“Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader”

Good morning everyone,

Since 1958 many movies featuring giant women have titles calling back to the original “Attack of the 50-Ft Woman.” Such productions include, but certainly aren’t limited to, 1959’s “The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock,” 1993’s HBO Remake of “Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman,” and 1995’s “Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold.” A 1994 full-length porno, “Attack of the 50 Foot Hooker!,” also referenced the iconic science fiction film.

It’s not only full-length movies that pay homage. Danni.com made an adult-themed 22-minute version starring Kelly Madison in 2004 and Siren Thorn made the 14-minute long “Attack of the 50 Ft. Pussy!” in 2012. Adult comic strips also joined in, such as Hustler’s “Attack of the 50-Foot Honey” in 1983.

Suffice to say, Attack of the 50-Ft Woman was influential.

Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised when I first heard that Roger Corman was producing a movie clearly referencing the 1958 original. (NOTE: Reportedly, Corman was also an executive producer for Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold; I’ll just call it Centerfold from here on. Albeit, Corman was uncredited according to IMDB.)

There doesn’t seem to be much public demand for giantess films. (NOTE: Much to my personal dismay 😥 ) Therefore, I was not expecting a “mainstream” production. This movie, Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader, was first released on Epix on August 25, 2012. (NOTE: Epix is a cable and satellite TV network, which is a subsidiary of American media company and film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) )

According to IndieWire’s interview with Corman, the idea came from Epix itself. (Which is vague, but that’s all I could find about its genesis.) Roger stated that this was his first time working in 3-D. Although, as previously noted, it appears that the 3-D cut was never released. So, sadly he wasn’t even able to release his first 3-D work in that format.

The film begins with our protagonist Cassie Stratford, a bright college student played by Jena Sims (Miss Georgia Teen USA in 2007). Jena also appeared in the low-budget films “3-Headed Shark Attack” and “Sharknado 5.” Jena’s character Cassie was made “ugly” by the production crew using makeup to simulate acne and giving her eyeglasses.

Cassie’s overbearing mother, played by Sean Young from “Blade Runner,” pressures her to join the cheerleading squad. Tired of being ugly and failing to meet mother’s expectations, Cassie takes the beauty formula which she has conveniently been working on. I don’t mean to shock anyone, but the growth formula has an unexpected side-effect. (NOTE: A similar plot was used for Centerfold. The heroine in that film overdosed on a beauty formula.)

The antagonist, head cheerleader Brittany Andrews, responds like a 1980s comedic villain. She is rude and unpleasant, but is tolerated by her peers for some unfathomable reason.

Also akin to Centerfold, this has a breast expansion (B.E.) scene, but it seemingly did not use any special effects.

Cassie’s B.E. during class sends a button flying out and subsequently strikes her poor professor, permanently blinding him in one eye Let that be a lesson to us all, B.E. is not a joke and should only be performed under the supervision of properly trained and certified professionals 😎

Then Cassie walks around campus at taller-than-normal stature, but not yet 50 feet tall. This was achieved by having other performers sitting while Cassie is standing, having Cassie stand on off-screen risers, and by having a male cheerleader struggle to lift her during practice. Those techniques wouldn’t be unexpected in the extremely low budget size-fetish productions, but I had hoped to see more advanced work in something with a budget larger than a thous.

In the IndieWire interview, Roger Corman stated “… if you’re going to show individual size changes, it costs a great deal of money for something that’s only on the screen only 10 or 20 seconds, so we did cheat a bit on those intermediate sizes in order to get to the full size right away.”

There was a fun bit in which Brittany attempts to force sorority pledges to drink a large bottle of liquor. Cassie defiantly takes the bottle and single-handedly downs it.

Tensions rise when Cassie is captured by an unscrupulous pharmaceutical executive and Brittany is inadvertently given a double dose of growth formula!

I must take a moment and sadly note that there are no proper growth scenes. Older films such as 1993’s Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman and 1965’s “Village of the Giants” featured better transformations.

Technically, there was a sequence in which Brittany grows in a football field, shown below, but the execution was unimpressive.

I did appreciate that varying sizes were depicted, such as in the following when Brittany was twice Cassie’s size.

Regarding humor, there were no effective jokes when laughs would have been welcome. Dialogue was cringeworthy at times, such as when an older man tells Cassie that her outfit is giving him a “chubby.” Presumably, that was intended to be funny, but it wasn’t. The old guy also peeks under Cassie’s underwear while she’s unconscious.

Not wanting to limit cringe to just the men, Cassie’s Mom also harasses a young African American man by calling him “Chocolate Thunder” and asking if he wants to “go down under.” The fellow rolls his eyes, but no one else reacts on the crowded bleacher.

I’m not adverse to risque humor, but there’s no substance here. If something had subverted expectations, surprised me, then I might have laughed. For instance, have the characters go against tropes. Make the female nerd with giant glasses a promiscuous and experienced lover. Maybe she makes an inappropriate sexual comment toward the old businessman, makes him uncomfortable and catches him off-guard. Such behavior would be unusual for a movie nerd and it might make me laugh.

However, to hear that a creepy old man gets a semi-erection (the aforementioned chubby) at the sight of an attractive young woman is rather uninspired.

Regarding the cast, fans of B-movies may recognize Ted Raimi, brother of “Evil Dead” series director Sam Raimi, and Treat Williams, who starred in “Deep Rising” and “Dead Heat,” among many other films.

Olivia Alexander played Brittany and also sang for the soundtrack. I’ve read comments on the Giantess City forums that criticize the acting, but personally I feel that the script and effects were the worst components. Jena and Olivia were fine. Perhaps they aren’t good actors, but none of the scenes called for emotional depth or attempted to tug at heart strings.

Overall, I can’t recommend this. The script is derivative and the special effects are lackluster. That said, this can be found on YouTube so it may be worth a watch for hardcore giantess fans.

Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader is also on a few online streaming services and on DVD. (NOTE: The DVD release does not have any special features and is a barebones version. A Blu-Ray edition has yet to be produced.)

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