The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)

User Rating:

1.9/10   

Director:

Ray Dennis Steckler

Writers:

Gene Pollock (screenplay) &
Robert Silliphant (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

She Keeps Monsters in Cages for Pets! He Preys on Wild Go-Go Girls!

Plot:

Jerry falls in love with a stripper he meets at a carnival. Little does he know that she is the sister of a gypsy fortune teller whose predictions he had scoffed at earlier. The gypsy turns him into a zombie and he goes on a killing spree.

Plot Keywords:

Fortune Teller | Gypsy | Carnival | Dancer | Zombie

Cast

Ray Dennis Steckler	...	Jerry (as Cash Flagg)
Carolyn Brandt	...	Marge Neilson
Brett O'Hara	...	Madame Estrella
Atlas King	...	Harold
Sharon Walsh	...	Angela
Pat Kirkwood	...	Madison (as Madison Clarke)
Erina Enyo	...	Carmelita
Don Russell	...	Ortega (as Jack Brady)
Toni Camel	...	Stella
Joan Howard	...	Angela's Mother
Neil Stillman	...	Barker
Bill Ward	...	Himself
Gene Pollock	...	Night Club Manager
James Bowie	...	Night Club Comedian
Whitey Robinson	...	Drunk

Also Known As:

Diabolical Dr. Voodoo
The Incredibly Mixed Up Zombie
The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-up Zombie (USA)
The Teenage Psycho Meets Bloody Mary

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Angel's Flight Railway, Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Morgan-Steckler Productions

Trivia:

The title was originally going to be "The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-up Zombie", but Columbia Pictures threatened writer/director/star Ray Dennis Steckler with a massive lawsuit, thinking that the title was too similar to their upcoming Stanley Kubrick film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Steckler was amazed that Columbia would feel so threatened by his little $38,000 film. He phoned the studio to straighten things out, but couldn't make any progress until he demanded that Kubrick get on the line. Then Steckler simply suggested the new title. Kubrick accepted, and the whole thing was dropped.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jerry is shot on top of the cliff, he starts to fall off to his right. Then in the next scene of him, he falls off the cliff to his left.

Quotes:

Harold: I think you clouded up her crystal ball.
Madame Estrella: Clouds affect only the cloudy.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies/Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (#1.33)" (2008)

See it for the Cyclone Racer

The only thing this low-budget piece of garbage has going for it is capturing the true white trash feel of the legendary Nu-Pike amusement zone in Long Beach, California during its decline. There are spectacular shots of the late, lamented Cyclone Racer roller coaster (built in 1930...razed in 1968) that are just too good to pass-up. The opening sequences in the park are worth it...a time machine back into the pre-lawsuit days of the unsanitized thrill-ride experience. During these scenes, the shoddiness of the movie's production values ring true bringing a welcome realism to the film that, alas, dissipates once the "real" action begins. At this point, the movie makes no sense whatsoever. See it for the Cyclone Racer...the only real "star" in the picture (even though it's just a cameo role).