The She Beast

The She Beast
Film poster showcasing double bill with The Embalmer
Directed by	Michael Reeves
Produced by	Paul M. Maslansky Michael Reeves
Written by	"Michael Byron" (Reeves) "F. Amos Powell" (Charles B. Griffith)
Starring	Barbara Steele Ian Ogilvy John Karlsen Mel Welles
Music by	Ralph Ferraro Paul Ferris
Cinematography	G. Gengarelli
Edited by	Nira Omri
Distributed by	Miracle Films (UK theatrical)
Release date	1966 (1966)
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United Kingdom Italy
Language	English
Budget	£15,000

The She Beast (Italian title: La Sorella di Satana; also known as Revenge of the Blood Beast) is a 1966 British-Italian horror film written and directed by Michael Reeves. The film stars Barbara Steele, John Karlsen and Ian Ogilvy. Although Ogilvy had already acted in a few television series in the early 1960s, this was his first full feature film debut. There is a restored widescreen version of the film on DVD released in 2009 by Dark Sky Films with an audio commentary by producer Maslansky and stars Ogilvy and Steele.

The film starts out in Transylvania with an alcoholic Count Von Helsing (Karlsen) reading from a text, which begins a historical narrative of the witch, Vardella (Riley).

During his reading, the movie flashes back roughly 200 years to a religious service, where a child shows up and reports the location of Vardella. Then by the leadership of the pastor, hysteria breaks out and the congregation sets out to find and kill the witch. However, one of the villagers warns the others against killing the witch, as he explains the Count must exorcise the witch firstly, lest she will not die and will linger on as a curse for generations to come.

Nevertheless, the congregation sets out and finds the witch. Upon finding her, the pastor directs the crowd to take her to the lake, where she will be impaled and dunked to death. As Vardella is tied into the chair, She curses the people and their descendants for what they are doing and threatens she will someday "be back." The Count and his attendant secretly watch the execution from a distance upon a hilltop, and seemingly purposely do not intervene. Then the story returns to the reflective Von Helsing in his cave.

Next, a young, newly married couple are traveling in a black Volkswagen Beetle through the Carpathians in Transylvania for their honeymoon. The husband, Philip (Ogilvy), realizes he is lost and stops to look at a map with his wife, Veronica (Steele). A lawman (Maslansky) happens by and Philip asks for directions and recommendations for overnight lodging.