From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Horror Of Party Beach (1964)

Summer is coming to an end, and I think that before we head into fall we should take one last trip to the beach and take a look at the Horror Movie “The Horror Of Party Beach” that had a photo comic magazine made about it for this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update. Remember when Horror and Sci-Fi Beach Party flicks were all the rage? Yeah, it’s hard to believe that this was a subgenre that delivered many titles to watchers and even chilled the blood of moviegoers of that time. So if you’re ready to head back to the beach and try our best to dance to hip rock n roll music all the while dodging radioactive sea creatures who crave human blood, we should start this classic spooky update to help build the mood for the upcoming Halloween season. So let’s start our From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Horror Of Party Beach!

So let’s take a moment to take a look at our monsters of this film that are a mutated human skeletons that are mixed with toxic waste and small fish causing these mutation-killing machines. The creatures all stand like humans do and even have arms like a normal man, but have skin and face is that of a sea creature! They are both skilled killers on land as well as in water making them a double threat. The Creatures uses their sharp claws to shred victim’s skin and can also use their odd mouths to gnaw as well. The Creatures can also use their weird and monstrous appearance to strike terror into the hearts of victims that will spark panic and cause them to make mistakes in their escape. The Creatures also kill in pairs and are not afraid of humans and will attack even groups showing they are fearless. They also drink the blood of their victims almost like a vampire, and they try to leave no one alive when they attack. They also give off a foul odor that acts as another way for them to distract and disorientate their prey and they can let out a horrendous scream that chills blood. Their body parts still live even when cut from their bodies making them even more dangerous. They are also pack killers much like zombies and will overwhelm their targets with numbers. But like all living things, these Sea Creatures do have weaknesses like their foul smell can also alert people to their approach. They can be hurt with brute force as they do feel pain. The main way to kill one of these Sea Creatures is with sodium as it dries them out and kills them almost instantly. While these creatures do have a way to be stopped, they are still very dangerous and have a bloodlust that will not stop until they are all wiped out.

So now that we know how the Creatures kill, we need to take a look at the film they are from and it’s The Horror Of Party Beach! For this look at the movie I will be taking the write up from our friends at IMDB and after I will write about the film’s production as well as my connection to it. So if you are ready let’s head to the beach and hope it doesn’t turn horrific!

The Horror Of Party Beach (1964)

“While the hot-rodders and motorcyclists are having a rock-and-roll beach party, a barrel of radioactive material is unloaded from a passing ship, plunges to the bottom, and splits against a jagged rock. A black liquid oozes out and covers a shapeless mass on the ocean floor, which suddenly moves and becomes an encrusted vicious monster. Soon there are several monsters who must have human blood to survive. Tina is the first victim, and football hero Hank Green and airhead Elaine Gavin enlist the aid of her science-professor father, Dr. Gavin, to find and capture the killer. Not working fast enough to prevent the attack on 20 teenagers at a slumber party or the killing of three girl motorists, Dr. Gavin finds an arm lost by one of the monsters and discovers that only sodium will destroy the monsters, whose composition is mostly water. Can they gather enough salt in southern California to put an end to this horror?”

The Horror Of Party Beach was produced and directed by Del Tenney and was originally called “Invasion Of The Zombies” when being developed. The film had a budget of $50,000.00 and was filmed in Black and White in order to save money. The film stars the likes of Alice Lyon, John Scott, Allan Laurel, Marilyn Clarke and the Charter Oak Motorcycle Club of Riverside, Connecticut! The film only had two creature costumes made, and legend has it, one of them shrunk during filming and they ended up putting a 16 year old kid named Charles Freedman in the costume as he fit, giving this kid major bragging rights at school as he played a monster in a feature film. The film was released to cinemas on June 1, 1964 and was paired with “The Curse Of The Living Corpse” another film Tenney made, and it was met with very harsh reviews and is considered by many critics and viewers to be one of the worst Horror/Sci-Fi films of all time! When released in 1964, it came out with other films like The Last Man On Earth, Two Thousand Maniacs, The Evil Of Frankenstein, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul, Face Of The Screaming Werewolf, The Earth Dies Screaming and Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster to name a very few. While this film might be considered a Golden Turkey, it did make its blood stained mark on the world of Horror.

