Summer is a time when we’re drawn to oceanfront vacations with sandy beaches, rolling waves and endless sunsets. It’s a sanctuary of fun in the sun. Or is it?
For 50 years, Jaws has made us afraid to go in the water, but other films showed us it’s not even safe to sit on the beach.
Those scurrying little crabs that look so cute on the beach can grow larger than people if we believe Roger Corman’s Attack of the Crab Monsters – and we do. Something is clawing people to death in Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) and a subterranean creature is loose in Blood Beach (1981). More recently, we watched in shock and awe as the half-shark, half-octopus title creature of the Corman-produced Sharktopus walked out of the water and right up the beach to its claim victims.
What are we to do? Run!!
Some might also say to run away from The Horror of Party Beach, a 1964 B-movie relying on some of the worst guys-in-monster-suits you’ll see on film.
But I don’t run from B-movie creature features. Plus, The Horror of Party Beach is a surprising example of eco-horror films of the 1970s where pollution had horrific effects on animals as depicted in Frogs, Day of the Animals and Food of the Gods.
The Horror of Party Beach takes that environmental concern and lightens it up with elements from biker flicks and musical beach party movies. There’s a band of nerdy-looking musicians in matching shirts, bikers in black, girls in teeny bikinis (and close-ups of those teeny bikinis), plenty of shenanigans and murderous creatures – all on the beach.
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Flirtatious teen Tina (Marilyn Clarke) and her shirtless blonde boyfriend Hank (John Scott) are driving in his MG convertible to the beach. But it’s not all hugs and kisses. Tina wants to party, but the more serious Hank isn’t happy about it. When a leather-clad motorcycle gang arrives, Tina cozies up to the leader. Guess who isn’t happy about that, either? The two guys throw some punches, tussle on the sand, then hilariously get up, shake hands and walk it off as an embarrassed and humiliated Tina runs into the water away from everyone.
What she doesn’t know is that a 55-gallon barrel of gook screaming “DANGER – RADIOACTIVE WASTE” has been dumped in the water. We’ve seen this before in movies and expect the radiation will turn the fish into giant creatures – but not this time. Instead, a long sequence with bad eerie music and looking like there’s gauze over the camera lens, shows how a human skull (from a shipwreck), is transformed into a googly-eyed creature.
As the kids on the beach dance and sing to “Zombie Stomp,” Tina is screaming her head off as the creature attacks. Though she’s in full view of her friends, no one notices.
Later, a few admit to police that they did see something coming out of the water. But the adults won’t have anything to do with reports of a “sea monster” until multiple creatures attack a slumber party killing more than 20 girls who were mourning Tina’s death through sing-alongs and pillow fights.
By now TV, radio and newspapers shout warnings about the “invasion from the sea.”
Still, that doesn’t stop the kids from walking on the beach, driving down dark roads and asking “What’s that fishy smell?” when it’s too late.
One of the young ladies who has escaped the horror is sweet Elaine (Alice Lyon). She clearly has eyes for Hank, who works for her dad, Dr. Gavin (Allan Laurel).
There’s also the Gavin’s housekeeper Eulabelle (played by Eulabelle Moore) who is a painful caricature of how movies portrayed black servants. At least she has some ideas about what’s going on, even if they relate to voodoo and and human evil. “Lurking and creeping and crawling around out there,” she says, only to be told by the rational doctor that there is a reasonable explanation.
These four will somehow team up to try and save the world.
Answers come from the film’s best scene as a frustrated creature sees a female mannequin in a store window and attacks it. It’s funny but also excellent in its own way. It also moves the story forward since the creature severs its arm when it breaks the window and that arm offers clues to what’s going on.
Don’t worry, Dr. Gavin will explain it all during the patented “mumbo-jumbo” scene. Expect to hear about protozoa, parasites and sea anemone and how they relate to human organisms.
“They are the living dead – they’re zombies,” Elaine says – which is exactly what Eulabelle was telling them all along, if people would only listen to the hired help.
And it’s Eulabelle who will accidentally finds an important clue. But first we’re treated to a montage of the good doc doing more research as the creatures – they are multiplying at a high rate – continue a reign of terror. (Again, it’s time to run, people.) There is a frantic search for supplies that includes Hank driving to New York City while the others test the local water for radioactivity in search of creatures.
The buildup to the end is paved with more questions. Will they find the creature habitats? Will Hank get what he needs and make it back in time? Will Elaine become fish bait like all of her friends? What is going on with Eulabelle and that voodoo doll?
And will any of it make sense?
For the answer to that final question, we have the words of director Del Tenney from a 2013 interview with the Stamford Advocate of Connecticut.
(He was a long-time Connecticut resident and filmed the movie there.)
Tenney, who was in his early 30s when he made the film, was surprised at the movie’s enduring popularity (there is a Horror of Party Beach action figure) partly because he understood the limitations of his film.
“It’s amusing, but it is a terrible movie, ” Tenney said. “But it turned into a cult thing, and people have fun with it.”
Fun – isn’t that what movies – and googly-eyed monsters – are about?
FUN FACTS
Production: It was filmed in two weeks with a budget of about $50,000. Director Del Tenney’s other low-budget films included Violent Midnight (1963), The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) and I Eat Your Skin (1971).
Sign the waiver: The film was half of a double bill with Tenney’s Curse of the Living Corpse and had a William Castle-like warning where moviegoers had to sign a “fright release” waiver before seeing the film in case it scared them to death.
They’re not actors: That’s a real band in the movie! And a real motorcycle gang, too! The New Jersey rock band The Del-Aires play themselves and perform six songs. The too-cool bikers were the real motorcycle club called Charter Oaks M.C. from Riverside, Conn. – which has multiple chapters today.
The actors: Outside of Eulabelle Moore who plays the voodoo-fearing Eulabelle, there’s not much of a cast resume. Moore starred in 15 Broadway productions and was known for her comic skills. John Scott, who played Hank, was also known as John Lyon but his credits are hard to find.
– Toni Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.
Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a member and board president of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and led the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto or on Bluesky at @watchingforever.bsky.social
