Womaneater
AKA: The Woman Eater
1958
The Cast
I'd not even heard of this little horror flick before, however, my interest was piqued at the story's outline. An explorer and professor come across an ancient tribe who have the power to resurrect the dead. All they have to do is give a living female sacrifice to their juju; an alien looking tree. Once devoured the tree produces a serum to reanimate lifeless corpses. Doctor Moran (Coulouris) sees the wealth a drug of this nature could bring him. He takes the tree and the shaman back to his house in a rural English village where he begins to sacrifice women to the plant...
There are a few things that I really liked about this story. Dr Moran's character for starters. This man is driven and used to getting his way. He even lets his ex-wife stay with him so she can clean and look after his house. She loves him, but to him, she's served her purpose in that area so he moves her into another productive role. This is cold, calculating, and logical - maybe he's a Vulcan. The other is the idea of the plant. There are lots of plants out in the world being used in medicines and we are still learning about their uses. So why not a resurrection plant(?)
The acting is top notch and makes this film an enjoyable view. Coulouris is perfect as the driven "Mad Scientist". Though his missus, Mrs Santor (portrayed by Joyce Gregg), can give him a run for his money in the coldness race. I think she'd be right at home running a sweatshop. This coupled with the lovers, Jack (Wayn) and Sally (Day) give a good representation of light and shade, good and evil, normal and abnormal.
Though the story isn't too original in its scares, there's one thing about it I really did love. Sally, while working for Dr Moran, begins to feel as though there's something wrong going on in the house... so she tells Jack about it and they both decide it would be better if she leaves... "What!" you say, "she doesn't decide to search the house?" Well, no she doesn't... but she doesn't quite get away either. There's no "Let's Go Die" march in this film.
If you like your macabre this is the film for you. Though there's nothing too scary the concept is good and the acting and story will keep you entertained. For all horror fans out there.
I give this JuJu a Rejuvenatingly Entertaining 6 out of 10.
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