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A smartly feminist reading of the 1958 camp classic is the basis of this made-for-TV remake which needlessly opens up the proceedings by adding some 25 minutes of “character development” – which, basically, means new personalities who further traumatize or assist the distressed titular female. Daryl Hannah has trouble coping with the ugly duckling part of the story but grows nicely into her role once the gigantic transformation comes along and in which she is curiously but attractively decked out in cavewoman garb!

Excepting the rather obnoxious Daniel Baldwin (as Hannah’s philandering husband), the rest of the cast is capable enough: Frances Fisher is Hannah’s helpful shrink, William Windom is her greedy tycoon father and, best of all, Cristi Conaway is Baldwin’s sexy mistress who practically changes to a more outrageous wig with every new scene she’s in; I knew nothing of her going in but, being sufficiently impressed I looked up her resume' on IMB and, what do you know, she was once married to an actor of presumably Maltese origins named Salvator Xuereb!!

This is all well and good, perhaps, but I still wouldn’t say that this is an improvement on the unjustly maligned original; for one thing, there are no giant aliens to be seen here and, worse still, the goofy fat deputy is (predictably, under the circumstances) replaced by a squeaky, tomboyish girl. The sheriff and his deputy are here depicted as being avid drive-in cinema-goers and, at one point, Hannah rips off the roof of a cinema which is screening the 1958 original! The new coda is also quite amusing: having been received inside the spaceship which caused her enormous growth, Hannah is joined by two other gigantic beauties who, sure enough, look upon their tiny hubbies as they go confessing to their various infidelities in interstellar group therapy!

A friend of mine once said that "a happy wife may have the best husband, but more often makes the best of the husband she has". Nancy Archer, the main character in this film, is another wife struggling to make the best of a bad job. She's just not a happy one. Her husband, Harry, is frequently unfaithful to her, but she tries hard to convince herself that she still loves him and that, in spite of appearances, he really still loves her. Nancy's problems don't end with Harry. She is an heiress who has inherited considerable wealth from her mother, but her father, Hamilton Cobb, a ruthless and ambitious property speculator, bullies her into allowing him to use the money to fund his business ventures. Nancy's one source of comfort is her psychiatrist, Dr. Cushing, whom she sees frequently.

And then, following an encounter with a UFO one night, Nancy finds herself growing to gigantic size, not stopping until she is 50 feet tall. She realises that her new height, and corresponding strength, have given her the opportunity to get even with her father and Harry.

When I recently reviewed "Roxanne", also starring Daryl Hannah, I pointed out that, although she was regarded as one of Hollywood's rising stars of the eighties, her career seemed to go into something of a decline and few of her films from this century, apart from the two "Kill Bill" episodes, have aroused much attention. Part of the reason may have been Hollywood has had something of a surplus of lookalike leggy blondes in the last two or three decades (Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman, Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc.), but another part of the reason may have been too many films like this one.

Actually, Daryl's performance here is not a particularly bad one, and she makes Nancy into a rather sweet and lovable heroine. My problem was that I just couldn't see why the film was made in the first place. The original 1958 version of "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" is frequently described as a "cult movie". Now this expression sometimes means "unjustly neglected masterpiece", or at least "a film regarded by its cultists, if by nobody else, as an unjustly neglected masterpiece", but in the context of low-budget fifties sci-fi it generally means "complete rubbish which some people enjoy watching for the pleasure of sniggering at how bad it is". Indeed, "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" is sometimes listed among the "worst films ever made", although in my opinion it cannot really compete with the true classics of that particular genre such as "Plan 9 from Outer Space". It's bad, certainly, but not quite that bad.

So why on earth would anyone want to remake it? Possibly because of its very reputation for badness. After all, devotees of cult movies of this variety frequently claim to watch them in a spirit of postmodern ironic detachment, and so if accused of making a bad movie the film-makers will always have a retort handy. "But it's not a bad movie! It's an ironic movie! You just don't get postmodernism, do you?"

