Somewhere out in deep space, so the scientists say, an enormous explosion known as The Big Bang occurred countless millennia ago, but what if that cataclysm was the result of a civilisation's disastrous experimenting with a massive bomb which destroyed them all? What if there is another civilisation out there in Planet Earth's galaxy which has sought to prevent any such event happening again and have dispatched a representative to our world? And what of rich socialite Margaret Chaffee (Marilyn Harvey)? When she leaves her house that morning she had no idea of her part in interplanetary affairs...
The Astounding She-Monster has gone on to minor notoriety as one of the cheapest, and therefore impoverished, science fiction films ever made, yet nevertheless a cult has grown up around it thanks to the unintentional comedy value of a work straining for entertainment values, never mind production values, outwith its grasp. Though perhaps there was a more influential side to it than its detractors may have you believe, as from here you could chart the future of sci-fi from the likes of Night of the Living Dead to Lifeforce, not that this was a conscious effort to pay homage to the shenanigans here, but some of the spirit of the age was present.
Not to mention the She-Monster of the title sports eyebrow makeup obviously referenced by John Waters on Divine's warpaint in Female Trouble, though there was an equally interesting urban myth about her, in that slender though curvy actress Shirley Kilpatrick was said to be the overweight character performer Shirley Stoler in a previous incarnation, that was before she put all that weight on. There was a facial resemblance, but you just had to take a look at Harold Lloyd's tasteful nude of Kilpatrick, from the period he was filling his days snapping pics of lovely ladies in the altogether, to see that they probably were not the same person, and you may wonder what our erstwhile She-Monster's reaction would be to that comparison.
Not that Kilpatrick ever made another movie, but the one she did make has been seared into the memories of those who caught it at an impressionable age, or even those who saw the striking poster for it. Here aside from her fierce-looking makeup she slinked about a forest with a sliver catsuit and high heels, given the power to kill simply by touching we mortal humans which means terror is in the hearts of those who encounter her and her habit of walking backwards (legend has it the catsuit was accidentally ripped at the back and they couldn't afford to repair it on such short notice - what, no needle and thread handy?). Her rampage only makes the twist ending sillier. What does this have to do with the socialite seen at the narration-heavy beginning, though?
Margaret is swiftly kidnapped by a gang of three crooks, the leader of which, Nat (Kenne Duncan), is revealed to have distinct Communist tendencies when he's not barking orders - obviously a wrong 'un. His underlings are an undercharacterised heavy with a pistol (Ewing Miles Brown), and a self-confessed alcoholic (Jeanne Tatum) ever on the lookout for her next drink. But is there a hero to counteract this grim trio? Why, yes there is, and he's geologist Dick Cutler, played by Robert Clarke who by this time was carving out a niche as a science fiction leading man - The Hideous Sun Demon himself. Dick is staying in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for research purposes, accompanied by his pet dog weirdly named Egan, played by Clarke's own collie, and when Nat shows up ordering him about it's his chance to step up to the mark and make a difference, after all only a scientist will know how to deal with a space alien in this era. Painfully low budget throughout, it has charms chiefly because of blithely behaving as though this was the very best Hollywood had to offer. Music by Gene Kauer.
