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Teenage Zombies

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This article is about the American horror film. For the 2008 Nintendo DS game, see Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys!
Teenage Zombies
Promotional poster
Directed byJerry Warren
Written byJacques Lecoutier
Produced byJerry Warren
StarringKatherine Victor
Don Sullivan
Chuck Niles
Brianne Murphy
CinematographyAllen Chandler
Edited byJerry Warren
Distributed byGovernor Films Inc.
Release date
  • November 1959 (1959-11)
[1]
Running time
73 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Teenage Zombies is a 1959 science fiction horror film written, produced, edited and directed by Jerry Warren, and starring Katherine Victor, Don Sullivan, Chuck Niles and Warren's then-wife and production manager Brianne Murphy. Warren wrote the screenplay under his pen name Jacques Lecoutier (which he frequently misspelled in the credits).[2][3] Film historian Bill Warren wrote "This dreadful, leaden and depressingly cheap film does have one unusual aspect... it was actually made by Jerry Warren in its entirety."[4]

The plot follows a group of teenagers who are marooned on an island inhabited by a female mad scientist, her pet gorilla and a zombie slave named Ivan. She traps the youths in a cage down in her laboratory, plotting to use them as subjects for her zombie-making experimentation, so she can test out a drug she is working on for an unnamed foreign nation.

Although the credits include a 1957 copyright statement for G.B.M. Productions, the film was never registered for copyright,[5] rendering it in the public domain.

Plot

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While taking their boat out for some water-skiing, a quartet of teens named Reg (Don Sullivan), Skip (Paul Pepper), Julie (Mitzie Albertson), and Pam (Brianne Murphy) accidentally discover an island run by a mad scientist named Doctor Myra (Katherine Victor) who, backed by foreign agents from "the East", intends to turn everyone in the United States into mindlessly obedient zombies.

The teenagers are captured by the hulking, bearded zombie Ivan (Chuck Niles) and imprisoned in cages down in Myra's basement, but the boys manage to escape, planning to find a way off the island and then come back to rescue the girls. When a couple of their young friends arrive with the local sheriff to save them, he turns out to be in league with Myra and has been supplying her with victims for her experiments.

A complicated fight scene serves as the climax, in which a previously zombified gorilla arrives just in time to attack Myra's henchmen and allow the teens to escape. They find Myra attempting to steal their boat and manage to capture her for the police. After they are safely back on the mainland and the proper authorities informed, it is implied that the teens will receive a reward for discovering the island and will have an audience with the President of the United States.

Cast

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Production

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Actress Katharine Victor said Jerry Warren "discovered" her when they met by chance as he was preparing Teenage Zombies in mid-1957. She was surprised that he gave her almost no directorial help while they were making the film.[6] Evan Hayworth (listed in the cast as Mitch Evans) said he played the gorilla wearing a cheap rental costume.[6]

Famed L.A. disc jockey Chuck Niles appeared as Ivan the Zombie in the film.[7] He later said "I was just walking around like Frankenstein, that's all, no lines, just 'gluergugluergu,' and I'm pretty good at that.....the movie was just terrible".[7] Bruce Eder of Rovi wrote that lead actor Don Sullivan also appeared in two other 1950's cult films, The Giant Gila Monster and The Monster of Piedras Blancas.[8]

The film's poster promised "Young Pawns Thrust into Pulsating Cages of Horror in a Sadistic Experiment", but film historian Bill Warren said "It's doubtful anyone expected much more than the dreck they got....it's not just bad, it's terrible".[9]

Release

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Advertisement from 1959 for Teenage Zombies and co-feature, The Incredible Petrified World

Bill Warren in his book Keep Watching the Skies states that the film was released in December, 1959 on a double bill with The Incredible Petrified World,[10] while the American Film Institute states that the film was released in April 1960 simultaneously with The Incredible Petrified World.[11]

Critical response

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In his review of the film, critic George Reis wrote that it "is often considered one of the worst horror films ever made," that the "claustrophobic sets [...] all look like they were shot in someone's house" and "the acting is appalling," but noted that "bad movie lovers will find something fascinating enough to induce repeated viewings; all others will just deem it junk."[12] Critic Nathaniel Thompson wrote that "the junky charms of this film are plentiful as it reels out pages and pages of ridiculous 'gee, whiz!' dialogue, a clunky soundtrack cobbled together with stock music from other '50s sci-fi films, and some juicy overacting" and that the film features "'minimalist' sets that would get thrown out of most high school plays," nevertheless concluding that "this one's a keeper."[13]

References

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  1. ^ "2 New Horrific Shockers". The Abilene Reporter. November 22, 1959. p. 27.
  2. ^ Warren, Bill (2017-01-12). Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, the 21st Century Edition. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625058.
  3. ^ Warren, Bill (1986). "Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2". McFarland & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-89950-170-2. Page 767
  4. ^ Warren, Bill (1986). "Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2". McFarland & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-89950-170-2. Page 445
  5. ^ "Teenage Zombies". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c Warren, Bill (1986). "Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2". McFarland & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-89950-170-2. Page 446
  7. ^ a b Landsberg, Mitchell (17 March 2004). "Chuck Niles, 76; Voice of L.A.'s Jazz Radio" – via LA Times.
  8. ^ "Don Sullivan Biography".
  9. ^ Warren, Bill (1986). "Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2". McFarland & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-89950-170-2. Page 447
  10. ^ Warren, Bill (2009-10-19). Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, The 21st Century Edition. McFarland. p. 922. ISBN 978-0786442300. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Teenage Zombies". American Film Institute. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  12. ^ Reis, George. "Teenage Zombies (1959)". DVD Drive-in. George Reis. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  13. ^ Thompson, Nathaniel. "Revenge of the Virgins / Teenage Zombies". Mondo Digital. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
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