Unfortunately, to paraphrase Edith Cavell, irony is not enough. The 1993 film does not really add anything to its less-than-illustrious predecessor. Certainly, the art of special effects had advanced during the intervening three and a half decades, so this aspect of the film is certainly better than in the original, but that's only "better" in the sense that "mediocre" is better than "embarrassingly bad". The remake's one indisputably new feature is that it adds a heavy-handed feminist message along the lines of "men are all bastards". It is notable that at the end Nancy takes revenge in full on her husband and father while Harry's mistress Honey is forgiven. (Yeah, she might have played her part in breaking up Nancy's marriage, but as a woman she is automatically counted as part of the "sisterhood").

Part of the incongruity of the original was the way in which it combined a domestic melodrama about a cheating husband with a science-fiction theme and did so in a completely straight-laced, humourless way. People may have laughed at the original; they didn't laugh with it. One way of remaking it, therefore, would have been to do so as a comedy which attempted to get laughs out of this incongruity, but the remake never achieves this. It may have been made in an ironic, tongue-in-cheek spirit, but "tongue-in-cheek" does not always equate to "funny". It's not an ironic movie. It's just a bad movie. I just don't get postmodernism, do I? 4/10

I bought a 4-movie pack that has this movie. I expected it to be the original from the 50s but instead got this remake. Well... it's a campy bad movie but surprisingly not as annoying it could have been. Something about the vibe was fun enough to not be too boring. Giant Daryl Hannah is nice to look at, and Daniel Baldwin is having at least a little bit fun performing the boyfriend/husband/whatever guy he is.

The only thing I was disappointed there was not horror at all. The giant girl doesn't do much rampaging you would expect from this kind of movie. I guess there was no budget to destroy buildings. However, it's not a very long movie, so it's easy to watch if you want something weird.

Of course it is! This is the type of B-movie that you'll enjoy. I didn't expect to see HANNAH in this role. But it was fun in a corny kind of way. Although it is still the classic story just like the original, it is "made for tv." But thats okay because Hannah leads that "glamor blonde bombshell life" that her beauty stops the film from falling apart. (5)

I haven't seen the original; I can imagine that it isn't as feminist as, or at least less overtly so than, this. Guest gets the tone, and this largely delivers what it promises. I know he can direct something hilarious, since I've seen Best in Show; this doesn't have the benefits of a cast full of proved comedic talent, and the writing is inferior, though not without chuckle-inducing moments. There are a couple of lines that are downright quotable. You probably know the plot already; Daniel Baldwin, a bastard merely by virtue of the fact that he's cheating on Darryl Hannah(even if the squeeze he found is also a sight for sore eyes), and several others (all male) talk down to her, and once she begins to grow in size, she attempts to exact vengeance upon them. The FX are cheesy, dated and obvious, and I would wager this was an intentional decision. This is both a spoof and an homage. There is brief suspense. The characters and acting aren't half bad. There is some sexuality(and eye-candy) and brief nudity in this. The DVD comes with a theatrical trailer. I recommend this to fans of the concept. 5/10

I was really excited to hear that there was going to be a remake of my favorite movie, but bitterly disappointed when I realized that it would be starring Daryl Hannah in the title role. She's not a very sexy actress nor is she very good-looking by my standards. I've always thought she was a bit on the skinny side. This role needs someone with a certain amount of sex appeal like Markie Post, Emma Samms, Victoria Principal or maybe even the actress playing Honey Parker, Cristi Conaway. I think this movie was just made to show off a new special effect technique, but even then, she still just looks like a normal woman on one of those table top train sets like I used to own. They could have used more of the extreme camera shots like used in Eddie Murphy's godzilla scene in "The Nutty Professor." Much of the movie's script has been updated though and two of the all male roles are now played by actresses [the deputy and one doctor].Some of the lines from the first movie are repeated verbatim, but the attack is still less than a true attack as seen on the original's movie poster. The violence is played down instead of up. The ending, though, is a bigger let down and a far cry from the historical last scene from the original. That strange grinding noise you hear through the movie is actually Allison Hayes rolling over in her grave.

I can honestly say that this is the worst movie I have ever seen. The plot was stupid, the special effects looked ridiculous, and worst of all, every single character was simply annoying. Well, maybe Nancy´s husband wasn´t that bad, at least he was mean to Nancy, who was the most disgusting of all characters. Besides I hated the ending. Maybe this film was supposed to be funny, like the new Blob was, but it was not. It was simply lousy and annoying. Now you might ask that why did I watch the movie at all if it was so terrible, and that´s a very good question. I really have no idea...

