First shown: 9/6/97
Opening: Tom harmonizes his overtones with the fundamental
Intro: Servo’s “fundamental” turns out to be pre-recorded; meanwhile “Apearlo” and “Brainguyus” settle in with a delighted Callipygeas and suspicious Flavia
Host segment 1:The manly beach dance is postponed because Mike’s trunks are a bit small
Host segment 2: Apearlo & Brainguyus’ jam becomes a beef commercial
Host segment 3:Tom’s a newsy with very up-to-date news
End: M&TB sing “Sodium;” meanwhile as Callipygeas and Brainguyus bond, Apearlo and Flavia trade…er…pleasantries
Stinger: A less-than-manly beach dance
(119 votes, average: 4.58 out of 5)
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Let me just say this: Sodium, won’t you? Thank you.
• I was generally a fan of the “chase through time and space” thing in season eight, and I contend that more host segments worked than didn’t. But when it comes to the “Roman times,” story arc we’re now into, well, for me, not so much. Everybody tries real hard, and I bet it seemed funny in the writing room, but many of the Roman Times host segments just don’t come up to the level I expect from this show. Call it the exception that proves the generally witty and hilarious rule. Fortunately it only lasted a few episodes, and fortunately for this episode, the goofy movie, and the terrific riffing of it, more than make up for any shortcomings elsewhere.
• Paul’s take is here.
• References.
• Door sequence ad: Phys.com (since absorbed by self.com).
• Crow is referred to as a “golden spider duck”—that sounds like something that was in a fan letter, thought I don’t think they ever said that.
• I hadn’t seen this one for a while, and I’d forgotten Eulabelle. Wow. Were these kinds of characters really still acceptable in 1964?
• One reference the reference guide doesn’t note: Observer mentions “Bitter Dregs,” during segment 2. He’s referring to tune sung in the Star Trek episode The Way to Eden “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Watch it here.
• During that bit, they eventually begin playing Aaron Copeland’s “Rodeo,” and Kevin yells “Beef!” That’s a reference to the now-largely-forgotten “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” commercial campaign that featured that Copeland piece. By the way, the music is actually being by Lisa Fuglie (currently of the group Monroe Crossing) and Karen Mueller.
• Annoying commercial: Sci-Fi must have just signed a big deal with Coke. Their commercials are suddenly all over the place. Most annoying is the one with the family exasperatedly teaching the teen daughter to drive, when Coke truck driver hands the dad a Coke and suddenly all is well. Sheesh.
• Movie comments: Did the makers of this movie really think the monsters would look scary? Really? Also: The voice of our heroine Elaine is dubbed. But I’ve never heard an explanation as to why…
• The movie was filmed in the Stamford, Conn. area. (Although it has some very nice shots of 1964-era Manhattan, when our hero makes his Sodium run).
• According to this bio, the Del-Aires broke up not long after shooting this movie.
• Daddy O notes that this movie “was billed as ‘the first horror musical,’ but we MSTies know better….the similarly-hyped 812-THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES was released the year before.”
• The great “Sodium” song has one extra joke connected with it—check out the credits where the song’s “lyric” is credited.
• Fave line: Look Polish, everyone!
Sodium, baby…. Sodium.
Good episode. Decent riffs and a couple of okay host segments.
It’s that vodoo. “Okay i strangle a chicken if that will make you happy.” It’s catlina cpaer meets a goofy monster. That is what the movie is. I alwyas crack up the woman who is dubbed moaning at the end and then tom servo moans. I alwyas laugh at that. i actually like the host segments of roman time.
(Creepy-headed singer for the Del-Aires does a wail that could be considered either terrified or agonized)
Crow: My skull!!!
I have to agree with Paul and the Brains, the Del-Aires were actually kind of fun. I don’t know if the movie needed 40 minutes of them but — actually, nevermind. As soon as they’re off the screen all of the joy is sucked out of the movie.
The two weirdest parts are Elaine, who is clearly a good 10+ years older than her friends and her dubbed voice. I’m guessing she sounded a lot older or couldn’t act. The other was Eulabelle. Maybe they felt better about the stereotypes (“It’s voodoo!”) because she was the only one with half a brain in the film.
And I feel bad about it, but I did enjoy Elaine’s rather odd way of implying she was in pain at the end of the of film.
The Monty Python grandmom motorcycle gang would have made mincemeat of the motorcycle guys in this movie.
Love this episode! Features some of my favorite music in an MST3K episode! But dear god, that sinewy dude prancing around and dancing in the mankini was brain searingly awful!!
I actually enjoyed the Roman Times bits; the only story arc I didn’t like during season 8 was the space children; I just didn’t find it very funny, for some reason.
