Starring – John Scott, Alice Lyon, Allan Laurel, Eulabelle Moore (Party Beach) and Roy Schieder, Candace Hilligoss, Helen Warren, Margot Hartman (Living Corpse).
Dark Sky Films release, Region 0
Out March 28th 2006
First up on this double bill of horror hokum from cult movie maker Del Tenney is Horror of Party Beach, a deliciously 60s mix of beach parties and monster movies. Hunky, muscled scientist Hank races his MG against some rebel bikers before stopping off at a beach party with his girlfriend Tina. Offshore, radioactive waste is dropped into the ocean where a leak causes a human skull to regenerate into a terrifying sea monster!
The first half of Party Beach deals with the partying and the second half deals with the murders and Hank finding a way to kill the rampaging, and multiplying, monsters. During this first half, hero Hank disappears for at least 20 minutes, after a cool fight sequence between him and the bikers. As if to remind us of the brutality of today’s movie fights, this one ends with Hank and the chief biker shaking hands! Once he is back though, he and his mentor Dr Gavin are reliable heroes.
Director and writer Del Tenney hired rock ‘n roll band the Del Aires (the shared ‘Del’ being only a coincidence) to perform the custom written songs throughout the film and they are pretty good, however the annoying dance sequences beg for the fast forward button to come into action. Party Beach is a hard movie to catagorise, but anyone who enjoys campy, schlocky horror will find much to like here.
Curse of the Living Corpse is another matter entirely. Where Party Beach’s tongue remains firmly in cheek, Living Corpse is a serious period horror, and very good it is too. Nasty old Rufus Sinclair is buried whilst his family bickers. His last will and testament is read, which states that unless his rules are followed, each member of his family will have each of their individual worst fears realized. Only trouble is, old Rufus suffered from a rare disease that occasionally made him look as if he was dead, and the family has already broken most of the rules!
Tenney estimates that this film cost about $30,000 to make, not that you would realise it as the acting, sets and costumes are all first rate. Tenney came from the theatre and bought a lot of the actors with him, thus the movie has a very theatrical feel about it, which really adds to the atmosphere and explains the classy performances.
The inventive (and relatively violent in places) deaths build up through the movie, which ends with a fun twist. Living Corpse is far more watchable that Party Beach and easily stands up on it own as a 60s horror classic. The opening 20 minutes has such a gothic and suspenseful atmosphere, which is further backed up by the feeling that you are watching a stage play, that once the will has been read out, you wonder how it can continue at such a pace. Luckily the actors and script do keep the pace up right to the last moment. Absolutely great fun!
The Disc
Both movies are in black and white, but have been digitally remastered into a 1.78:1 anamorphic print. Dark Sky have done a nice job of cleaning up what I can imagine were pretty badly worn originals, their work on Living Corpse is particularly good. Sound has been given the Dolby stereo treatment and is again far better than could be expected of two 40 year old drive-in favourites.
Under the special features section for Party Beach we get a short interview with Del Tenney, who comes across as a very pleasant man, somewhat surprised at the attention these movies still get. Over on the Living Corpse are trailers for each movie along with a photo gallery.
The main special feature is a Del Tenney commentary on each movie. He is kept on track by a Dark Sky representative throughout each one and does offer some fascinating facts about film making in the 60s, even stating that Ed Wood was an idol of his at the time. Apart from a bit of mumbling from Tenney and that old commentary stalwart ‘explaining what is happening on the screen’, these are worthwhile listens.
Conclusion
Any fans of 60s nostalgia, either creature movies or teen beach parties, will enjoy the campy fun of Horror of Party Beach and even for those who weren’t born when these were originally released will have a laugh. But Curse of the Living Corpse stands well above that for being an excellent old school, horror, filled with a strong atmosphere and great acting. At this price it deserves to be picked up for this alone.
