Del Tenney Double Feature: The Horror of Party Beach & The Curse of the Living Corpse DVD Review

Written by Steve " This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " Pattee

DVD released by Dark Sky Films

The Horror of Party Beach

Directed by Del Tenney

Written by Richard Hilliard

1964, Region 1 (NTSC), 78 minutes, Not Rated

DVD released on March 28th, 2006

Starring:

John Scott as Hank Green

Alice Lyon as Elaine Gavin

Allen Laurel as Dr. Gavin

Eulabelle Moore as Eulabelle

Marilyn Clark as Tina

Agustin Mayer as Mike

The Curse of the Living Corpse

Written and directed by Del Tenney

1964, Region 1 (NTSC) 84 minutes, Not rated

DVD released on March 28th, 2006

Roy Scheider as Philip Sinclair

Helen Warren as Abigail Sinclair

Margot Hartman as Vivian Sinclair

Robert Milli as Bruce Sinclair

Hugh Franklin as James Benson

Candace Hilligoss as Deborah Benson

Movie:

The Horror of Party Beach

Off the coast of “party beach,” a ship is dumping a barrel of toxic waste.

The barrel slowly sinks to the bottom of the sea, where it inevitably bursts open—spilling its contents onto a skeleton.

One barely of toxic waste plus one skeleton equals a bunch of scantily clad women running for their lives.

Booya!

The Curse of the Living Corpse

Rufus Sinclair, wealthy man and apparent bastard, has died.  Maybe.

In his will, he left explicit instruction to his family and staff on how the funeral arrangements were to be made.

Rufus also warned that if his instructions weren’t followed to the letter, he would come back from the grave and kill them.

But he wouldn’t be easy on them… he will kill them in the way they would least likely want to die.

It’s never easy.

Review:

There are two vastly different movies in this double-feature from Dark Sky Films.

Beach is a simple concoction — add one part West Side Story, one part any given Avalon/Funicello beach film and one part B-movie monster; shake, and serve.

Wait.  What?  West Side Story?  That’s right, kids.  In one scene, a biker and a soc rumble — and you almost swear they just want to cut lose and dance.  Knives don’t kill people, dancing shoes do.

It’s not ground-breaking.  It’s not thought-provoking.  It’s drive-in schlocky fun.

Corpse, however, is more of a black comedy than schlock.  It’s got a wicked, darkly funny script that seems to be tailor made for the actors.

Robert Milli (Klute), as the oldest son Bruce, is flat-out awesome.  Womanizer, chauvinist and all-around son of a bitch, this cat is just a pleasure to watch.  Some of the things he says, and does, are grenades.  They get lobbed out in your general direction, your mouth drops open for a few seconds, then you laugh in disbelief.

Coming close on Milli’s heels is Roy Scheider (Jaws, The Punisher) as Bruce’s alcoholic, younger brother.  Hardly ever seen without a drink nearby — be it his flask or a glass — Scheider’s just as amusing in that “I can’t believe I’m laughing at this” way.

Sure Corpse’s story is one told a hundred times, but it’s the perfect example of how it’s not the story, but how it’s told.

And writer/director Del Tenney spun a good yarn.

Audio, video and special features will not be graded, as this is a screener, but both movies will have a commentary with Del Tenney, photo galleries and trailers.

Grades:
Movie:	(The Horror of Party Beach) (The Curse of the Living Corpse)
Video:	n/a
Audio:	n/a
Features:	n/a
Overall:

Conclusion:

The Horror of Party Beach is nothing spectacular—it’s the typical first movie of a drive-in double feature.  A little enjoyable, but quickly forgettable.

But The Curse of the Living Corpse is good enough to stand on its own, because it is a well-acted movie with a smart script.  Dark comedy that is laugh-out-loud funny.

(Equipment includes a Mitsubishi WS-48613 48” HDTV, Sony DVP-CX875P DVD player and Onkyo HTS-770 Home Theater System and, in some cases, a Sony 27” WEGA TV and a Sony DVP-NS50P DVD player.)

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