TEENAGE ZOMBIES (1959)

We meet cleancut teenagers Reggie and Julie at the Campus House soda shop, meeting their friends Skip and Pam to go water skiing at a nearby lake. Reggie makes plans to pick up their friends Morrie and Dot at a horse ranch when they get back. Skip tells Reggie about the existence of an island several miles out, and when they get there, they think the beach would make a great spot for summer partying. Soon they see disheveled laborers (who look "doped or dead or something" according to Reggie) led by a sexy lady in an evening gown and cape. When they try to leave the island, they discover their boat is missing. The boys seek help at the only house they can find; the gowned lady, a Dr. Myra, invites them in but insists she knows nothing about the boat. She takes them to a basement laboratory where Ivan, a hulking zombie assistant, has Julie and Pam in cages. He tosses the boys in as well, and when Reggie asks, "What kind of creep joint is this?" she replies, "A place where science is free from the interference of stupid politicians!" Myra is working with two agents to develop a gas that, when dropped from the air, will paralyze the will of people and turn them into mindless zombies. Their bosses ("from the East") are pressuring Myra to deliver the gas now even though she hasn't worked out all the kinks, so she plans on making the teenagers her next and final subjects. Meanwhile, Morrie and Dot, concerned that their friends never showed up, come to the island looking for them. A run-in with Myra convinces them that all is not well and back on the mainland, they get the sheriff to go with them to the island. But the sheriff is actually in cahoots with Myra; he has been providing her with drunks and lawbreakers for her experiments. Now it's six teenagers versus four adults and some zombies (and, oh yeah, a completely ineffective gorilla). The bad guys don't have a chance.

Critics really hate this movie, and with good reason. The director is Jerry Warren, renowned for his amateurish B-films; it's cheaply made with sets that are just a notch above Ed Wood sets; the 70 minute movie is padded out with long scenes of the teenagers walking from place to place; the final fisticuffs scene is people rolling around on the floor waiting for the director to explain his vision; the adult actors, especially Katherine Victor as Myra, are terrible; despite the title, there are no teenage zombies (though Julie and Pam are briefly stupefied by the gas), nor are there many teenagers—the "teen" actors whose birth dates could be verified are all between 25 and 30, and only Morrie (Jay Hawk) looks like he might be a teen. Actually, there are damn few zombies of any kind; aside from the string of laborers we see near the beginning, creepiness is supplied only by the mute and scruffy Ivan (Chuck Niles, a jazz DJ in real life). But I sat through this movie and must take my pleasures where I can get them, with the six teenagers. They are all attractive and are more adept at dialogue than most of the adults. Don Sullivan (Reggie) had a short career in the late 50s in B-films (see THE GIANT GILA MONSTER) and TV, and he and Paul Pepper (Skip) are believable protagonists. The other teens (Jay Hawk, Mitzi Albertson, Brianne Murphy and Nan Green) hold their own. Katherine Victor's bland performance as Myra sinks any possibility this movie had for being a camp classic; an over-the-top performance in the main villain role would have been welcome, though Victor does get to wear, by my count, three different evening gowns (sometimes with a lab coat), doing none of them justice. Whatever you do, don't pay to watch this, but as a YouTube algorithm discovery, this was bearable. There is conflicting information about the movie's date. It was made in 1957 and got a general release in 1960, but played some theaters in 1959. Pictured are Sullivan, Pepper, and Victor. [YouTube]