The Horror of Party Beach
| The Horror of Party Beach | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Del Tenney |
| Produced by | Del Tenney |
| Written by | Richard Hilliard |
| Starring | John Scott Alice Lyon Allen Laurel Marilyn Clarke |
| Cinematography | Richard Hilliard |
| Editing by | Leonard De Munde, David Simpson |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (distributor) Regal Films and Dark Sky Films |
| Release date(s) | June 1, 1964 |
| Running time | 78 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
The Horror of Party Beach (working title Invasion of the Zombies)[1] is a 1964 horror film in the beach party genre, directed by B-movie maven Del Tenney, which Tenney himself describes as "a take-off on beach parties and musicals". [2] A small U.S. East Coast beach town experiences a wave of attacks from water plants and dead human tissue mutated from radioactive waste. They coalesce into humanoid form by attaching themselves to skeletons in a shipwreck and immediately proceed to hunt down and kill mostly young women, as is common in the horror films of this era. Despite the murders committed by the monsters, young women in large numbers keep returning to the area and having, for instance, slumber parties, much to the monster's convenience. Trying to stop the monsters are scientist Dr. Gavin, his young-adult daughter Elaine, and her boyfriend (and his employee) Hank Green, with some unexpected assistance from housekeeper Eulabelle and metallic sodium.
Movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured The Horror of Party Beach in one of its season-8 episodes in 1997. [3]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The movie starts with Hank and his immature girlfriend, Tina, driving in a car to the beach with a gang of motorcyclists. Tina is drinking alcohol, Hank tells Tina To lay off the alcohol, but Tina says she's going to have a great cocktail. Hank says he's not going to carry her everywhere like a servant. Tina gets mad and says she never needed him. Hank says that he has matured from being a "campus big shot who'd do anything for kicks." She wants to prove to him she can live better in her own way. Meanwhile, a boat dumps toxic waste into the ocean, which lands on a sunken ship with a skull of a dead sailor, which transforms slowly into a half human, half fish-like monster. The monster then proceeds to make its way to the surface.
Meanwhile, a party is going on at the beach with music played live by "The Del-Aires". The party catches the attention of a motorcycle gang. Tina starts flirting with the leader, Mike. After some dancing, Tina begins stripping. Hank, who was just staring out at the ocean, talks with Elaine. He tells her about Tina, and Elaine says she is sure that Tina will understand him eventually. Noticing the commotion at the beach, Hank and Elaine decide to check. Hank, angry at Tina, tries to take her away, but Mike starts a fight with him. Hank wins, and Mike accepts his defeat. Tina tries to apologize to Hank, but he leaves. Mike is then taken home by his gang. Tina then decides to go for a swim. She swims all the way out to some rocks far away from the beach. She is attacked and killed by the monster. The sight of her body causes commotion on the beach.
Later, Elaine has been worried about Hank since Tina's death. Her father, Dr. Gavin, tells her not to worry about him. Eulabelle, Dr. Gavin's housekeeper, suggests that some kind of voodoo is responsible for Tina's death. Gavin refuses to believe it. Later that night, Elaine cancels going to a slumber party with her friends. The monsters, whose number have increased, along with the inclusion of a new kind of monster which seems to be more plant-like than fish-like, attack the slumber party and kill most of the girls. This news spreads quickly. Three traveling girls make their way through the town while traveling to New York. They get a flat tire while going past Fingel's Quarry. While attempting to fix the tire, they are killed by the monsters.
Elaine is later seen depressed by the news of these murders. Hank comes by to pick her up for a date and decides to go to the beach. He has a short chat with the Del-Aires, who tell him that there has been no action since Tina was killed. The band sings "Summer Love."
Meanwhile, two girls wait for someone to pick them up. A monster stalks them as they walk along. The girls are finally picked up, and the monster gets angry. The monster then walks along the street, and it notices a clothing store with female mannequins on display. The monster punches through the glass in an attempt to attack them, but its arm is ripped off by the sharp edges. The arm is later studied by Dr. Gavin and Hank. The arm is still alive, and they can't figure out how to kill it. They then hear some noises upstairs. Thinking it's one of the monsters, they prepare to defend themselves, but it turns out to be Eulabelle. She notices the monster arm and is startled by it, accidentally spilling a container of sodium on it, which kills the arm. A way to kill the monsters has been found. Meanwhile, a drunk is killed by another monster, the only male victim shown.
