THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH Review

THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH, from 1964,  was billed as "The first horror monster musical" about "Weird atomic beasts who live off human blood!"  I first saw this movie in the fall of 1970, when I tuned in to watch a baseball playoff game that got rained out. Instead, my local TV station played this movie, and I've never forgotten it.

 Filmed in sunny Stamford, Connecticut, in the fall of 1963, it was directed by Del Tenney, the man who also gave the world THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE, PSYCHOMANIA, also known as VIOLENT MIDNIGHT, and ZOMBIE BLOODBATH, better known as I EAT YOUR SKIN. The music is performed by the genius surf-garage band, the Del-Aires, and includes such toe-tappers as "Wigglin' and Wobblin'" and "The Zombie Stomp."

THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH stars Alice Lyon, John Scott, and Eulabelle Moore, whose black maid character is extremely politically incorrect, but no less enjoyable. She gets the most out of such priceless dialogue as "It's the voodoo, I tells ya!"

A sign was posted at every theater showing this film which stated: "FOR YOUR PROTECTION! We will not permit you to see these shockers unless you agree to release the theatre of all responsibility for death by fright!" Moviegoers actually had to sign a "Fright Release" before they entered the theater. There were no deaths by fright reported at the time, but be careful, folks. While THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH may not scare you to death, it may cause partial paralysis of the brain, and you may lose several points off of your IQ just by watching this movie.

The atomic sea monsters are absurd, among the cheesiest creatures of the era, and that's saying something. Despite having a fatal intolerance for sodium, their mouths are stuffed full of what look like polish sausages.

This movie has received many honors over the years, having been named in two separate polls as one of the 100 worst films of all time, and also one of the 50 worst films of all time. It's number 61 on the Internet Movie Database's "Bottom 100," which although dominated by more recent fare like FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY, PHAT GIRLZ, and LARRY THE CABLE GUY: HEALTH INSPECTOR, has more than a few films from the golden age of the drive-in. In any case whether this movie is the 61st-worst movie of all time or merely the 79th, I get a kick out of it every time I see it, something that cannot be said for, say, DEUCE BIGALOW, MALE GIGOLO.

It's hard to rate this film, as it's one of those so-bad-it's-good monster movies. Compared to CITIZEN KANE, it's a one-star film; as an enjoyable, laugh-out-loud cheesefest, it gets five stars from this reviewer. I'll split the difference and call it three. Make that four. THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH is one of a kind, the world's first, and last, "horror monster musical."

Now if I could only find the soundtrack album.

Now available on DVD from Dark Sky Films in an uncut, letterboxed version (with commentary by Del Tenney!) as a two-fer with the film that it was originally double-billed with back in '64, THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE.