SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF (1958)
Article #1283 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-18-2004
Posting Date: 2-15-2005
Directed by Roger Corman
Featuring Bill Cord, Don Durant, Lisa Montell

Two brothers, one good, one evil, are stranded on a desert island inhabitied only by a tribe of pearl-hunting women who worship a shark god.

Some thoughts on SHE GODS OF SHARK REEF.

1) Roger Corman shot this one in color on location in Hawaii. He considers it one of his best-looking movies, and even given the faded copy of my print, I’m inclined to agree, if for no other reason than that Hawaii sure is pretty.

2) Let’s tackle the fantastic aspects of the movie. The island of pretty girls puts it into the realm of marginal fantasy. The sharks put it in the realm of marginal horror. That’s about it.

3) Now for the title. The natives don’t worship a “she”, they worship a shark. Still, SHARK GODS OF SHARK REEF is redundant and clumsy, and I suppose calling it GOOFUS AND GALLANT IN PARADISE was out. Then again, maybe the shark was a female. Never mind. Hawaii sure is pretty.

4) The story? Inconsequential. Hawaii sure is pretty.

5) I received a book of film flubs once as a gift, and after looking it over, I decided I really wasn’t a fan of enjoying a film on that level. Most of the flubs listed were ones you might only notice if you were looking for them, and the thought of watching a movie solely to see if you could spot a boom mike or jumping back and forth between scenes to spot continuity errors isn’t all that enlightenining (my weakness is logic errors). However, when a film flub jumps out at you as unexpectedly as the one in the scene where the brothers tie up the old lady, it bears mentioning. Therefore, I’ll mention it; there’s a film flub in that scene. Find it yourself. Hawaii sure is pretty.

6) Uhhh… Hawaii sure is pretty.

7) Other movies I’d like to see – SHEMP GODS OF STOOGE REEF and SHOE GODS FOR SHARP FEET.

8) I can’t help but notice that the architecture for this tribe of primitive women is singularly sophisticated. Maybe they were inspired by how pretty Hawaii is.

9). Hawaii sure is pretty.

10) Ever watch one of those movies where one aspect of the production completely overwhelms the others? And did you ever notice that in some of these productions, the other aspects really aren’t doing much fighting to get noticed on their own? In short – Hawaii sure is pretty.