This is a perfect movie for MST and the crew make the most of it. Also, this is one of those that I want to own uncut (I already have the Arch Hall and the Ray Dennis Steckler and several others; no, I’m not a masochist, why do you ask?)
As a New Yorker I love the completely arbitrary drive around a deserted Manhattan late in the movie; there’s no logical sequence to it at all.
And it sure looks like our scientist/chemist/pharmacist is dispensing sodium out of his apartment, doesn’t it?
This is easily one of my top five episodes. When I was in seventh grade, I couldn’t get enough of the sodium song. I love how M&TB keep prodding Dr. Gavin to actually get some sodium after he makes the critical discovery. He just stands around yapping about radiation!
@Gummo: Right! Even Mike notes, “And down to Greenwich Village for no reason.”
There’s so much I love about this episode, it’d take me all day to make a list. Briefly: the “Look Polish” riffs, Johnny Mathis and the Conan O’Briens, the drunk guys, the three ladies from Noo Yawk and Hank’s needless Confederate-era Southern accent. Eulabelle, of course, stands in a category above all.
Echo the love for the weird NYC sequence.
Eulabelle had a clipped line when asking for her voodoo doll back. Was that a deliberate edit?
And though the line is wrong, the delivery and timing of “Here, let me throw a gay man at you” cracked me up. That, and “Eet was right to zoorenda, ze Germanz were veddyveddy meen!” won me over to Bill as Crow.
Shinola and Brian — Another movie that has a great throw-the-bits-of-film-in-the-air-and-edit-them-as-they-fall New York City chase sequence is Schwarzenegger’s horrendous first movie, Hercules in New York –something the CT or rifftrax crews should tackle sometime!
Could the actress who played Elaine not speak English? Maybe that’s why they dubbed her voice. That was the case for Claudia Cardinale in “The Pink Panther”. Except there, Blake Edwards was smart enough to find a woman who had a voice that sounded like Cardinale’s. While here, the dubber for Elaine’s actress doesn’t fit her at all.
And ditto to Kenotic’s comment about Elaine.
Ah, another episode that I’ve never seen. Looking forward to it!
Where to begin.
Elaine’s strange non-shock at the fates of the fifteen or so friends who died at the slumber party?
The fact that a sea anemone is not a protozoa, and various other gobbledygook Elaine’s father goes on about?
The drunk guy who only notices the guy’s face is ripped up when it’s turned away from him?
Hank very casually looking for sodium in the yellow pages, getting petulant about the concept of driving an hour to New York, despite the fact that deaths are occurring all around him?
Elaine’s orgasmic moans as she’s been led off the scene?
“He’s burned badly, but he’ll be fine”?
As for Eulabelle, I thought M&tB handled that whole delicate issue of the racial caricature pretty well. My favorite riff on that was “Oh, and the Woolworth’s lunch counter? Not that great, don’t bother.”
I really liked the Roman Times sequence, though I doubt anyone would announce “Welcome to Roman Times” once you got there (or speak English, but I should really just relax). Mary Jo and Bridget’s insult swap at the end is gutbustingly funny.
“Rodeo” was also covered by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Perhaps Gypsy didn’t want that reference to be made.
From the main topic: “… many of the Roman Times host segments just don’t come up to the level I expect from this show.”
To be candid, I found this to be true of many more host segments after Joel departed than while he was there. When Joel was present the host segments almost always “popped” and I was (and still am) laughing the moment they began. A lot of the sheer jubilance and comedic direction, focus if you will, seemed to be missing from host segments after Joel departed. There are notable exceptions of course, such as in the show Outlaw or Alien From L.A. where everything worked beautifully from beginning to end inside the theater as well as in the host segments, but the percentage of host segments that were merely amusing rather than outright hilarious definitely increased for us after Joel left.
Unfortunately, Eulabelle passed away not long after this film was released. I fact, I think it was noted on This Day in MSTory, yesterday or the day before.
Love this episode. It’s one where the riffs just keep firing on all cylinders. And I love that they use Eulabelle to just make fun of stereotypes. Also it leads to one of my favorite riffs, “So many toenails, doesn’t even have this many toes,” which I always think of whenever I see a vacuum commercial. I can still remember when the episode first aired I missed about 5 minutes of it because I was laughing so hard at the following:
Woman: Hey Handsome. What’s the fastest way to New York?
Tom: Rocket car.
Ok that’s it, I’m going to have to listen to this episode at work in a couple of minutes.
Mmm Bop!
I enjoy watching these episodes with people who have never seen them before. I watched this one with my girlfriend with a few months back, and she couldn’t understand why that despite having discovered the secret weapon that would kill the creatures, they took so much damn time getting it.
