Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman
Dir: Christopher Guest
1993
*
If you're going to remake a B-movie classic then you should make sure your reasons amount to something more than either because you can or because you can now make it in colour. The film hides behind a poorly crafted promotion of women's liberation, but it's so bad it's pretty insulting to women and men, and never really makes a valid point. The original is about a women scorned, revenge, a love triangle and ultimately tragedy (albeit with Aliens and gigantism) and was an alternative to other such films in the sub-genre that were male dominated (The Amazing Colossal Man and The Incredible Shrinking Man). To be perfectly frank, it was also made because there are many who wanted to see a pair of 30ft legs, it's a secret male desire thing, dominance, a bit of titillation and a precursor to sexploitation. In this version, our 50ft woman lets her husband's mistress live due to a fairly shaky idea of respect among strong women, which makes little sense and turns the film into something a lot less convincing. The effects are of classic B-movie quality (in the best possible way) for the best part but there are times when it looks pretty awful. I think it is meant to be a satirical version of the original but it's so poorly executed that it's hard to see it as anything other than a waste of time and money.