The HBO Remake of “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman”

This remake was released on December 11, 1993, and starred Daryl Hannah as Nancy Archer, Daniel Baldwin as Nancy’s husband Harry Archer, and William Windom as Nancy’s father Hamilton Cobb. It recreated the original “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman,” which was released in 1958.

This film, made for the American cable TV channel HBO, had decent special effects and a better story than the original. It applied a feminist perspective to the original story.

It appears to be a popular film in the macrophilia community.

A 2005 poll entitled “Who’s Queen of Giant women?” on the Process Forum placed Daryl Hannah in second place behind J. J. North from “Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold.” Twenty-six people voted in that poll, J. J. North received 16 votes and Daryl Hannah received 7 votes.

It received the most votes, 77, on a 2009 Giantess City forum poll asking “What is the greatest, mainstream, English-language giantess movie?” That poll listed 10 possible choices, and there were 264 total cast votes. A similar poll in 2010 had mixed results, but this was still in a three-way tie for first place along with “Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold” and “Monsters vs Aliens.”

Furthermore, a quick search of DeviantArt turns up GIFs taken from this film as well as several drawn images inspired by this film. Alas, opinions on mainstream sites such as IMDb, 3.9 out of 10, and Rotten Tomatoes, 22%, aren’t as favorable.

Personally, I prefer this film over the original and rank it quite highly among giantess movies.

The tale begins with a space ship flying through the cosmos. Then we watch tourists arrive at the Nancy Cobb Archer visitor center and historic landmark to hear her story. (I enjoyed this framing device.) Nancy herself narrates. She encounters the alien vessel after discovering that her husband is still cheating on her, after he promised to stop. (NOTE: This film appears to be set in the 1950s, based on the vehicles, like the original. Although Honey Parker, Harry’s mistress, had a yellow portable cassette tape player with attached speakers that did not exist yet, and helicopters had a more modern appearance than expected. Plus, the term “post-feminist” was used when it had not been coined yet.)

There’s a nice bit of foreshadowing when Nancy looks through the window of her doll house.

As a connoisseur of growth scenes, I was ecstatic to see one in this film. Nonetheless, viewing it with a critical eye, it’s possible to nitpick a few details. For example, Nancy’s bra somehow grows (at least the cups, but not the back strap) along with her body, even though her blouse, necklace, shoes, and wedding ring do not. (Apparently, bras have miraculous properties that I am still yet to understand even as a middle-aged man. Or perhaps because I’m a man I cannot understand them? Hmm…) Furthermore, when her ring and necklace break off she doesn’t look any bigger until she moves to stand up. Lastly, did she have to outgrow her clothes in front of her father?

Dialogue, and Nancy’s shorter dress, indicate that she has at least one more growth spurt, but we don’t get to see the process again.

I would have preferred if a more voluptuous actress had played Nancy Archer, but it’s difficult to deny that Daryl Hannah was beautiful. Her acting was fine and she portrayed a browbeat woman well.

There were several instances of interaction between giant-sized Nancy and normal-sized people. She slams her fist on the ground making two people bounce up off the ground, playfully pokes a doctor with a giant hypodermic needle, toasts her husband’s glass of champagne with a barrel, holds people like Honey Parker and Harry in her fist, picks up Harry’s car and dumps him out of it, etc. Although, there was a sorely missed opportunity when Nancy invites her husband to consider pleasures that no one has ever dreamed of, to which he bluntly refuses. (The fool! The daft fool!)

The feminist angle was on the nose and far from subtle. Additionally, Hamilton Cobb and Harry Archer had no redeemable qualities and were one-note characters, thus rather boring.

I won’t give away the ending, but will mention that it differs from the original.

I highly recommend this film, and as a fan of science-fiction I would recommend it even if I wasn’t into macrophilia. It does not deserve the low ratings found on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. It’s not perfect, but is enjoyable. You can purchase this film on DVD (not Blu-ray unfortunately), LaserDisc, and VHS tape via sellers such as Amazon or eBay. A quick search did not find the movie on legit streaming services, but it’s certainly possible that fans could find a digital copy as well.

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