Cheap Teenage Zombies (DVD) (Jerry Warren) Price

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Customer Reviews of Teenage Zombies

What's That Smell?
This movie defines the word "malodorous." I award it three stars wholly on the basis of a mathematical average system: if you want to see a genuinely spooky, scary, or entertaining movie, this film would get one star (less would be preferable); if you want a horrible camp classic from the genius responsible for such cinematic mayhem as "The Wild World of Batwoman" and "Frankenstein Island", this is an oft-overlooked five star rarity.

Jerry Warren, my personal touchstone as the worst director in history, is paired up again with star Katherine 'Batwoman' Victor this time in a story of alleged international intrigue. It all involves Victor, a mad scientist, making some mind control capsules on an island which despite being clearly visible from shore, is unknown to everyone but the bad guys. Teenage heroes inadvertently foil the caper and defeat evil in a manner which is comical, yet difficult to comprehend. (When is it a good idea to break INTO jail?) Please also enjoy the ongoing verbal jousting concerning the relative merits of horseback riding versus water skiing! What does this have to do with the plot? Who knows! How prominent is this debate in the film? Very!

The print of the film itself is in fairly awful condition, with many scratches, occasional sound dropouts (not that that really detracts), and many splices. It also has three little transfer marks that dwell perpetually near the top of the frame, yet move around and flicker annoyingly.

If the plot weren't silly enough, the acting and dialogue take this one over the top. The film is very short, and while not as entertaining as some Warren classics, this is an excellent opportunity to see a very bad movie at a very low price.

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Don Sullivan Lives!!
A group of teenagers happen upon an island inhabited by Katherine Victor as the sociopathic, Vampira-esque mad scientist "Doctor Myrna"; and her zombie horde. The kids have stumbled into a subversive plot to turn the world into a planet of zombie slaves! Evil Dr. Myrna has concocted a gas that turns people into cabbage-heads. The teenagers show up just in time to mess things up royally! Don (Giant Gila Monster) Sullivan is the only teenager with gray matter in his skull. Thank God he doesn't sing or play the "banjo-lele" in this one!! Anyway, together, the dopey teens escape, and with the help of a man in an ultra-cheap gorilla suit, Dr. Myrna is vanquished. A personal favorite...

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Teens make the best zombie test subjects
I can't help but get a big kick out of movies like this. The 1950s was truly a special decade in terms of moviemaking, as this is just one of many typically inane yet somehow entertaining pseudo-horror movies brought to cinematic life during that golden age. Teenage Zombies is in many ways an awful movie, with cheap sets, inconsistently bad acting, and a zany plot-yet I liked it. I got a special, unexpected treat in the form of a jaunt down memory lane. MST3K fans will recognize two faces in this movie immediately. Katherine Victor, none other than Batwoman herself from The Wild World of Batwoman, is the evil scientist working in cahoots with some foreign (certainly Communist) government to build a biological agent to unleash on the United States. Such an attack would make zombies of American citizens-leaving them healthy enough to work but incapable of resisting the demands of the conquering powers. Two teenaged couples stumble upon the secret lab accidentally and are, of course, immediately captured. One of the guys is that unforgettable (for MSTies, anyway) singing, knee-propping, reptile-fighting star of The Giant Gila Monster (Don Sullivan). He can't sing his way out of trouble this time (and, thankfully, does not even try). The diabolical scientist locks the kids up so that she can use them as test subjects for the new zombifying gas she is perfecting. Their best chance of escape is dependent on their two over-acting friends' persistence back home at convincing the sheriff to search the island for them. There is really only one decent zombie in the whole film, but you do get a bonus in the form of a guy in an ape suit. I have to admit that one major plot point caught me totally unawares, so that earns the movie a little respect in my eyes. This helps make up for the exceedingly boring fight scenes later on, but I fear nothing can undo the damage done by the intense "hamming it up" that accompanies the final scene. Teenage Zombies has almost nothing going for it, in all honesty, yet I found it quite entertaining; fans of MST3K should really get a big kick out of it.