This 1993 TV movie is a remake of a classic, campy bit of '50s sci-fi cinema and it's an absolute dog of a film. Perhaps understandably, the makes of this pitiful nonsense have gone for a comic, equally campy approach because there's no way the elements of this movie could ever be taken seriously, comedy or otherwise.

ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN is a film filled with horrible actors reading from a horrible script. It's diabolically bad, the script is puerile and at times it gets so bad that I actually felt embarrassed for those involved. Yes, this stuff could pass muster in the long-gone 1950s, but not in the early '90s when TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY had revolutionised the sci-fi genre just two years previously.

Daryl Hannah lives up to her blonde bimbo reputation as the titular character, who doesn't even grow until an inordinate time of boring small-talk and excruciating attempts at character development have taken place. Meanwhile, the Baldwin clan have a reputation for playing sleazy, slimy and obnoxious characters and sibling Daniel takes the biscuit with his adulterous husband here - a character who's literally oozing grease and stupidity.

The special effects are poor, and only appear "special" in a couple of scenes in the whole movie, and the sight of a wobbly, poorly-animated UFO is the barrel-scraping nadir, really. The idea of a scorned wife grown to gigantic proportions and wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting town in search of her slimeball husband is an outlandish one and something you think would be difficult to mess up; there's the spectacle if nothing else, but everything about this movie is screwed up in the worst way.

This version of "Attack of the 50 foot Woman" isn't as much fun as the title may suggest. The main problem is that the film can't make up its mind on what it wants to be. Is it a spoof/homage to the cheesy 50's giant monster horror movies, or is a serious, but bizarre fantasy-drama about a woman who needs to break out of her shell? I know this sounds absolutely baffling, but the film actually kind of works as a quirky drama. We've got this woman who is suddenly 50 feet tall and has more than enough power to stand up to the men that would objectify and abuse her. Mixed in with that we have some standard giant monster stuff that feels really out of place, and this is coming from a big fan of Kaiju/giant monster movies. If the film had picked either direction and stuck with it, this could have been a very entertaining film but instead the audience is left disappointed. I found that technically the movie is pretty good, with some convincing special effects (well, for the most part; overall they are still convincing) and it features a good cast. How or when you're going to watch this, I really don't know because this is neither a "so bad it's good" cheesy horror flick you can laugh at and it isn't a clever twist on the films that inspired it either. I mistook this version for the original "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" when I bought the VHS tape. Sure it only cost me a buck but I was still disappointed. (On VHS, September 21, 2012)

I get really amused by the reviews from people who think this is a serious film - please grow up, people!

A real tongue in cheek remake of a 50's B Movie, the sort of thing Rodrigues and Tarantino did later with Planet Terror, but this was WAY before that. Wonderful one liners and parodies of the fifties, loved the catering wagon with "Arkoff & Corman" on the side, a great tribute to the masters of the 50's B Movie genre. Loved it, Daryl Hannah is wonderful but so are the whole cast,the sleazy husband, uncaring father and the beautician mistress with the interchangeable hair ( a different wig in every scene) are classic characters you'll recognise immediately. looks like they really had fun making this. Well worth your time, don't forget the popcorn!

OK, so it's a cheesy remake of a camp classic.... But it is all good, harmless fun....

Darryl Hannah stars as the titular character - a wealthy heiress who grows to 50 foot tall after she gets angry. After a freak encounter with aliens, she grows to an enormous size after an argument with her husband (Daniel Baldwin) and her father. It's a perfect remake of the 50's classic, updated to match the current 90's time frame - with big business and big bucks hanging in the balance.

Some argue that another actress could have been cast as the lead, but Darryl was at the height of her popularity during the early 90s and is perfect in this role. Others argue that this b-rated made-for-cable release was a case of her slumming in her career. Either way, this stands as a cheesy remake of the camp b-movie classic...

A definite afternoon cheezer pleaser...

This is an HBO remake of the original '50s 50 footers. Naturally, there had to be some adjustments for the new era. However, it still captures the thrills and chills. You may also marvel at the spandex clothing that stretches forever (rats.)

