Dollar Tree Cinema: She Gods of Shark Reef

"She Gods of Shark Reef” (1958)
Starring Bill Cord, Don Durant, Lisa Montell, Jeanne Gerson
Screenplay by Robert Hill and Victor Soloff
Directed by Roger Corman
Rated Approved under the Hays Code, probably the equivalent of PG today, with two scenes that are borderline gruesome but it's more implied than clearly shown. And that poster is racier than anything in the film itself.

I really meant to get to more horror movies this month, but here we are, with an entry that comes at even more of a discount than the usual Dollar Tree Cinema title. As one of five movies in a Roger Corman horror DVD set, "She Gods of Shark Reef" worked out to a 25-cent expense.

Clarity and accuracy of titles are important to me, so right off the bat we dock some points,* as the only alleged god in this movie is male and the reef in question is never referred to by an official name. But there are sharks and they are believed to embody the deity that may or may not be causing trouble here.

But you can't blame the shark god Tangaroa** for the events that set the story in motion. That's on Lee Johnson (Durant), who helps kill a man while stealing and/or smuggling guns with a partner who leaves him to fend for himself. Lee goes on the lam with the help of his brother Chris (Cord), who describes himself as a freelance collector of specimens for museums.

Their boat crashes on a reef in a storm. A third man aboard dies, but the brothers are rescued by the women who live on a nearby island, which, according to them, is owned by the Island Company, "an international concern." Company representatives only come by periodically to deliver supplies and pick up the pearls the ladies harvest. Most of the time, the stern elder Pua (Gerson) is in charge.

Pua is suspicious of Chris and Lee and how close Chris is getting with Mahia (Montell), the young woman who pulled him out of the water and slit a friggin' shark's throat in the process. Pua claims Mahia angered the shark god by saving the men. Lee is getting antsy because he figures the company representatives who are supposed to take them off the island will know he's wanted for murder. Chris doesn't want his brother to go to jail but is also very interested in the beautiful girl who saved his life and conveniently just turned 18.

Pua figures the solution to an angry shark god is to gift wrap some snacks for him, including Mahia. Lee is more concerned with getting off the island. All of this makes it difficult for Chris and Mahia to properly engage in the romance the opening credits song, "Nearer My Love to You," seemed to promise.

For a 65-year-old film that clocks in at a little over an hour, without the use of an unreliable mechanical shark like Steven Spielberg would frighten movie-goers with 17 years later, this one is OK. Some of the footage is recycled, and the actual sharks don't look all that scary, but I definitely prefer watching them on grainy footage rather than being in the water with them.

That portion of it ages better than others. The island's inhabitants seem like a mix of ethnicities, but that feels less intentional and more like the filmmakers just wanted some generic islanders, underscored by Pua and Mahia's broken English. Granted, we think more about issues like diversity today (which is fine when it's not artificially checking boxes) and hindsight probably makes it feel more awkward.

Lighting in movies is not usually something I notice, but the shifts in certain scenes makes it look like they’re taking place simultaneously at night, dusk and the middle of the day. Internal logic is iffy, and some details are confusing. For every solid, logical development, there's a moment like a boom mic dropping into the scene or Chris and Mahia sleeping while sitting straight up on rocks.

Still, grading on a bit of a curve, I'm satisfied my 63 minutes and 25 cents weren't wasted.

* - I’m not actually keeping score.

** - Which Google and Wikipedia tell me is the name of a deity in some Pacific cultures, though not a shark god.