monsters crash the pajama party [1965]
this short film, made for about a buck & 75 cents, was made to be shown during a Spook Show, a live performance of magic, monsters, thrills, chills & goofiness. kinda like vaudeville but with monsters & horror gimmicks. think william castle kinda of gimmicks but for live performances. the ad campaigns were lurid & goofy. but could they deliver the goods? couldn't tell ya for sure since by the time i was alive & conscious enough to want to see such a thing they were already on their way out of popular entertainment.
bummer! still, something weird video released in 2001 a gorgeous DVD with this flick on it & chock full of cheapie Spook Show trailers, odd horror movie clips, another full-length film & other goodies & easter eggs to make yours truly slightly crazy with happiness. i still have the DVD but lost the 3D glasses that came with the disc, booklet & artwork. oh fucking well! often i'd skip this main feature on the DVD but i just watched it again via a streaming platform & lemmee tell ya watching this movie is a fun slog.
the gist goes like this. the narrator of this flick, a dude with thick rimmed glasses & a white lab coat monogrammed MAD DOCTOR on it speaks to the audience about the dangers & horrors we are about to experience. then a group of girls decide to have a pajama party at a haunted house. their boyfriends dutifully drop them to their nightly abode. little do the girls know that the MAD DOCTOR who introduced us to this movie is in the basement along with what i think is a witch, a guy in the silliest gorilla suit, & a pair of goons dressed in their monsterest finery. later, the goons & the gorilla chase down the girls & bring them into the MAD DOCTOR'S lab.
the gimmick of this flick is HORROR VISION. what? HORROR VISION! a new cinematic technique when the monsters crash the fourth wall with operatives in the theater who grab a real girl sitting in the audience then brings her onscreen. that must've been something to see! well, then the girls' boyfriends return to the house, fight off the gorilla & the goons & rescue the girls. the end!
this is all done tongue-in-cheek & the humor is worn on its sleeve. this movie runs only about 30 minutes so it doesn't wear out its welcome or its novelty. it was made to be shown during the live performances of a Spook Show so this pic was not the main attraction. would it were that i had the opportunity to see this flick in its intended setting! nevertheless, this movie is easy to find on the interwebs. a halloween emblem of yore.
boo!
