The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)

**_Colorful early 60’s low-budget carnival horror_** Three youths visit the amusement park at Long Beach in SoCal, but make the mistake of seeing a fortune teller who’s involved in abusive mesmerism. Released in 1964, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures” is strapped with the additional title “…Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?,” obviously to attract attention to the indie that only cost $38,000 (which would be equal to about $390,000 today). Yet even the short version of the title isn’t fitting because this is, at heart, comic book carnival horror influenced by "Circus of Horrors" from four years earlier. It comes in the ‘B’ tradition of “The Brain That Wouldn't Die” from 1962, mixed with the slasher bits of “Psycho.” Speaking of which, this could be classified as an early slasher and, arguably, influenced the zombie genre. The ridiculous title makes it sound like a joke flick, but it’s not. Sure, Brett O'Hara hams it up as the fortune teller and the make-up effects for the zombies look like paper mache, but this is a very entertaining flick and even has a sense of artistry, such as the protagonist roaming the streets haunted by the possibilities of what went down the night before. It's a great flick to travel back in time to early 60’s Los Angeles, not to mention the carnival atmosphere is well done. There are also several entertaining dance sequences, which makes it part-musical in the manner of Elvis’ contemporaneous “Roustabout.” It would influence the goofier “Village of the Giants,” which debuted the next year. As for the female cast, it knocks it out of the ballpark, starting with Carolyn Brandt as dark-haired dancer Marge Neilson. She and the director were newlyweds at the time of shooting, but they divorced after a decade in 1973. Toni Camel is also notable as Stella, as is Erina Enyo as Carmelita. There are a few peripherals as well. The producer/director was only 25 years-old at the time and plays protagonist Jerry, who looks like Nicolas Cage’s less distinguished brother (to be nice). This would end up being his most famous flick. Clueless critics have lambasted it as “the worst movie ever made” and so on, but I strongly disagree. Have they never seen “Plan 9 from Outer Space”? I suppose it's a love it or hate it piece. It runs 1 hour, 22 minutes, and was shot at The Pike amusement park in Long Beach (which closed down in 1968), Angels Flight Railway in the city and Film Center Studios in Glendale. GRADE: B+/A-