Back in the late 50’s and early 60’s movies based on beach parties was a very popular genre of films and would bring young and hip viewers to their local cinemas, I mean even Elvis Presley made beach movies with his most popular being “Blue Hawaii”! But of course the Horror and Science Fiction genres had to jump on this trend, as they were easy and cheap to make and would bring youngsters to the Drive-Ins and Theaters. Growing up I can remember seeing this film on TV as well as on VHS, and to be honest it just blended in with all the other Beach Horror Films like “The Beach Girls And The Monster,” and while I enjoy them, they never stuck with me like other classic Horror Flicks of those decades. I have never really felt a major connection to this film and to be honest I didn’t even end up buying on DVD until Severin Films release it on August 28, 2018 and when I knew that I was going to cover this Photo Comic Magazine for this update. While I am sure you are thinking that I am not a fan of this film as what I have just written sound grim for it, but to be honest I do like this movie as I find it very cheesy and filled with laughable monsters who at times look like they have a mouthful of hotdogs who are amazing. It also features some lovely ladies and some rocking tunes! Over all this film is a great watch for fans that enjoy the beach and high dose of cheese inserted into their Horror Flicks that are made on a lower budget. I would say that this film is worth watching and worth having in your collection as fans of B-Movies will love this, and oh yeah Mystery Science Theater 3000 also hosted this film and that is another way I had seen this film.

So now that we have chatted about the mutated creatures of the sea and the cheesy golden turkey film they came from, I think we should now take a look and review the Warren Publishing Photo Comic Magazine adaptation of the film. This is one of the magazines I discovered the same time I did Mole People and Black Zoo, and I am very much looking forward to reading and reviewing this one. I want to thank Mile High Comics for having this issue on Ebay to make this update possible. I want to also remind you readers that I grade this on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you’re ready, make sure to cover yourself with some sunscreen and let’s avoid the monsters that attack on Party Beach.

Horror Of Party Beach # 1   **1/2
Released in 1964     Cover Price .35     Warren Publishing     # 1 of 1

Some boat workers are dumping toxic waste into the ocean, and one can springs a leak and the contents land on a skeleton on the ocean floor and when small fish gather around, a monster is created! While at the beach Tina and Hank are splitting up due to her drinking problem, but she needs not worry as she has caught the eye of a member of a biker gang who has also decided to have a day at the beach. When Tina makes a fool of herself, Hank and the biker get into a fight as Tina runs off to sun herself on a rock and feel good about her mission to make Hank pay, but she becomes the first victim of one of the Sea Creature that rips her to shreds! The news spreads fast in the papers, and Hank’s boss Dr. Gavin’s daughter Elaine gets a crush on him, and the two quickly start a relationship as the cops want answers to what killed Tina as scales are found under her nails! The next night while Hank and Elaine are on a date at a beach party, two more girls are killed by a Sea Creature filling the city with fear…and things get worse when the monsters attack again and kill a group of ladies having a slumber party! As Hank and Dr. Gavin try and figure out what the monsters are, they attack again, first a young woman swimming and later three women who have car issues, then a man in a truck all killed and making the these creatures body count rise as they have a true night of terror as the bodies pile up. As the creatures attack, one accidentally gets his arm cut off and Dr. Gavin and Hank are able to get it and find sodium is one thing that will kill the creatures. As Hank goes to the next town to get sodium, the cops along with Dr. Gavin and Elaine use geiger counters to find the main body of water hang out for the creatures. In the end Dr. Gavin and Elaine are surrounded by the Sea Creatures and Hank with the Police arrive with the sodium and fling it one tons of the creatures killing them off. After it’s over and all is safe Hank and Elaine share their love for each other.

