Sting of Death (1965)

Sting of Death, released in 1965, was the first horror movie made by low-budget Florida film-maker William Grefé (although he’d made a couple of race car movies prior to that). It was shot on location in the Everglades and like his next film, Death Curse of Tartu, it makes great use of the setting.

Dr Richardson (Jack Nagle) is a marine biologist. He has his own laboratory and a pretty fancy house complete with pool. His chief assistant is the young Dr John Hoyt (Joe Morrison) but he also gets help from his daughter Karen (Valerie Hawkins) and the slightly scary Egon (John Vella). Egon has a fairly severe facial disfigurement which we surmise was the result of an encounter with some very unfriendly marine creature. Egon has a bit of an obsession with the Portuguese man-of-war so that may have the creature responsible. Egon is hyper-sensitive about his appearance.

Egon also clearly has a bit of a crush on Karen. Possibly more than just a crush.

Grefé certainly understood pacing. He opens the movie with a major scare, with a beautiful young woman attacked by an aquatic monster. Then he slows things down and for the next half-hour it seems like we’re watching a beach party movie. It’s all girls, dancing, pop music and lightheartedness but Grefé makes sure we don’t entirely forget that there’s some mysterious and terrifying danger out there. Then he kicks the horror into high gear with a couple of impressive (considering the small budget) terror set-pieces.

The beach party elements come from the fact that Dr Hoyt has thrown a party for Karen and her friends who are spending their spring vacation at Dr Richardson’s place. Dr Hoyt has invited a bunch of kids from a nearby college. Hence the dancing and the pop music (supplied by Neil Sedaka who was a pretty big pop star at the time). It’s also a chance to have lots of scantily-clad babes dancing. There’s virtually no nudity in this film (apart from a brief shower scene) but there’s no shortage of eye candy. And it’s amazing how often the camera seems to zero in on the posteriors of the young ladies.

The sudden switch to outright horror is handled effectively and then the tension gets ratcheted up. We get a classic horror movie scenario. There’s a terrifying monster out there. We have a bunch of people isolated in a house and they’re out of contact with the outside world because the radio has, mysteriously, been smashed. There are only two men, they are armed only with revolvers, and they have a houseful of frightened teenage girls to protect. Worst of all, they can only guess at the nature of the menace they’re facing.

In fact the alert viewer might already have his suspicions as to the nature of the threat. The average sea-monster is unlikely to have the foresight to put the radio out of action before striking. Actually I suspect that Grefé intends us to guess the nature of the mystery right from the start and it actually makes things scarier.

Some facts just have to be faced squarely. The acting is awful. Absolutely awful. It doesn’t really matter since this can hardly be described as a character-driven movie and the characters are in any case pretty much stereotypes - the slightly eccentric older scientist, the hunky and brave young scientist, the beautiful and virtuous daughter, etc.

It has to be said that most of the young people in this movie are pretty unpleasant. They’re shallow and they’re thoughtlessly cruel. The one exception is Karen. She’s the nice girl. Not quite as pretty as some of the other girls but pretty enough and she has a sense of responsibility and an awareness of, and a dislike for, cruelty. The irony is that her caring ends up being more cruel than outright cruelty.

Grefé also includes some decent underwater sequences which is fairly ambitious for a zero-budget movie. The monster effects are mostly good although the head is a bit of a worry.

The formula established in this movie worked well so Grefé pretty much stuck to it for Death Curse of Tartu as well.

There are some definite hints of Beauty and the Beast here.

Something Weird paired this one with Grefé’s 1966 Death Curse of Tartu (also an entertaining flick) and of course they included plenty of extras including audio commentaries for both movies, the commentaries being done by Grefé himself. He’s a very amusing guy and these are well worth the listen. Somehow Something Weird managed to locate the original negative of Sting of Death and the transfer is superb. The colours are vivid and the image quality is absolutely top-notch.

Sting of Death is lots of low-budget horror fun. This is a great double-feature release. Highly recommended.

Bikini Beach (1964)

Bikini Beach was the third movie in the very successful series of beach party movies released by American International Pictures. Once again Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon are the stars.

It’s summer again and it’s time for teenagers to head for the beach. Frankie (Frankie Avalon), Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) and all the gang are looking forward to surfing and partying but not everyone is happy. Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III (Keenan Wynn), who runs a nearby old folks’ home, is not happy. He considers modern teenagers to be depraved. He has taught his monkey Clyde to surf in order to prove his theory that monkeys have about the same intelligence as teenagers. Honeywagon is also leading a local campaign to have the beach (known popularly as Bikini Beach) closed to surfers.

The kids get some support from local school teacher Vivien Clements (played by Martha Hyer). 

Also on hand, and about to be drawn into this epic struggle, are Big Drag (Don Rickles), Eric von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and Potato Bug. Big Drag runs the cafe where the surfers hang out and also runs the local drag strip. Eric von Zipper (as anyone who was seen the earlier AIP beach party movies knows) is the leader of the Rats and Mice motorcycle gang. As for Potato Bug, he’s an aristocratic British pop star who is also a drag racing enthusiast. Frankie Avalon plays Potato Bug and does so in an outrageously over-the-top manner that almost allows us to forget that British pop stars in the 60s were nothing whatever like this.

There’s naturally a romantic triangle, the gimmick being that both of Annette Funicello’s suitors are played by Frankie Avalon. The gimmick gets pushed even further in one scene with one of the Frankie Avalon characters impersonating the other.

Eric von Zipper of course has a nefarious plot brewing, which he executes with his usual total incompetence. Meanwhile Honeywagon seems to be falling for the charms of the school teacher - does this mean he’ll soften his attitude towards the kids?

Adding drag racing to the mix provides a bit of variety for those audience members who might have been tiring of surfing by this time.

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are as likeable as ever and their acting is more than adequate. Don Rickles chews the scenery amusingly and he’s more amiable than we expect Rickles to be. Keenan Wynn as Honeywagon has perhaps the film’s most rewarding role and he makes the most of it. Towards the end there’s a brief cameo by one of AIP’s biggest stars (this being a device used in the earlier Beach Party as well).

The music is actually pretty good. In fact it’s great. The movie opens with Bikini Beach which is a terrific song. The musical highlights though are the couple of songs by surf rock band The Pyramids.

Apart from helming no less than five of AIP’s beach party movies director William Asher worked mostly in television. He does a pretty good job with Bikini Beach, keeping the mood light and breezy and not allowing the pacing to drag. The two set-pieces that provide the film’s climax, a wild chase followed by a wild fight in Big Drag’s joint, are done with plenty of energy and playfulness. There are quite a few process shots in the chase sequence but for a low-budget movie made in 1964 they’re not done too badly. 

Asher also pulls off some decent visual gags. The humour is a nice mix of slapstick and verbal gags.

Bikini Beach was paired with Beach Party as an MGM Midnite Movies DVD release. Bikini Beach is letterboxed and not anamorphic but the transfer is generally pretty good. There are no extras. Beach Party is definitely worth seeing as well so this DVD is excellent value. Bikini Beach is also available as part of an eight-movie Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon DVD boxed set, the transfers being identical to the earlier Midnite Movies releases.

Bikini Beach is a silly light-hearted but genuinely amusing and entirely harmless romp with some great songs. Highly recommended.