The She Beast

The She Beast (also known as La Sorella Di Satana and Revenge of the Blood Beast) is a 1966 horror film written and directed by Michael Reeves in his directorial debut. The film stars Barbara Steele, John Karlsen and Ian Ogilvy.

Plot
The film starts in Vaubrac, Transylvania with Count Von Helsing, reading from a text a historical narrative of 200 years ago about the brutal execution of Vardella, accused of witchcraft, a figure made up in the film to appear inhumanly monstrous, and appears more masculine than feminine. As she dies she swears vengeance for her murder.

Shifting to present day, a young, newly married British couple, Philip and Veronica, are traveling on their honeymoon and book a room in a hotel owned by alcoholic and voyeur Ladislav Groper.

While Groper carries their bags to the room, the couple has tea outdoors at a picnic table, and soon is approached by Von Helsing, who seems anxious to befriend them and to relate the history of the Draculas to them. In the process, he recounts the story and curse of Vardella but the listeners find none of this interesting. He invites himself back the next day and Veronica tells him to come at noon, knowing they plan to be on their way at dawn.

In their room, Philip discovers Groper is peeping on them through the window. After beating up Groper and drawing blood, Philip wants to leave immediately but Veronica prefers to stay the night as planned.

The next day on the road, Philip loses steering control of the car, causing him to drive into a lake; a passing truck driver assists in retrieving what should have been Veronica but to his horror, is a monstrous corpse that looks a lot like the aforementioned Vardella, which he quickly wraps up.

To his great relief, Von Helsing reassures Philip that he can help him get his wife back. Having little choice Philip begins to believe in Von Helsing and what he says.

Meanwhile Vardella comes alive and goes on a killing spree against the descendants of the people who killed her 200 years before, at which point Von Helsing comes upon the scene and uses a syringe to drug her. After hiding her in the hotel, the Count and Philip go to pick up some ritual tools to exorcise Vardella, the one way that she can be changed back into Veronica.

After being jailed, the truck driver who found Vardella makes a deal to tell police where the body is in exchange for his freedom. He leads the police back to the hotel, where they find the now-alive, drugged body appearing dead. The police intend to have it autopsied, which would ruin any chances of getting Veronica back.

Philip and the Count manage to retrieve the body and steal the police van which it is in. Vardella awakens from her drugged state and Von Helsing drugs her again, as well as the police officers which have now caught the van.

In the nick of time, 200 years to the minute since, and in the same place as, the brutal murder of Vardella, Philip and the Count perform the exorcism ritual at the lake. Will it succeed in bringing back Veronica?

Cast

 * Barbara Steele as Veronica
 * John Karlsen as Count Von Helsing
 * Ian Ogilvy as Philip
 * Mel Welles as Ladislav Groper
 * Joe "Flash" Riley as the She Beast/witch (Vardella)
 * Ennio Antonelli as the truck driver
 * Lucretia Love as Groper's niece

Production
The entire film was shot in 21 days. Many members of the crew appeared in the film as minor roles. Barbara Steele accepted a salary of $1,000 for working one single day. She was forced to work that day for 18 hours. Michael Byron is credited on screen with the script. Byron is an alias for Reeves. Chuck B. Griffith, Reeves' biographer, states that film also had contributions from F. Amos Powell and Mel Welles.

Sources conflict in crediting the production country of the film.

Release
The film was purchased for release by Miracle Films as Revenge of the Blood Beast and released in Kilburn, London in late 1966. It was released in Rome, Italy in July 1967 where it was distributed by Cineriz. The film was also released in 1966 in the United States by American International Pictures as The She-Beast. The film played as early as 2 May 1966 in Atlanta in the United States.

Reception
A contemporary review in the Monthly Film Bulletin referred to the film as "An engaging horror film [...] the beginning is a trifle comatose with its self-consciously stylish slow tracks and compositions [...] it gradually gathers momentum while developing a nice line in comic grotesquerie with its furtively lecherous innkeeper" The review commented on Barbara Steele in the film noting that she "gets little chance to display the grand manner in her comparatively brief role, but the acting in general is sound (enormously helped by the fact that the leading players would appear to have dubbed their own dialogue)."

In June 2010, Nick Coccellato of Eccentric Cinema gave the film a rating of five out of ten, writing "The She-Beast, A.K.A. Revenge of the Blood Beast, is one of those movies that wouldn't be out of place on Mystery Science Theater 3000 back in the show's '90s heyday. The film is bad but not uninteresting, and there is a lot of the fun to be had in simply watching it unfurl with its lousy acting and overwrought direction [...]"

Home media
On 28 April 2009, Dark Sky Films released a DVD version of the film in an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer with a Dolby 2.0 mono soundtrack. Special features include an image gallery and an audio commentary by producer Paul Maslansky and actors Ian Ogilvy and Barbara Steele.