Oh, about the Del-Aires… they’re actually quite talented with their own material (“Drag” is actually a good surf instrumental, really). The outside material, like “The Zombie Stomp” and “You Are Not A Summer Love” (“You Are A Summer Sausage”) is pretty awful, though. Still, I really loved the jokes at their expense. I must be awful.
Oh yeah, I have hit up every web site I can think of searching the reason Elaine was dubbed and can’t find anything. This of course simply invigorates my curiousity all the more.
“Sodium, won’t you?”
You can actually hear what Elaine really sounds like at one point. When she says “Hi, daddy.” the actual voice creeps in for half a second.
Was’nt “Bitter Dregs” from “Plato’s Stepchildren”? I thought Spock just did a jam session with Adam in “Eden”.
A good episode. The riffing is usually funny and the movie itself is pretty good. Strange choice to have bug-eyed fish monsters with hot dogs in their mouths as the “horror”.
As for the host segments they did nothing for me other than denoting Crow as a “golden spider duck” and Servo as a “squat crimson pig”. That was funny.
Love love LOVE this episode! It’s got everything I love in a movie – goofy monsters(does anyone love pickles more than I do?), nightgowns (Ok, everybody focus on sticking your fannies out), and rockin’ tunes (AHHHHH! My skull)!
My fave riff:
“Do farts have lumps?”
Re: silentseason (#21)
Yes, the “Bitter Dregs” song was from “Plato’s Stepchildren”, the TOS episode notable mainly for the interracial kiss, a good role for Michael Dunn, and some really cruel villains whom Kirk lets go with a stern talking-to.
As for the ep, I wonder if a soundtrack was released. The Del-Aires are pretty good. Movie’s awful, though.
As for the host segs, they’re mixed, I’d say. The “Beef!” one was merely OK, but the part with Mike’s (thank Heavens!) unseen swimsuit was funny. And Bridget is great as Flavia.
“Toenails, toenails, toenails” is muttered around our house whenever we vacuum.
Horror of Party Beach has been a favorite movie of mine since MST3K was just a glimmer in Joel’s grandpa’s eye. Mike and the Bots make this movie even better than great. The riffing is spot on, and I really don’t mind the host segments as well. It’s all good, and “Sodium” is a classic. Now if only Amok Time would finally release their Party Beach figure. I did recently purchase a gorgeous mask of one of the beasties in this movie, a hotdog-mouth version. Was a soundtrack ever released?
I personally love the Roman Times host segments. They’re probably my second favorite location, after the wormhole. Anyway, good episode. Movie’s lots of fun, real goofy.
Host segments are nice, always get a kick out of them.
OK, I really REALLY love this one. It has to be one of my most-watched episodes, and my most-quoted. “Just got in on a riverboat!”
There’s just so much in this one. So much pure strangeness. Notes:
- I do, in fact, also have the hots for sexy Romulan girl.
- The dubbed moaning from Elaine and the bots’ reactions may be the funniest thing ever on the show.
- WHY IS SHE DUBBED? This drives me crazy to this day. I must know.
Also, I cracked up that you brought up that stupid Coke commercial. “Yo, D – it’s all good”. Does it make it a good commercial in that I remember it more than ten years later, or a bad commercial because I remember hating it so much? They played that to death.
Silent Season: D’oh! Good catch! Now fixed.
You have to say this in favor of The Horror of Party Beach, at least we get to see the horror early on. It isn’t one of these old monster movies where they figure the best way to build suspense (and save some money) is to keep the monster offscreen until the last ten minutes of film.
Waste of good sodium, though. Think of how many Birch reductions you could have done with that.
One of my favorite episodes. This movie was made for MST3K,monsters,bad music,goofy people dancing around etc.
Mike”Do you have to do that now?” Tom”YES!”
I love Tom’s reaction to Elaine “moaning” in pain. I couldn’t believe it the first time I heard that. I always thought the film makers put that in as a joke.
MC #28 – I agree with you completely about Elaine’s moaning after she places her leg against a rock. Since all of her lines were dubbed, did she actually do that in a studio? Or did the filmmakers resort to more dubious methods to get that particular bit of “dialog”? Either way, it’s about the filthiest thing I’ve ever heard.
Another solid outing from the Brains in Season 8 with solid riffing throughout. I do concur with Sampo that of this season’s story arch the Roman times segments were the weakest of the bunch. They give it a good try and some are amusing but most just fall flat.
Fortunately their moving riffing was as sharp as ever as you can see by the second half of the season they’d really hit their stride and Bill Corbett was definitely fitting in well by this time.
For me the funniest riff was when the first monster appears with that weird-ass head looking like it has a mouth full of pickles and Crow exclaims with a goofy lisp, “Doth anyone love pickleths ath much asth I do?” Priceless!