Since the discovery of the monsters' weakness, a way to locate the monsters is searched for. After discovering that the monsters leave radioactive water wherever they go, which allows scanning for them to track them, Dr. Gavin finally tells Hank to get sodium. Hank cannot find anyone who supplies sodium, but Eulabelle suggests he try the last few places in the phone book. Hank finds a place that has it and goes to New York to get it. Meanwhile, Dr. Gavin has no luck in finding the monsters. Eulabelle tells him that Hank went to get the sodium, and Elaine went to look for the monsters at Fingel's Quarry. Dr. Gavin realizes that it's where the monsters must be, and he rushes off to help Elaine, bringing a small case of sodium with him. Elaine tests the water for radioactivity, and the monsters chase her. She trips between two rocks and injures her leg, but she still tries to run away.
Dr. Gavin arrives and throws sodium at the monster attacking Elaine, which kills it. Another monster attacks. Since he used his sodium, he attempts to defend his daughter himself. Hank, who is bringing more sodium, is stopped by a cop, who leads him to Fingel's Quarry. Hank saves Dr. Gavin by killing the monster attacking him, but Gavin is burned. The group then kills all the monsters. Later, Hank visits Elaine, whose leg is recovering. They kiss while music by the Del-Aires plays on the radio.
[edit] Production notes
Unlike the beach party movies filmed up to that time, this film was shot in black & white and on the Atlantic coast. Produced in Stamford, Connecticut, the beach scenes were filmed in an area of town called Shippan Point.
The biker gang in the film was played by The Charter Oaks Motorcycle Club of Riverside, Connecticut.
[edit] Promotion
Capitalizing on a gimmick first utilized by director William Castle, some newspaper advertisements included a call-out that stated "For your protection! We will not permit you to see these shockers unless you agree to release the theater of all responsibility for death by fright!" and theaters were encouraged by the distributor to have patrons sign a "Fright Release" before they took their seats.
Although billed in its promotional material as "The First Horror Monster Musical," all the songs heard in the film are presented as either soundtrack music or source music, as opposed to the style of a traditional musical with songs sung by central characters of the story. In addition, Ray Dennis Steckler’s The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies made the same claim only a few months earlier.[4]
[edit] Movie tie-in
As a tie-in, a monographic fumetti comic book by Wally Wood and Russ Jones detailing the film's story was released by the Warren Publishing Company under its Famous Films masthead. It had a 35-cent cover price.[5] [6] The monsters for the film were constructed at Gutzon Borglum's (Mt. Rushmore) sculpting studio! There were two suits, and when they dried one was too small for the stunt man. Ruth Glassenberg Freedman, who had been hired as the Production Assistant had a son Charles Freedman who was sixteen at the time. He fit perfectly into the suit, and thus became a Monster for "The Horror of Party Beach"!
[edit] Music
Edward Earle (aka Zebedy Colt) composed the film’s soundtrack, and Wilfred Holcombe is credited as the musical director. Earle and Holcombe wrote three songs that are performed in the film: "Joy Ride," "The Zombie Stomp," and "You Are Not A Summer Love."
Gary Robert Jones and Ronnie Linares, both of "The Del-Aires" (a Paterson, New Jersey rock band who play themselves as a local band) wrote one song together, "Drag," and one song each: "Wigglin' Wobblin'" (Jones) and "Elaine" (Linares). The Del-Aires performed all six songs in the film. [7]
[edit] References
- ^ The Horror of Party Beach at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ The Horror of Party Beach interview with Del Terrey, The Del Tenney Double Feature DVD, UPC 030306773193.
- ^ ""Mystery Science Theater 3000 Unofficial Episode Guide: Season 8"". The Satellite News. http://www.mst3kinfo.com/episodes/epeight.html. Retrieved 2006-05-08.
- ^ Chad Plambeck, Bad Movie Planet November 15, 2009
- ^ The Comic Book Database
- ^ Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant
- ^ ""The Dynamic Del-Aires"". Bad Movie Planet. http://www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/tributes/delaires/delairesindex.html. Retrieved 2006-05-08.
