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

Review #1013: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?

Cast: 
Ray Dennis Steckler (Jerry), Carolyn Brandt (Marge Neilson), Brett O'Hara (Madame Estrella), Atlas King (Harold), Sharon Walsh (Angela), Pat Kirkwood (Madison), Erina Enyo (Carmelita), Toni Camel (Stella), Joan Howard (Angela's Mother), Neil Stillman (Barker), William Turner (Himself), Gene Pollock (Night Club Manager), and James Bowie (Night Club Comedian) Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler.

Review: 
The film was billed as the first "monster musical", and included in the film is numerous song-and-dance production numbers (such as "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" and "Shook out of Shape"). The intended title was The Incredibly Strange Creatures, or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-up Zombie, but it was changed after a threat of a lawsuit over its similarity to the name of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which was in production at the time (with this film being released less than half of a month after the other film's release by Columbia Pictures). In any case, the title is usually shortened to The Incredibly Strange Creatures (without the exclamation points or question mark), though I utilize the full title for this review because of the sheer absurdity of doing this film to begin with. The film, shot for $38,000, was filmed in a long-empty Mason temple in Glendale, California that was owned by Rock Hudson. It has a series of "sound stages" that were stacked floor after floor, with some of them being large enough to have the midway scenes be filmed indoors. The carnival sequences were shot at The Pike, an amusement park on the beach in Long Beach, California that ran from 1930 to 1968 (with The Cyclone Racer being featured in the film). For those who are wondering, the zombies in the film are actually people hypnotized, represented by a spinning black wheel with a white spiral on it, which is actually pretty amusing to look at.

For a movie with numerous production quirks, the performances of the people in them could be called ridiculous (along with amateur), though that is not much of a surprise. Steckler (credited as "Cash Flagg", which I did not make up) is the main star, and the best thing that I can say is that he does marginally better than the director/star in a terrible movie, Hal Warren from Manos: The Hands of Fate (#350). Watching these characters interact with each other reminds me of sandpaper, with the carnival sequences, although slightly more alluring, is only slightly better, and I use that word with the statement that nothing in this film is "good". However, one can say it has some sort of appeal even in its terribleness, because if people didn't watch movies as dreadful as this, how can one see where film goes from something awful to something laughable? I can't say it's a stupid movie, mainly because I believe that there was some sort of intelligence or common sense when making this film, with the result turning out to be horrendous. The effects reflect the budget, for better or for worse. What kind of rating is "suitable" for the movie? Is it a film that is so awful that it's on the same level as Monster A-Go-Go (#756)? Or is it on the level of Zaat (#823)? Or is it on the level of Billy the Kid vs Dracula (#463)? Would I even recommend it? My response is that if you want some trash, then go ahead.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks.

Overall, I give it 1 out of 10 stars.