The Horror of Party Beach

The Horror of Party Beach, managed to combine the “Beach Party” antics popularized by Frankie and Annette with the radioactive horrors which rose to prominence in the Atomic Age. (In turn, this film inspired a whole new wave of beach monster films, commencing with 1965’s Beach Girls and the Monster.) The story is basically another variation on that old chestnut about radioactive waste getting dumped into the ocean, where horrific creatures are spawned and go on a murderous rampage. Fortunately the local teen population tends to hang out and practice their swinging dance moves on the beach, so the bikini-clad pickings seem to be prime. The first to go is pretty Tina (Clark), whose lunkhead jock boyfriend Hank (Scott) enlists the aid of Elaine (Lyon) and her scientist dad (Laurel) to figure out who’s responsible for the crime. Meanwhile the monsters pick off an entire slumber party and show no signs of slowing down!

Fun and irredeemably trashy, The Horror of Party Beach goes straight for the teen-audience jugular by packing in music numbers (including the catchy “Zombie Stomp”), lots of twisting in tiny bathing suits, goofy-looking aquatic monsters that probably inspired Sid & Marty Krofft, and reams of hokey dialogue. —Mondo Digital