Monday, May 08, 2006

Del Tenney Double Feature

Horror At Party Beach – 1963

     I’ve seen this movie several times (and you will remember it if you have as well. It’s the one with the monster that has hot dogs coming out of its mouth). But this is the best print by far. It’s gorgeous. Clear, bright, unscratched, with crystal clear and clean sound.

This movie really is hysterical. You gotta love the black woman housemaid that’s a throwback to the “old days”. And the dialogue? You will laugh out loud (unless you get too drunk to early. Pace yourself!)

This disc has subtitles and a commentary by Del Tenney and someone from Dark Sky whose name I missed. Dark Sky is a new company that is releasing many great, old films. They are an up and comer that so far has done very well. Del talks about Ed Wood, and that’s pretty interesting. He seems to have respected him a lot more at the time than one would expect. He says Ed was a kind of hero. This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say ANYTHING like that. It was nice. The guy from Dark Sky acts, sounds, and talks a lot like Mike Varney from Something Weird Video on their commentaries. It’s good stuff.

The only other extra on this section is an interview with Del Tenney that has more history leading up to the making of the movie.

Three beers out of five. The commentary adds a beer to this classic hurter.

Curse of the Living Corpse – 1963

     This is a completely different movie. Much better than I expected (especially after considering Horror At Party Beach). It’s well done, well shot, with a good cast, excellent costumes for a period piece, and great camera work. It features Roy Scheider in his very first role. It’s a great little gothic shocker with an ending that even I didn’t see coming.

Del’s wife Margot Hartman (who genre fans will remember as Mayaway in Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women) has a good role here. And unlike many wives of directors, does a fine job. Of course, she was an actress on stage before she was Mrs. Tenney, but still.

This movie too has subtitles and a commentary. Shot for $30-40K, over two weeks. And it grossed over a million dollars it’s first year of release. Gotta love that. According to the commentary, (and now that I look, IMDB agrees) he worked on Satan In High Heels! A classic sexploitation flick. And that’s where he learned his trade.



Three beers out of five.