I love classic horror movies and I love classic musicals. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies !? (1964) combines both into a crazy ride that deserves a watch—lemme know what you think!!
Beatnik Jerry takes his girl Angie to the carnival. Angie wants to go see the gypsy fortuneteller, Jerry does not but relents. After hearing bad news from the fortuneteller, Jerry goes alone to see her sister, dancer Carmelita. He is invited backstage, where he is mesmerized into becoming a psychotic killer. When he tries to kill Angie, she and his best friend Harold realize something’s wrong.
My Rating: A-
Interesting Facts: The original title was “The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-up Zombie.” Columbia Pictures threatened to sue writer/director/star Ray Dennis Steckler, accusing the title of being too similar to their upcoming Stanley Kubrick film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). (Steckler, amazed that Columbia would feel so threatened by a $38,000 film, phoned the studio to straighten things out. He made no progress until he demanded that Kubrick get on the line. When Kubrick picked up, Steckler suggested the new title, Kubrick accepted, and the matter was dropped.); Director Ray Dennis Steckler had the dancing girls in an early scene chew gum as they danced, hoping it would distract from their bad footwork; all of the musical numbers were filmed in one day; and some screenings had theater employees and director Ray Dennis Steckler himself wore monster masks and ran through the theaters to scare patrons.
Days with the Undead 