Meanwhile, Dr. Roland Gerard (Tom Conway), a mad scientist who has exiled himself deep in the same jungle, is using a combination of native voodoo and his own biochemical discoveries in an attempt to create a superhuman being.

Dr. Gerard's initial attempts to create a female superbeing are a failure because the transformation is only temporary and the native girl used as the subject of the experiment lacks the killer instinct he deems necessary to carryout his instructions.

After becoming human again, Marilyn tries to salvage the idol which has almost fallen into a poisonous gas pit which the natives use for their sacrifices, and she accidentally loses her balance and falls into it herself, only to rise up out of it as the beast once again.

A prop man handed Tom Conway a small vial of real acid in one scene that was to be poured on the creature's leg, and Blaisdell wound up with a scar on his shin that lasted the rest of his life.

[3] Originally titled Black Voodoo,[4] the film was shot during the frigid California winter of 1956-57 under a fast working schedule of six days and a budget of $80,000.

"[6] The original make-up design for the Voodoo Woman was deemed unsuitable at the last minute and the title monster is actually the She Creature costume hurriedly stripped of its tail, fins and pincer-like claws.

[7] Writing in AllMovie, critic Hal Erickson described the film as "more of a 'greed and revenge' melodrama than anything else," noting that it "is inevitable that Gerard will transform Marilyn into a monster, leading to a lively if barely credible finale.

"[8] In his The Pit and the Pen column in Fangoria magazine producer Alex Gordon revealed that the movie nearly caused a break-up with his then-fiance Ruth Alexander.

Proud of the finished production he took her to see it at its Burbank premiere only to have her hand back his engagement ring when it was over, telling him that he should be making prestigious high class art films and not trash like this.