The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? - 1964
By The Bottom Reel Editorial Team ·
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964) – The First Monster Musical
Directed by 23-year-old Ray Dennis Steckler under the pseudonym "Cash Flagg", this 82-minute monster movie has one of the longest titles in cinema history and a reputation as one of the worst films ever made, which is exactly why it's still watched.
Taglines
Official taglines included:
“She Keeps Monsters in Cages for Pets! He Preys on Wild Go-Go Girls!”
“SEE: the world’s first monster musical!”
“World’s Weirdest Movie!
”
“MONSTERS COME REAL! CRASH OUT OF SCREEN! INVADE AUDIENCE! ABDUCT GIRLS FROM THEIR SEATS! Not 3-D. Don’t Miss It!”
Originally titled The Incredibly Strange Creatures or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-Up Zombie until Columbia Pictures threatened legal action over Dr. Strangelove (1963).
Plot
Free-spirited beatnik Jerry Ray Dennis Steckler as Cash Flagg, his girlfriend Angela Sharon Walsh, and his buddy Harold Atlas King head for a day at The Pike amusement park in Long Beach, California – which resembles Coney Island.
In the carnival nightclub, a dance number is performed by Marge Neilson Carolyn Brandt, a superstitious alcoholic who drinks before and between shows, and her partner Bill Ward. Backstage, Marge sees a black cat, visits fortune-teller Madame Estrella Brett O'Hara, who predicts death for Marge. Marge runs out terrified.
Jerry, Angela and Harold have their fortunes told. Estrella predicts “a death near water” for someone close to Angela.
Jerry falls for stripper Carmelita Erina Enyo, Estrella's younger sister. Backstage, Carmelita hypnotizes Jerry with a spiraling wheel and turns him into a “zombie” – actually a mesmerized killer whose face is disfigured by acid thrown by Estrella and her henchman Ortega Don Russell. Estrella has been building an army of acid-scarred zombies caged in her lair.
Interspersed are full musical numbers – “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,” “Shook Out of Shape” – in the carnival nightclub.
Jerry goes on a killing spree along the beach, kills Marge and Bill, tries to strangle Angela. The zombies escape, kill Estrella, Carmelita, and Ortega. Police shoot the zombies. Jerry, partially disfigured but not a full zombie, flees to the shoreline and is shot dead in front of Angela and Harold.
Cast & Crew
Jerry – Ray Dennis Steckler as Cash Flagg
Marge Neilson – Carolyn Brandt
Madame Estrella – Brett O'Hara
Harold – Atlas King
Angela – Sharon Walsh
Carmelita – Erina Enyo
Ortega – Don Russell as Jack Brady
Stella – Toni Camel
Madison – Pat Kirkwood
Directed / Produced / Starring by: Ray Dennis Steckler
Screenplay by: Gene Pollock, Robert Silliphant, Story by E.M. Kevke
Cinematography: Joseph V. Mascelli author of American
Cinematographer's Manual, plus future Oscar winners László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond shooting carnival footage handheld on the rollercoaster.
Music by: André Brummer, Libby Quinn
Edited by: Don Schneider
Distributed by: Fairway International Pictures
Release Date: February 10, 1964
Runtime: 82 minutes
Budget: $38,000 about $390,000 today – more than three times Steckler's budget on Wild Guitar (1962). Shooting schedule 11 days.
Social Impact & Reception
First “monster musical”: Billed as the first monster musical, beating The Horror of Party Beach by a mere month. It invented a micro-genre.
Worst movie ever?: Upon release, the film received negative reviews and is regarded by some critics as being one of the worst movies ever made.
Reviewer Dennis Schwartz: “The only thing incredible about it is the incredibly long title, something Steckler seems to have given more thought to than the lame story.” Cult filmmaker Steckler “should be listed after many other turkeys on any reputable list of the world's worst directors.”
It survived because of its photography – despite being terrible, it was shot by two future legends. Camera operators included émigrés Kovács and Zsigmond who later shot Easy Rider and Close Encounters.
MST3K fame: The film was lampooned in a 1997 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Season 8, Episode 812. Joel Hodgson-era notes: “a horrible horror film featuring bargain basement musical numbers, an unintelligible soundtrack, a ferret-faced leading man, a gypsy fortune teller with a huge mole.” That episode made it a staple on “worst films” lists.
Home media: DVD with commentary by Joe Bob Briggs, AGFA theatrical screenings in “Terrorama”, public domain on Internet Archive. It is now taught as an example of DIY 60s exploitation and outsider art.
Budget vs. Profit at Box Office
Production Budget: $38,000
Box Office Gross: No reported theatrical gross – played as a regional exploitation filler at drive-ins. Fairway International Pictures booked it on the carnival circuit.
Profit: No official profit, but with such a low budget and long VHS/DVD/TV afterlife, Steckler claimed it made money over decades. Its value today is entirely cult.
Ratings
IMDb: 3.0-3.3 / 10 varies by listing – often listed around 2.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No official Tomatometer (too few critics),
Popcornmeter / Audience Score 27% from 50+ ratings
FilmAffinity: 3.0 / 10 from 55 votes
Rating: Not Rated / NR, Color, 1.85:1
Bottom line: The Incredibly Strange Creatures... is not scary, not musical in the Broadway sense, and the zombies aren't really zombies – they’re acid-burn victims. But it’s colorful, earnest, shot on a real amusement park, and filled with go-go dancers, fortune tellers, and a hypnotic wheel. If you love Ed Wood, Herschell Gordon Lewis, or MST3K, it’s essential. If you want a good movie, it’s the perfect example of why the title is longer than the plot synopsis.