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[tab title="Movie Review"]
Hot rods! Heatwaves! Voodoo dolls! Fish Creatures! Nubile babes! And beach parties galore! And it is all set to the wickedly fresh tunes of The Del-Aires. Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, if The Horror of Party Beach isn’t the best campy cult flick to ever hit the sandy shores of this great country then I don’t know shit from Shinola.
You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll watch these ravenous fish monsters fry! Originally having its premiere in Dallas, Texas, The Horror of Party Beach was quick to outsell the competition at the drive-in and, trust me, there is good reason for it. This schlock and rock festival is a nonstop party full of great music, awesome women, and lots of creepy creatures. And it looks great thanks to Severin Films and its 2K restoration.
Surprisingly distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, this party beach rip – taking a cue from AIP’s Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon flicks – mixes humor, surf tunes, and dancing with a creature feature and produces one of the best flicks this side of the red and blue 3D glasses. It even has a real motorcycle gang in it, the Charter Oaks M.C., who were very interested in seeing themselves on the screen.
If you are anything like me, you will marvel at the fact that this immortal drive-in classic – because once seen, it can NEVER be forgotten – was filmed in two weeks for a cool $50,000. I mean, who needs a budget when you have corn syrup and rubber boots and a whole bunch of babes in bikinis? Fuck college, let’s go shoot a movie!
Directed by I Eat You Skin’s Del Tenney (who loved gore and female nudity) and written by Richard Hilliard (Violent Midnight) this beach party movie is all sorts of fun in the sun as a clan of foul smelling fish monsters crawl out of the ocean – thanks to some radioactive sludge dumped in the water – and find themselves hungry for the fairer sex. It’s fun and funny and matches its scenes of gore with some naughty bits of shaking asses and lots of thighs, thighs, thighs.
Clumsy and often slow moving, these killer jellyfish monsters are giving the natives quite a good scare. I mean, moving through the water in a rubber suit can’t be all that great. The killings, after the graphic ones are finished, become montages that show the creatures carrying their victims out to sea while scientists and police officers scratch their heads. How will this end? {googleads}
The sea zombies are coming! The sea zombies are coming! And Severin Films, the providers of some of the greatest B-movies and killer cult flicks of all time, rise to the occasion once again. Got a free night and plenty of beer? Then sit your ass down and watch these dumbass humans go round and round with a type of monster that can easily be defeated by sodium. And it took them how long to figure this out?!
"Some kind of monster is killing people and drinking their blood," says one teen. "Imagine being that thirsty," says another. Ho! Ho! This damn flick rocks your socks right off your cocks(-a-doodle-doo). Seriously. And the zombie stomp slayings begins with the smell of fish. All the girls comment on the freakishly horrible smell right before they are attacked. Whether by sea or by land, there is a gaggle of deadly monsters that just loves wrapping their fish-smelling arms around some lovely female waists and then chomping away at their necks. Nom nom nom.
And, with teeth that look like large sausages (ehem), this lo-fi charmer about humans kept alive by radioactive residue unfolds across the screen as only b-grade sleaze could: with a wink and a smile. The details are poor and the acting is worse. It is quite comical in fact and all those deficiencies add to the total enjoyment of the movie. With bodacious babes and handsome hunks, The Horror of Party Beach is a total blast.
The film, featuring John Scott, Alice Lyon, and Allan Laurel, doesn’t even attempt to hide its shortcomings. And I absolutely love that it dares to go there with the gore and the lingering shots on shaking asses. This movie, as righteous as it is, may in fact be the perfect cult classic. It is wild and unhinged and, as the people responsible for its groovy swagger are actually I Eat Your Skin co-conspirators, there’s a deep well of respect for what they are doing communicated here. Their strengths are showcased in scenes of gore and air bubbles rising to the surface of a pond. Something is coming. And it is ready to party with its pants off.
Everybody out of the water! Get ready to dance. The Horror of Party Beach is one hell of a swinging time! GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!
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[tab title="Details"]
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 78 mins
Director: Del Tenney
Writer: Richard Hilliard
Cast: John Scott, Alice Lyon, Allan Laurel
Genre: Horror | Musical
Tagline: Hear The Del-Aires Swing Out 6 Big Beat Songs!
Memorable Movie Quote: "I just saw your father, and he's been burned badly but he'll be fine."
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Official Site:
Release Date: June 1, 1964
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: August 28, 2018
Synopsis: When nuclear waste dumped into the ocean mutates a shipwreck full of corpses, it will unleash an onslaught of bikini teens, surprising gore, dubious science, an intrepid maid, The Del-Aires, and arguably the greatest worst monsters in horror movie history.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Home Video Distributor: Severin Films
Available on Blu-ray - August 28, 2018
Screen Formats: 1.66:1
Audio: English Mono; closed captions
Language: English
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
Severin Films presents The Horror of Party Beach with a brand new 2K digital restoration and boy is it ever tight! With uncompressed monaural soundtrack, this 78-minute transfer is a beauty of black-and-white photography. The grain level is perfect. The details are crisp and there’s no flaw in the 1080p picture. It. Is. Golden. Dirt and debris have been removed from the fine-grain presentation. The black-and-white film is shadow-heavy and the transfer holds thick lines in place. Nothing bleeds. It is surprisingly clean given the age of the film, without any over-processing lending the picture an artificial appearance. The film is still allowed to breathe and retains a level of grain that ensures an authentic and credible appearance. Even the darkest of scenes are rarely problematic, with the blacks proving extremely solid and lighter grays visually stunning. The original monoaural soundtrack has been remastered for its LPCM Mono track.
Supplements:
Commentary:
-
None
Special Features:
With a new retrospective featurette about the making of the movie leading off the special features, this release simply can’t go wrong. There’s a lot of information to take in. Included is a new interview with The Del Aires, a look at rock and roll-themed movies, and am archival interview with Del Tenney. A trailer is included, too. If you get this through Severin Films website, you have the chance to get it with a blow-up beach ball and a cool pin. Get your hands on this release NOW.
- Return to Party Beach
- It’s the Living End: An Encounter with The Del-Aires
- Schock & Roll
- Del Tenney Interview
- Trailer
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