Shandra: The Jungle Girl is a 1999 soft core adventure film.
Something wild. Something untamed. She is Shandra...the jungle girl!
Shandra's attacks come only by the light of the full moon - and they're always fatal. But this wild creature from the jungles of Brazil doesn't maim or destroy her victims - she pleasures them to death, draining their vital essence sexually.
Four biologists set out to study and capture this elusive predator, but their pursuit becomes a race against time as Shandra winds up stalking them instead.
Tropes used in Shandra: the Jungle Girl:
- Caught in a Snare: The Great White Hunter Karen sets a snare for Shandra; using Cord as bait. It works. Antonio tries something similar earlier, but fails miserably.
- Caught on Tape: Armstrong is recording his observations on tape when he is attacked by Shandra. He drops the still running Dictaphone with the result that his near-fatal encounter with Shandra is recorded.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Travis Fox is a businessman who funds the expedition to locate Shandra so he can capture her, bring her back to the States, and sell her to the highest bidder.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: The title character is a Jungle Princess who spends the entire movie barefoot. At multiple points, other characters discuss how much more primal and closer to nature she is than normal people.
- Erotic Dream: After he is knocked out by a Tranquillizer Dart while attempting to capture Shandra, Cord has an erotic dream about her. He is a little disconcerted when he wakes up and finds his girlfriend Ellen by his bed.
- Evil Is Petty: Corrupt Corporate Executive Travis Fox refuses to pay Diego for his services as a jungle guide (despite Diego's brother dying on the expedition). This comes back to bite him on the ass when Diego provides assistance to a group of employees looking to screw Travis over.
- Fur Bikini: Worn by Shandra. Also by Ellen when she chooses to join Shandra in the jungle at the end of the film.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: When the guard finds Shandra and Karen curled together on the bed of the cell, naked, he says "Ladies, you shouldn't be doing that here. <Beat> Not that I mind". He is so distracted that Shandra is able to knock him down and escape.
- Government Agency of Fiction: Ian Abercrombie works for (or possibly heads) something called the Department of Species Control. Exactly what this department does isn't clear, but as he is seeking to develop assassins who are living biological weapons, it seems safe to assume it isn't anything good.
- Great White Hunter: Karen is a rare female example. An expert hunter and tracker, she is hired to lead the expedition to capture Shandra. Cord even jocularly refers to her as 'a great white hunter'.
- Instant Sedation: The Tranquilizer Darts used to capture Shandra. The one that hits Cord knocks him out for three days.
- Intimate Healing: When Shandra starts to slip into a coma, Ellen and Cord are able to revive her by having sex with her.
- Jungle Princess: Shandra is a rare case of jungle princess as antagonist, with the heroes initially setting out to capture her.
- Life Drinker: Shandra 'feeds' by forcibly having sex with men and draining their life energy during the act. It is not clear how much this is under her control.
- Life Energy: Shandra 'feeds' by forcibly having sex with men and draining their life energy during the act.
- Loincloth: Cord sees in himself living in the jungle wearing only a loin cloth in one of the visions Shandra shares with him. At the end of the movie, he joins Shandra in the jungle, and is clad only in a loin cloth.
- No Name Given: Several characters are never identified. The woman Karen is sleeping with is only listed as 'Gorgeous blonde' in the credits, and the stripper is listed as 'Stripper'.
- Nubile Savage: Shandra is a wild woman dwelling in a South American jungle, who is sexually irresistible to men.
- Out with a Bang: Shandra kills several men by draining their Life Energy while having sex with them.
- Pistol-Whipping: After Travis hands Shandra over to Ian, Ian casually knocks him with his automatic; commenting that he didn't have the budget for the money Travis wanted.
- Quick Nip: After the expedition finds the body of his brother Antonio, Diego is constantly seen taking swigs from a hip flask.
- Really 700 Years Old: Shandra looks like she is in her mid-20s, but is at least 90 years old, and there are strong hints that she is actually far, far older.
- Shrouded in Myth: Shandra is this this at the start of the movie; having been a native myth for a century or more. At the point where Armstrong is about to abandon his quest to find her, he says Shandra belongs in the same category as bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.
- The Speechless: Shandra does not speak in the film. A Nubile Savage from the jungles of South America, she certainly does not speak English, and it seems likely that she does not know any human languages.
- They Would Cut You Up: This is what Ian plans to do to Shandra. He wants to vivisect her so he can learn the secret of her sexually based Life Energy draining, and can give it to other women under his control. He is about to start the process when he falls victim to Shandra's power.
- Tranquillizer Dart: The expedition uses tranquillizer darts to take Shandra alive. One accidentally hits Cord and knocks him out for three days. If the darts had been calibrated to take down the Made of Iron Shandra, this probably isn't surprising.
- Travel Montage: The 'red-line-on-the-map' version is used to depict the expedition's journey to Santiago.
- Two-Person Pool Party: Karen and her girlfriend (only identified in the credits as 'Gorgeous Blonde'), have sex in Karen's enormous sunken bath the night before Karen leaves for the expedition.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: When Shandra goes hunting, she winds up at a strip club. The audience is treated to an entire striptease occurring on the stage, despite it having nothing to do with the plot.
