 808 - THE SHE-CREATURE
Genre: Hypnosis / Horror (1956, B&W)
Synopsis: In yet another hypnosis based horror film, an oily hypnotist named Dr. Carlo Lombardi claims he can hypnotize the spirit out of his young female assistant, Andrea, and he does this when we see a cloud of vaporous gas leave the
woman’s body
that apparently is her spirit (well, at least, I hope that’s her spirit).
But doing this hypnosis act somehow unleashes a lobster-like female sea-creature that is
actually the woman in a past life, which materializes and comes ashore to go on a killing spree that only stops when the young woman is revived from her trance.
The Hypnotist Guy know all about the creature, but what are a few deaths when he has a best-selling book to write?
(As the saying
goes “To sell millions of books, you have to crack a few
eggs”... or was it “To make an omelette and then sell millions of
books, you have to crack a few eggs” ???). Meanwhile,
some monotone low-talker named Dr. Ted Erickson is trying to debunk Dr.
Lombardi’s
claims. And, despite Dr. Erickson complete lack of any charm,
Andres begins to fall for him. Working on the case of the brutal beachside murders is Lt. Ed James, a police detective who apparently has been watching too many Bogart films because he talks in what sounds like a lame Bogie impression (which is a rich source of riffs).
Dr. Lombardi doesn’t like that Dr. Erickson is interfering with his hypnosis subject, Andrea, so he hypnotizes a dog to attack Ted Erickson.
The dog doesn’t kill Dr. Erickson, but it definitely out-acts him.
The distraction that Dr. Erickson provides in Andrea causes Dr.
Lombardi’s next hypnosis demonstration to go disastrously and when the sea-creature arrives, it attacks Dr. Lombardi instead of Dr Erickson, mortally wounding him.
He frees Andrea from her hypnosis trance, ending the attacks of the sea-creature for good (or will they, given that the movie ends with a
“?” on the screen. Of course, that could have been a question as to
“what the hell was this movie about?” or “how did it ever get
made?”).
Don’s Review: The riffing is reasonably good throughout, though a bit forced at times (although I really liked
Mike’s riffs anytime the Bogie sounding actor spoke), but the host segment were a bit lame, with the notable exception of a very funny movie-related skit in which Mike demonstrates how to act like Lance Fuller
(i.e.. the low-talking, monotone Dr. Erickson).
A decent episode that I’ll definitely watch again some day.
Trivia Note: This movie was co-produced by Alex Gordon, who
co-wrote Bride of the Monster
with Ed Wood (!)
Don’s Rating: 
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