GIANTESS BATTLE ATTACK (2022)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*                                                                                                                                               This same-year sequel to ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT CAM GIRL might be considered a tiny improvement, to the extent that I smiled at one or two of the jokes. The main appeal remains director Jim Wynorski's attempt to out-bosom the oeuvre of Russ Meyer, with a side-dish of giantess-fetishism.                                                   

One improvement is that the first film got the dull setup stuff out of the way. We find out that a couple of people who got giant-ized earlier have returned to normal size, but Beverly Wood (Ivy Smith) is still a fifty-foot freak, though the scientists who created the growth substance are still working on a cure. Last time Wynorski borrowed the main plot from 1958's ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN, right down to the infidelity angle. But this time he takes a leaf from the 1933 SON OF KONG, wherein promoter Carl Denham suffers numerous lawsuits because of the destruction Kong wrought. But here it's "Monstrous Beverly" who loses her shirt (so to speak) trying to make up for the damage she caused. Her boyfriend Mike gets her a job working construction, but a sleazy con artist talks Beverly into staging a catfight with another giantess for the cam-audience.           

It just so happens, though, that a warrior-woman from a planet of giantesses decides to descend to Earth and challenge Beverly to single combat. The new arrival's name is Spa-Zor (Kiersten Hall), and I confess I didn't catch the pun until one of the Earthwomen mispronounced it on purpose. Thus, the film culminates in a three-way fistfight between Spa-Zor, Beverly, and Beverly's intended opponent, "Anna Conda," though as a fight it's as bland as the one from the first film. The writer throws in a couple of SF-media jokes that don't land, one from STAR TREK and the other from THIS ISLAND EARTH, but I must admit the sex-humor involving "spelunking" provided the movie's one clever moment.