The cheesy 1964 cult classic film comes alive in this photo comic magazine that does its best to bring Horror to a film that is filled with lots of dancing and music. The plot of the comic has Sea Creatures coming out of the water and killing people that cross their paths as two doctors try their best to figure out what they are and how to destroy them. In the end, the doctors figure out a way to save the day and kill the monsters once and for all, and thanks to basic science and elements a way is found and the creatures are killed. Hank Green is our hero who is a man who once wasted his life just partying on the beach who has now took a job in science and has outgrown is wild girlfriend and falls in love with his boss’ daughter. Hank is a man who wants to do his best to save lives as well as treat whomever lady he is dating right. Dr. Gavin is a scientist who the cops go to when this outbreak of creature killings start up as they are all unaware of what they are up against, and all faith is put into him and Hank. Elaine Green is a sweet girl who cares about her town, family and friends and is willing to risk her life to try and help end the rash of killings. The cops are pretty useless in this magazine as they do very little to keep people safe and mostly just wait until they are told what do by scientist. The Sea Creatures are blood drinking killing machines that mostly hunt for humans at night and are very dangerous, and yet the cops don’t even patrol at night nor put a curfew in effect. This photo comic magazine for the most part follows the events of the film pretty well, but does do a few out of place or even have a slightly different outcome. One main change in this magazine is that the Sea Creatures are given razor sharp teeth and not the cheesy looking hotdogs like in the movie. The comic keeps some of the blood and kills in place and plays up the spooky horror and cuts down the let’s dance on the beach while a band places surf tunes moments way down. The dialogue is written really well and while cheesy in spots its super fitting. I would say to be honest this is a really good photo comic magazine that does the film its based on justice and even in spots improves on the movie! To sum it up, if you like the movie, love photo comics and collect Horror Comics this is one you might want to get for your collection. Check out some panels below to see how this magazine looks.

So as you can see, the Sea Creatures who want to crash the Party on Horror Beach are pretty mean and want nothing more than to drink the blood of every living human they come across and this Photo Comic Magazine complements this cult classic film very well. So not only is this update coming to an end but so is Summer 2019 and that means fall and Halloween are just around the corner! And sticking with our Countdown To Halloween and From Horror Movie To Horror Comic Theme, I think the next comic we will take a look at is one based on the 2008 film Zombie Apocalypse! So until next time, read a Horror Comic or three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your Local Horror Host! See you next time as we chat about a the undead.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Mole People (1956)

The Universal Monsters are in some of my most favorite Horror and Science Fiction films and have been something I have really been into since I was a very young kid. Looking over my list of comics to choose for a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic,” I quickly decided on the Warren Photo Comic Magazine for The Mole People as I think they are very underrated when it comes to classic monsters and are sadly often forgotten when fans talk about great Universal Horror. So for this update we are going to showcase the Mole People and let them shine in the spooky spotlight of Rotten Ink. So if you’re ready, let’s go underground and visit with the Mole People!

Let’s first take a look at the Mole People who are the film’s bad guys and also good guys as they walk the line. The Mole People are a race of humanoid moles who walk upright and are underground dwellers who have been forced to be slave labor to the Shadow Dynasty who are a batch of albino people who think they are the only living people. The Mole People have a very odd appearance with a lumpy style skin and have big eyes plus weird mouths. The Mole People, while slaves, do act out and have ideas and motives of their own, and they are also very much a horde society that have a history of eating human flesh! The Mole People, while slow and lumbering, use their weird appearance to scare victims with their main source of killing coming from their massive clawed hands that can rip and tear human flesh with ease. They also can burrow deep underground to travel faster and can pull victims under with their raw power that is well above an average man’s. But while The Mole People are killing machines when pushed, they also have some intelligence that makes them loyal to not only each other but also those who are nice to them. But like all things the Mole People do have some weakness like sunlight that blinds them and can possibly also burn them to death. They can be beaten with items as well as killed like any normal human, as they are not immortal. And let’s not forget that they can also be kept at bay with a flashlight that hurts their eyes. The Mole People’s slowness also makes them easy to get away from while walking on land, and they can also be starved to death as they do need to eat in order to get energy like any normal living thing. So while Mole People are not the most brutal nor vicious monsters we have covered here, they still are very efficient when it comes to killing humans.