Nancy, the little woman, (Daryl Hannah) does not have quite the devoted husband (Daniel Baldwin.) Here life is not quite ideal. Soon a chance encounter with aliens (the space type) leaves her feeling bigger about the situation. 50 feet bigger. Now it is Nancy's turn for a little revenge. The ending is a little unnerving.

Be sure to see Daryl is just as serious of a role in "High spirits" (1998)

ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN (1993-MADE FOR CABLE TV) ** 1/2 Daryl Hannah, Daniel Baldwin, Cristi Conaway, William Windom, Frances Fisher, Paul Benedict. Special effects laden remake of the campy sci-fi classic about a troubled woman whose close encounter with a UFO transforms her into a giantess. Easily head and shoulders above its laughable predecessor, Hannah makes the most of her towering performance in a film that tries to mix feminism with kitsch. She gives Allison Hayes a run for her money in her behemoth bikini. Directed by comedian/"Spinal Tap" star Christopher Guest (too bad he didn't think of this as a vehicle for his wife Jamie Lee Curtis. Yowsa!!)

Maybe I didn't got the idea behind this remake of the 1958 classic but I found it a pure waist of time. It all looked very cheap, maybe it was intended but for me it didn't work. If you are remaking a flick then I suppose that you add something new towards it but by just using the same cheap effects for me it's a pity that it was made.

The acting was also a bit exaggerated just like in the fifties but I just couldn't get into the characters. The main lead by Daryll Hannah was okay and she moved further to play in Kill Bill 1 and 2 and is supposed to return in part 3. Daniel Baldwin couldn't convince me at all but then again, so many failed in this flick. It's girl galore because Cristi Conaway was good too.

But it is really so slow, too much of talking and nothing really happens until the last 15 minutes. I'm not digging flicks from the fifties but if you remake them the same way as then then I leave it as it is.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 1/5

This is a remake of a film I have never seen so it's impossible to compare but I guess it was commissioned back in the early 90's because remakes of 50's sci-fi films were then in vogue. The idea I imagine was that those old movies could benefit from the new special effects technology of the time. It has to be said, however, that some of the special effects used in this version of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman are not much better than those used in the original King Kong sixty years previously. Maybe it's because this is a made for TV production and the budget isn't too high. That's possible certainly but I'm still sure they could've done better. Special effects aside, they could definitely have written the movie better that's for sure. The central idea of a giant woman terrorizing a town is silly and trashy and that's fine, but the problem is that she doesn't get to properly attack anything really. The final showdown effectively amounts to a domestic situation between the 50 Ft. woman and her philandering husband. It's not really the best way to showcase the central character. A little bit more destruction would not have gone amiss. Admittedly the National Guard do show up and battle with the giantess at the end but it's extremely half-hearted at best.

Another problem is the way that the supporting cast react to the fact that Daryl Hannah has suddenly grown to a gigantic size. No one really seems very surprised and they all basically carry on acting as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. A little shock and awe would not have done any harm. It might've helped us have a little empathy with some of the characters. As it was, it was difficult to care too much about anybody, seeing as everyone was so poorly written. Daryl Hannah isn't very good as the lead character but Cristi Conaway is actually not bad as the mistress; maybe she'd have been better in the title role.

At the end of the day this is meant to be a cheesy film, so it has to be judged on its cheese value and it does provide some entertainment in a completely throwaway kind of way. It thankfully doesn't take itself at all seriously. At the end of the day the idea of a 50 Ft. woman going on the rampage can only be taken so far so I suppose it's not entirely surprising that this one isn't very good.

While it is an amusing movie and a good way to "waste" a couple hours. The plot is outdated and the acting quality is right out of the 1950s, hasn't changed a bit, however, you have to give it credit, after all, what do you expect out of a movie with the title Attack of the 50 ft. Woman, by the way, they can't even get that one right, if you look at her while she's standing next to certain objects, you can see she's over 100 feet rather than 50 feet. This is a movie to see only once. If you are a fan of the 50's movies, or if you don't mind movies with silly plots and bad acting, you'll enjoy this one, otherwise, steer clear of this one by all costs.

Very funny B flick. Tried a bit to hard to stay a B movie but a wonderful lark of hit you over the head metaphor of a woman "growing into her power". Ms Hanna was the right choice for this transformative awakening.

I'd live in Nancy Archer's pocket any day!