't regret it.

******SPOILERS****** Before coming back to civilization from the uncivilized and unexplored Amazon jungle Dr. Moran, George Coulouris, came upon a secret that the local natives had all to themselves for generations, the restoration of life for the recently departed among us. With his weird and creepy native drummer boy Tanga, Jimmy Vaughn, as well as an exotic plant that he brought back to the UK with him Dr. Moran created the same conditions for the secret native ceremony that he learned in the Amazon jungle from the locals in his basement laboratory to bring the dead back to life. With this the egotistical Dr. Moran planned to become the greatest man in the history of scientific and biological research that the world has even known and all the fame and riches and power that goes along with it. Now five years later with everything is ready for Dr. Moran's ground-breaking experiment to be tested all he needed was a human sacrifice for the flesh-eating tree and the only humans that the tree eats are well endowed young women needing them to get the tree to extract a secret serum that can give life to those that the serum is injected into.Tanga goes and captured a young women outside Sara, Susan Curtis, to be given to the tree for lunch. After extracting the serum and injecting it into what looked like a skull in his laboratory the pulsometer. The results showed that the serum wasn't enough for the tree to give the Doctor the jolt that he needed to bring back to life the dead-head that he had in the jar. Soon another unexpected complication arose for Dr. Moran when the young and buxom Sally Norton , Vera Day, came looking for a job at his home as a housekeeper. That didn't go too well with Dr. Moran's long-time housekeeper and lover Margaret, Joyce Gregg, who now has to compete with the much younger and far more attractive Sally for the doctor's affections.Although obsessed with his findings in life-after-death studies Dr. Moran let his amorous emotions get in the way of his scientific curiosity. Dr. Moran fell madly in love with Sally and didn't use her for his experiment as food-stuff for the hungry tree which made Tanga very mad. It was later that he got into a fight with Margaret over Sally where he strangled her. Kidnapping another young and will-built woman Judy, Joy Webster, at the local pub in town for the trees unquenchable appetite the serum is ready for Dr. Moran to see if he can bring the dead Margaret back to life. To Dr. Moran' great shock an surprise he finds out when he brings Margaret back to the "living" that Tanga his supposedly loyal and faithful assistant played a dirty trick on him. Margaret's body was alive but her mind was brain-dead! As the gleeful Tanga tells Dr. Moran " The body for you. The brain for us".Dr. Moran going berserk, with the knowledge that his experiments all these years were a bust, attacks Tanga and ends up with Tanga taking a knife out of his diaper and putting it in Dr. Moran's back. This happened after the doctor set the tree on fire. With that a crazed and despondent Tanga seeing his "God" destroyed he walks into the burning bush and together both go up in flames. Inspired acting by both George Coulouris and Jimmy Vaughn lifted the movie up to the point where your interested in watching it especially that of Coulouris' Dr. Moran. Coulouris who did such a good job of acting insane during the movie that even the few times that he was supposed to be normal he came across as deranged.