So now that we have taken a look at The Mole People, we should dig our way into the film that spawned them. As always we will be taking the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and after I will share some production notes as well as my thoughts on the film as well as other cool little information about it. So if you’re ready, let’s dive into some talk about this great Universal Science-Fiction Horror flick!

The Mole People (1956)

“On an archaeological dig in Asia, Dr. Roger Bentley finds a cuneiform tablet referring to an ancient society, the Shadow Dynasty, that was destroyed. An earthquake soon after reveals an ancient artifact and the scientists discover the ruins of an ancient temple world on a remote mountain site. It leads them to an underground world, lost in time, where people have adapted to low light. The High Priest Elinu doesn’t welcome the presence of the new arrivals and wants them eliminated.”

In the 1950’s Universal had moved away from Horror Films that dealt with Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy and Frankenstein’s Monster and headed toward giant insects, atomic age and mixes of science fiction and horror. And in 1956 they made such a horror film when they released The Mole People to the cinemas all across America. The film was written by Laszio Gorog, and produced by William Alland with the directors chair going to Virgil W. Vogel who was originally an editor for Universal, and this was his first film as a director. The film would cast John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont and Alan Napier as its leads and was one of the first Universal Monster films to show a woman disrobing, pushing the limits of what they did for their monster films. Rumor also has it that the film’s budget was $200,000.00 and its returns are unknown. When the film was done, it was released on December 1, 1956, and in some places it was shown with the jungle monster film “Curucu, Beast Of The Amazon”. The film was released the same year as these other classic Horror Flicks: Creature Walks Among Us, Bad Seed, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Godzilla, Rodan and Indestructible Man to name a few. The film over the years has had a very mixed response and mostly is met with negative reviews by critics and fans that enjoyed when it was blasted on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The film went on to be released on home media like VHS and DVD and Blu-Ray in our and foreign markets.

The Mole People is a film I learned about at a young age as I used to read any and all books I could get my hands on that featured classic Universal Monsters and many of them featured The Mole People. One of the books I remember the most was the Crestwood House book that was all about The Mole People and acted almost as an adaptation of the film. Sometime later I can remember seeing the film on broadcast TV and was drawn in by the Mole People themselves and was angry when the Shadow Dynasty were on the screen being mean to them. Some years later I found the film on VHS at an event called Belmont Days from a small video store that had a ton of Horror Films for sale on VHS when it was still king of home media, and in 2014 I got the film on DVD thanks to Universal’s Vault series of releases. Over the years I have shown Mole People to friends who enjoy classic horror and even have toyed with the idea of doing a fan film sequel to it…but that will never happen. So while this film was released many decades before I was born, for some reason it has always been in my life…for some reason I also remember my Mom talking about this movie when I was a youngster! So if you have not seen this film, do yourself a favor and track it down and give it a watch.

So as you can see, the Mole People, while not bloodthirsty, can and will murder and eat humans when the time is right! We also learned a little about the film and my connection to it, and now we are at the point of reviewing the photo comic magazine. I want to first thank Mile High Comics for having this magazine in stock and making this update possible. I need to also remind you all that I am grading this comic on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you’re ready, make sure to grab your flashlight to fight off the Mole People and let’s get into this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update.

Mole People # 1  ***
Released in 1964       Cover Price .35     Warren Publishing     # 1 of 1

