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

Director:

Ray Dennis Steckler

Writers:

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

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 / Creature
Whitey Robinson	...	Drunk
Son Hooker	...	1st Policeman
Steve Clark	...	2nd Policeman (as Steve Clarke)
Jill Carson	...	Girl in Dressing Room / Dancing Girl
Titus Moede	...	Hobo
Don Snyder	...	The Entertainer
Carol Kay	...	The Entertainer
Teri Randal	...	The Entertainer
Patrice Michaels	...	Dancing Girl
Pat Lynn	...	Dancing Girl
Betty Downing	...	Dancing Girl
Denise Lynn	...	Dancing Girl
Cindy Shea	...	Dancing Girl
Patti Crandall	...	Dancing Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bonnie Berkeley	...	(uncredited)
Jeanette Briggs	...	Woman in Audience (uncredited)
Anita Jaye	...	(uncredited)
László Kovács	...	Man at Carnival (uncredited)
Robert Silliphant	...	2nd Barker (uncredited)

Directed by
Ray Dennis Steckler

Writing credits
Gene Pollock		(screenplay) &
Robert Silliphant		(screenplay)
E.M. Kevke		(original story)

Produced by
George J. Morgan	....	executive producer
Ray Dennis Steckler	....	producer

Original Music by
Libby Quinn
André Brummer		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph V. Mascelli		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Don Schneider

Art Direction by
Mike Harrington

Makeup Department
Lilly	....	makeup artist
Tom Scherman	....	special makeup

Production Management
Austin McKinney	....	production manager (as A. McKinney)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Don Russell	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Ken Carlson	....	sound
Lee Strosnider	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Pat Kirkwood	....	electrician
László Kovács	....	assistant camera (as Leslie Kovacs)
Jimmy Parks	....	gaffer
Greg von Berblinger	....	grip (as G. Berblinger)
Vilmos Zsigmond	....	camera operator (as William Zsigmond)

Music Department
Rod Moss	....	music editor
Alan Smith	....	stager: musical numbers
Bill Turner	....	stager: musical numbers

Other crew
John McKenna	....	script supervisor
Roy Youngman	....	president: Rel Records

Production Companies

• Morgan-Steckler Productions

Distributors

• Fairway International Pictures (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sinister Cinema (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Guilty Pleasures (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Rhino Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Peter Rodgers Organization (2007) (worldwide) (TV)
• BijouFlix Releasing (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Camp Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Mascot Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Rel Records  music released by

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) (alternative title)
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:

According to director Ray Dennis Steckler the film's original title was 'Face of Evil'.

Goofs:

Continuity: The big wart on Madame Estrella's face keeps moving. Sometimes it's right next to her lip, other times it's below it, other times it's an inch or two above it and to the right.

Quotes:

Jerry: How's college?
Madison: Fine.
[pauses]
Madison: You should try it sometime
Jerry: No thanks.
[chuckling]
Jerry: The world's my college.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Welcome to Eltingville (2002) (TV)

Incredibly Strange film worth watching

Incredibly Strange, yes..... but is it alive? No, it's got some good points ("hallucinogenic hypnovision", which is detailed in a preface not seen in most U.S. video prints, turns out to involve ushers in monster masks, hardly the doctor's prescription for a happy trip) but overall dull and slack and looking exactly like five dollars. Still, it's a movie that shows Steckler's love for film, even if this somhow doesn't make up for LENGTHY semi-burlesque dance sequences and the absence of any real "zombies."

B-movie fans in the bay area have been treated over the last few years to Steckler's appearances at Will Viharo's "Thrillville Revue", and I'm happy to say that Steckler is a director who can sit in a theater and laugh at his movie with an audience (you just have to take my word for it that there are A LOT of directors who make bad films and take them VERY seriously... just listen to the director's commentary on the film "the Bone Yard" for an example). This is not his best effort (see "The Thrill Killers" for that), but it's pretty fun if you see it with popcorn and a bunch of drunk people. And heck, that's what movies are all about, isn't it?