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Released by: Dark Sky Films
Released on: April 25, 2006.
Director: Del Tenney
Cast: John Scott, Alice Lyon
Year: 1964
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The Films:
In short? Dark Sky pairs up two Del Tenney produced schlock vehicles on one double feature for the first time, and the results are akin to a party in a box! It's just that much fun. Here's why…
THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE
Set in eighteenth century England, the film follows one Rufus Sinclair who we first meet at his funeral! He was a wealthy man, and now many of his relatives are scurrying about trying to cash in on the man's death, hoping to make out like the bandits that they are with a sizeable inheritence of some sort. What many of them don't know, or don't want to know, is that Rufus' one great fear in life was that he would be buried alive and so in his will he made sure that his fear would not come to life if certain instructions were followed as his last request. His bumbling relatives of course pay no mind to the dead man's wishes, and because of that, he rises from the grave and starts knocking people off one at a time.
Shortly after he's been laid to rest, his butler and then later even some of his own children all find out that Rufus wasn't messing around at all in his will, he took it all very seriously. Will they be able to satiate their undead relative or will his vengeance eliminate his entire clan?
Gorier than you'd expect for a movie of its time and modest budget, The Curse Of The Living Corpse is a fun murder mystery with some really creative kill scenes and some keen New-England-doubling-for-old-England locations. Creaky old crypts, graveyards, woodsy areas, and of course a shadowy old house all make excellent spots for a vengeful corpse to exact his plan, and that's exactly what happens in the film.
While the storyline isn't really anything to write home about in terms of originality (in fact at times it almost feels like it was recycled from a Scooby-Doo cartoon, but that's half the charm right there), the execution (or rather, executions) make it all worth while. There's plenty of style, a fast pace, and a few moments that do exhibit some legitimate suspense scattered throughout the movie that make it completely worthwhile. This one makes a nice companion piece to Tenney's earlier production, Violent Midnight.
THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
A lot of people will remember this title as much for the photo comic adaptation as for the movie itself, likely the most popular and most recognizeable of Tenney's output. The movie begins when a gang of careless, environmentally insensitive seafaring types dump barrels of toxic waste into the ocean. What they don't realize once they've dumped their goop and headed for shore is that the waste has seeped down to the floor of the sea and landed on top of an old human skull, which turns into a sort of Gwar-meets-The-Creature kind of monster that starts mutiplying.
Back on dry land, Hank Green (John Scott), a local football hero, is fighting with bikers on the titular Party Beach. It seems they can't agree on something, and so it's come to fisticuffs. Little does the distracted Hank realize that Tina (Marilyn Clark), his pretty young girlfriend, has wandered off and since been slaughtered by one of the toxic waste ocean monster things that has come to the beach looking for food. Hank is pretty upset until he meets the even prettier Elaine (Alice Lyons) who hooks him up with her dad, a scientist named Dr. Gavin (Allen Laurel) who brings in the local cops to hunt down and kill the creatures before they kill again. Unfortunately, the creatures have already started spreading across the area, killing off hobos and pretty girls with reckless abandon…
Rarely can a movie so seemlessly combine bad monster costumes, twisting teenagers, bikers, gore, football hunks and surf music with such fantastic results. Sure, the movie is completely ridiculous but just try not to have a whole lot of fun while sitting down with this one. The creature design is the stuff of legend, about as goofy as it gets, and they're not really too menacing so much as they are just funny looking but that doesn't stop the actors from trying their damndest to look as scared as they can once they emerge from the murky ocean depths. It might not be high art, but it sure is great entertainment.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Curse Of The Living Corpse and The Horror Of Party Beach both hit DVD in nice, sharp 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfers. This reviewer isn't sure if that's the original aspect ratio for either film (and the credits for The Curse Of The Living Corpse are the reason for that, as they're presented fullframe) but that said, the compositions don't look to be compromised much leading one to guess that if 1.78.1 isn't the exact OAR, it's got to be pretty close. Either way, the quality of the picture is quite good, with solid contract levels, only a minimal amount of print damage, and strong black levels. There's a pretty decent level of both foreground and background detail in the picture and aliasing and edge enhancement, while present, aren't overpowering or overly distracting.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtracks are fine - they're free of any hiss or distortion and while sometimes the range sounds a little bit limited, you won't ever have a problem understanding the performers or their dialogue in either film. Background music and sound effects are properly balanced and things sound pretty good on this DVD. No subtitles or alternate language tracks are included.
Dark Sky has brought Del Tenney on board for this release and had him record two separate commentary tracks, one for each film. Tenney doesn't remember everything but he certainly remembers enough and both of these tracks are pretty thorough discussions of the movies at hand and of his career in general. He talks about location shooting, how to work under such low budgets, how some of the effects were handled and working with specific actors. If the two commentary tracks weren't enough, Del Tenney also sits down in front of the camera for a nice interview segment in which he discusses his filmmaking career, how he got his start as a movie maker, dealing with distribution issues and budgets, and more. While some of the material here is also covered in the commentary tracks, it's nice to see the jovial Tenney as he tells his stories, he comes across as a genuinely nice guy.
Rounding out the extra features are trailers for both features, and a nice gallery of still photos and promotional posters for the two movies.
The Final Word:
The Del Tenny Double Feature is a whole lot of fun and the excellent presentation and extra features are the icing on the cake. Own it already!