Researchers Dr. Roger Bentley, Dr. Jud Bellamin, Dr. Paul Suart and Prof. Etienne Lafarge along with others are in Asia looking for artifacts from a lost civilization, and get their dreams fulfilled when they find a tablet and lamp connected to them. They head to the mountains as that is where their finds lead them, and after an earthquake happens at the sight of ruins, a hole opens up and Dr. Suart falls to his death and Bentley, Bellamin and Lafarge are trapped underground! Once down in the dark only armed with a flashlight, they wander the caves and find buildings from the old world, and when they decide to get some rest, a race of humanoids called the Mole People attack while they sleep and drag them underground. When they awake, they are met by two albino guards who take them to see the High Priest who orders them to death as he claims they do not have the food to feed them! Our heroes fight and escape their albino captors and find themselves in a place that has Mole People all around who are being treated like slaves by albinos with whips. While trying to escape, Lafarge is killed by a Mole Person and Bentley and Bellamin figure out that the flashlight hurts both the albinos and Mole People giving them power and are now in the favor of the albino king. Once back at the kingdom Bentley meets a young normal servant girl named Gizelle who he saves from a whipping, and she is given to him by the King as a gift. The pair of doctors try to figure out a way to return above ground and even save some Mole People from being beaten by the albinos, but while they save them, the flashlight also goes dead as its batteries die! The High Priest dislikes the outsiders and thinks they are not gods like the King does but just normal guys and even sacrifices a group of woman to the burning light in order to please their god. The High Priest is able to convince the King that the Doctors are mortal and not gods, and they drug their dinner and set to murder them. But luckily for our heroes, Gizelle runs into the caves and tries to get help from the Mole People who have grown to respect the doctors for saving them from beatings and death sentences. The Mole People attack and kill the albinos, and the Doctors along with Gizelle escape the underground and once back to normal life another earthquake hits and a stone falls and kills Gizelle before she could even live a few moments of life above ground and our tale ends.

This is one cheesy and yet fun Photo Comic that blows through the movie really fast and delivers an entertaining quick read for readers that holds true to the film for the most part, but also adds its own touches with a few twists not from the movie. Our story has a group of doctors on the hunt to find a lost city that end up falling into a hole in the ground that leads them to the lost city as well as to the people still living there and a race of humanoid mole people. The doctors must fight for their lives to find away to escape, and their only weapon is a flashlight that is getting low on power! Dr. Roger Bentley is our main hero and the one with the flashlight. He is also the one who is saving peoples hides from beatings as it’s clear he does not like the albino people of the lost city and their cruel and selfish ways. The one down side to Bentley is that at times he as well comes off as kind of full of himself, and I think gets a slight god complex as he knows he has the power. Dr. Jud Bellamin is a smart man who clearly follows the leader as he is a fish out of water when it comes to the underground world. Prof. Etienne Lafarge is an old goof who leads himself to his own death and also is the weak link of the group and his dead body is also the one who leads the albinos back to the headhunt of our heroes as it showed they are also mortal. Slave woman Gizelle, who is normal, is also very sweet and is the true hero of the story as she is the one who gets the Mole People to help the doctors. The Albinos are very cruel and keep slaves, beat and kill those who cross the King and treat the Mole People like scum. The High Priest is the worst of the albinos as he is very much the one who pushes for cruel punishments and hates the power the Doctors and their flashlight had over the King. The Mole People are starving and will attack and kill people and yet also have a loyalty to them as they will help those who help them. Some of the changes made in the magazine are noticeable and are nice surprises, and I will not spoil them for you readers as you should read it and catch them yourselves. The comic downplays the horror elements and does have some blood via a massive scratch done by one of the Mole People and does have death as many albinos die during the final attack. The cover is eye catching and is that classic 60’s Horror Magazine look, the picture layouts is done by Russ Jones who also did the script for this photo comic. Over all this is one of the better Photo Comics I have read and is cool retro Universal Monster item for a Science Fiction Horror Movie that is often forgotten. Check out the panels below to see they style used in this magazine.

So while many comic readers don’t like Photo Comics (Magazines) and others view it as a dated style of comics, I for one find them fun and enjoyed reading this one. Plus it’s been very fun talking about the Mole People as well as the first time I have covered Warren Publishing here at Rotten Ink. But I fear it’s time we walk away from the underground world of the Mole People. We will be heading to the old west for my next update as we take a ride with the one and only Rawhide Kid from Marvel Comics! So until next time, read a Horror Comic or three, watch a Universal Monster Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. So hope you’re ready for a western done Marvel style!