Teenage Zombies (1959)

A crazed female scientist uses nerve gas to turn local teenagers into her unquestioning slaves.

Director:

Jerry Warren

Writer:

Jerry Warren (original screenplay)

Stars:

Don Sullivan, Katherine Victor, Steve Conte

Cast

Cast overview:
Don Sullivan	...	Reg
Katherine Victor	...	Dr. Myra
Steve Conte	...	Whorf
J.L.D. Morrison	...	Brandt
Brianne Murphy	...	Pam (as Bri Murphy)
Paul Pepper	...	Skip
Mitzie Albertson	...	Julie (as Mitzi Alpertson)
Jay Hawk	...	Morrie
Mike Concannon	...	Sheriff
Nan Green	...	Dotty
Don Neeley	...	Maj. Coleman

Storyline

Teenagers Reg, Skip, Julie and Pam go out for an afternoon of water skiing on a nice day. They come ashore on an island that is being used as a testing center for a scientist and agents from "an eastern power." They seek to turn the people of the United States into easily controlled zombie like creatures. The agents steal Reg's boat, stranding the teens on the island. The four friends are then held captive in cages able only to speculate on their fate. Though they have already been testing the formula on convicts and drunks, the enemy scientist and agents plan to conduct final tests on the teens before they use it on the rest of America. Meanwhile, two of their friends, whom the captives had planned to meet later, search for their missing friends. After a series of suspicious encounters, they urge the corrupt sheriff to search the island where their friends are trapped.

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Plot Keywords:

island | zombie | female scientist | nerve gas | spy | 

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Taglines:

A fiendish experiment performed with sadistic horror!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Teenage Torture

Filming Locations:

Mandeville Canyon, Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

GBM Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 1957, but not released for two years.

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Connections

Featured in The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004)

User Reviews

Perfect, except for the lack of water skiing scenes

Director Jerry Warren chooses to tell his story "Teenage Zombies" via the master shot. There are about two close ups in the entire film. This allows Warren to fully exploit and reveal the mise- en-scene of every scene. This technique also allows the actors to roam the frame and use their body language to develop their multi-dimensional characters. In particular, Chuck Niles is able to portray a fully fleshed out Ivan because of Warren's deployment of the master shot. It's a brilliant performance that overshadows all the other actors in the movie. Mitch Evans also gives us a subtle and nuanced performance as the gorilla. My one complaint about the film is that we don't see any water skiing. I like films with water skiing in them and I suspect Warren could have cut together an intriguing water skiing montage if he had been so inclined.