The Horror of Party Beach
Encyclopedia
The Horror of Party Beach (working title Invasion of the Zombies) 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".
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.
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.
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.
, 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.
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.
(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.
Beach Party film
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures with their surprise 1963 hit, Beach Party, and copied by virtually every other studio...
, directed by B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
maven Del Tenney
Del Tenney
Del Tenney is an American actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He established a legacy in film with several low-budget horror/exploitation films in the 1960s, including The Horror of Party Beach...
, which Tenney himself describes as "a take-off on beach parties
Beach Party film
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures with their surprise 1963 hit, Beach Party, and copied by virtually every other studio...
and musicals".
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
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...
.
Movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
featured The Horror of Party Beach in one of its season-8 episodes in 1997.
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.
Production notes
Unlike the beach party moviesBeach Party film
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures with their surprise 1963 hit, Beach Party, and copied by virtually every other studio...
filmed up to that time, this film was shot in black & white and on the Atlantic coast. Produced in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, the beach scenes were filmed in an area of town called Shippan Point
Shippan Point
Shippan Point is the southernmost neighborhood in Stamford, Connecticut, located on a peninsula in Long Island Sound. Street names such as Ocean Drive West and Lighthouse Way reflect the neighborhood's shoreline location....
.
The biker gang in the film was played by The Charter Oaks Motorcycle Club of Riverside, Connecticut.
Promotion
Capitalizing on a gimmick first utilized by director William CastleWilliam Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
, 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
Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler , also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies...
’s The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies made the same claim only a few months earlier.
Movie tie-in
As a tie-in, a monographic fumettiFumetti
Fumetti is an Italian word which refers to all comics. In English, the term refers specifically to photonovels or photographic comics, a genre of comics illustrated with photographs rather than drawings. Italians call these fotoromanzi...
comic book by Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
and Russ Jones
Russ Jones
Russ Jones is a Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine Creepy for Warren Publishing...
detailing the film's story was released by the Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades...
Company under its Famous Films masthead. It had a 35-cent cover price.
Music
Edward EarleEdward Earle
Edward Earle was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in almost 400 films between 1914 and 1956.He was born in Toronto and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 90.-Selected filmography:* The Purple Dress...
(aka Zebedy Colt
Zebedy Colt
Edward Earle Marsh was an American actor, musician, adult film director and star. He is principally known by his stage name Zebedy Colt.-Early years:...
) 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
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
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.
External links
- The Horror of Party Beach on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....