Review of Voodoo Woman

Introduction

This creaky old black and white horror movie dates from 1957 but feels at least ten years older. Directed by Edward L. Cahn, a house Director at API films, also renowned for other low budget schlock nonsense like `The She Creature`, this ambling low-grade horror never quite raises the heartbeat.It`s a stagy and wooden affair with an unlikely plot that unfolds clumsily, and it`s also a movie that is transparently devoid of any production value. The sets and lighting are particularly low rent, with three shadows off every moving man and a studio the size of a small bedroom used for most scenes. It`s hard not to chuckle cruelly when the Chief of the tribe proclaims; "My tribe angry!" What - all eight of them? But the real problem with the movie from a 2004 perspective is that, whilst it`s pretty bad, it`s not quite bad enough to make it enjoyable on that count either. Many of the actors here look like they`ve given up the will to live long before the voodoo sets in. The plot is simple enough but its realisation isn`t and you`re generally left with more questions than answers. It`s a tale about a mad scientist (played theatrically by Tom Conway) who has chosen to live in the jungle`s darkest and most voodoo ridden depths in order to work on his diabolical experiment; to create an indestructible killing machine that will obey his will. Sounds far fetched but, I`ll be darned, with a little help from his (voodoo) friends he damn near succeeds! His first experiment fails hopelessly (as does the make-up department) by producing a hideous monster woman who growls like a tiger but refuses to kill. You see, he used a `goodun`, when he really should have used a `baddun`. Luckily enough, here one comes - in search of tribal gold - and it is she who becomes the monstrous lady of the title. The movie is not without merit. The music used here is utterly other-worldly, comprising a weird hybrid mix of frenetic voodoo bongos and the kind of high pitched `siren` wailing that could shatter your crystal glass collection. All the stranger when the scurrilous french barman requests: "Yvette - my favourite song." Man, I`d hate to hear the music he doesn`t like!Other fleeting moments of pleasure can be found in the dialogue, particularly that of the voodoo practising tribes-people who speak in broken English. (`Maybe Madame lady want cup tea`). There`s not a lot here for anyone other than the real horror b-movie completist and I suspect it`s not the best in the series.

Video

This is a very sparkly, scratched 4: 3 print that is so high in contrast that many scenes are hardly visible. But it doesn`t really matter. The visual quality in this case is merely a reflection of the lack of quality in all other areas. This could, of course, be fun in it`s own right though the movie just isn`t quite bad enough for that excuse to rescue it.

Audio

The music here would make a very fine OST. It`s amongst the weirdest I`ve ever heard, and it could be construed as quite enchanting in an esoteric way. Audio throughout is just what you`d expect for a movie of this vintage and this budget.

Features

This release is another from `The Arkoff Film Library`, which also includes such tasteless wonders as `The Brain Eaters` and `The She Creatures`, and comes complete with a tasty `schlock-horror` postcard set and an audio interview with Samuel Z. Arkoff at the NFT in 1990. The interview is fairly interesting and full of charming anecdotes from another Producer/Film Entrepreneur whose main claim to fame is producing so many movies in so little time with so little money.
Also included here are a string of trailers for other releases and these work very well. You can well imagine their first airing on a sultry summer night in a California drive-in of the late `50`s. Every one promises to shock and thrill - and are punctuated throughout with screams. Great fun!

Conclusion

This film must be seen and judged in context. Low budget, high drama from the late `50`s. Drive-in movie filler that never expected to find it`s way onto a miniature silver platter some 50 years later. But despite all that fairness, it still disappoints. It`s bad - but not bad enough. There are some good moments, but they`re not good enough. The print here is sub-standard, and the film a little dull. Certainly a completist will want it in their Arkoff collection, but I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone else. Not recommended.