Sodium. Won’t you? Indeed! 4.5 out of five.
@Spector – I love that goofy Crow voice!
Also in “Terror From The Year 5000″ – “I like milk!”
I need to watch this again and chart our hero’s wandering tour of New York City when hes supposed to be getting sodium.
Love the movie and the riffs were spot on. The host segments were kinda meh, but we did get the ‘Sodium’ song out of this.
I have fond memories of this episode, becouse this was the third episode and the first Mike era episode I ever saw, on YouTube. Needless to say, after seeing two Joel episode, I was baffled by the opening segment. This is one of my favourite episode, and I can still find riffs I missed before.
With Bobo being the chatacter that goes missing, I can’t help but wonder if that was an excuse for Kevin to not put on the Bobo costume for a few weeks.
I thought the Roman Times segment was quite good, but the Space Children segment just did nothing. It seemed to be quite uninspired and generally not very funny (at least until Pearl drove them back to their rather impressive parents).
Btw, note that Mike was NOT responsible for the fire that burned Rome. Perhaps Mike should have defended Bobo in an arson fire trial.
one of my favorites – & i am in the pro-Roman sketches camp. i actually loved kevin’s “welcome to roman times” precisely because no one would have in fact said something like that. the actress here has always been the female counterpart to the “dare to not act” psychic researcher in She-creature.
“I think a lot of film makers have issues with women.”
Ain’t that tha truth! In fact, horrible as it is, I think a good weekend discussion would be “most debased view of women in an MST3K film.”
Between this movie and The Creeping Terror alone you’ve got some seriously whacked views of women. Totally inappropriate but a surprisingly common theme here.
Still a great episode, and one of the first sci-fi shows I ever saw. Love the Shelby Foote mention at the end too. Is there anything the MST guys didn’t know?
This was the movie that drew me into MST3K permanently, particularly the triple-teamwork of Bill, Mike and Kevin during the dialog between Elaine and her Father just prior to Tina’s funeral:
Elaine: “I have such feelings for Hank.”
Dad: “What kind of feelings?
Elaine (perplexed): “I don’t know!”.
Mike (as Elaine): “So, lay off!”.
(The Dad shown rocking his fist back and forth into his palm)
Crow: “I’m gonna have to work you over”.
(The Dad leaning in to kiss Elaine)
Servo: “I’ll just smell your forehead goodbye”.
@#40
As amusing as that would be as a weekend discussion thread, in my mind it starts and ends with Project Moonbase. They give us an incredibly accomplished female astronaut who is surrounded by men that constantly belittle her and treat her like a housewife/secretary.
Eulabelle was played by Eulabelle. Wow that it is just odd. Still I think she is the glue that holds this movie together. Without her it would have been silly. As for the segments they are good…not great but good. and of course the new hit song sodium. Just love that lyric. As for the riffing it’s good. Favorite riff would be “and all the flesh dripped off my skull!” I remember watching this with the whole family at dinner once and my dad at the end credits of the movie said “lets see if any of these people survived this movie?” Oddly enough I don’t think any of them did. Save for the del aires
I suspect that Elaine is Canadian, thus the dubbing.
Or, maybe she was a bit of a low-talker.
Perhaps she couldn’t control the rage in her voice, like the secretary in TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000.
Or she talked like Cindy Brady.
She’s Australian, and like the original Road Warrior, overdubbed.
Paging Mr Herman! Mr Pee Wee Herman!
Thomas K. Dye@#13: I don’t know how common that sort of shot is, but for a similar scene where a character notices someone’s facial mutilation as the mutilatee turns to the audience and away from the reacting character, see the church scene in Umberto Lenzi’s “Nightmare City”, perhaps better known in the States as “City of the Walking Dead”, which is ironic as it stars the first ever fast-moving zombies who can also run, jump, play with their dogs, use sophisticated weapons, and finish up their sculpting projects. I guess some directors get so pressed for time they can only shoot a scene from one angle. Or they missed a class on blocking.
Anyone know some other examples of mis-blocked reveals?
Perhaps my favorite riff comes shortly before, once it’s painfully obvious these two Otis wannabes are nothing but random victims/uninspired comic relief,
“Um, excuse me, could the monsters please kill these guys 4 or 5 times?!”
Then again…nah, my favorite riff is delivered by Mike after the newspaper montage:
“THE MONSTERS WIN THE PENNANT! THE MONSTERS WIN THE PENNANT!”
“Great, I’m dead and I’m breaking out!”
Has anybody figured out yet what the heck that Albert Vitti Permitee sign meant?
Yeah, I’m not a fan of the Roman Times storyline, either. But I really like this episode otherwise. I hope this episode comes out on DVD soon, so I can skip the host segments.
Horror of Public Beach! My copy of this is really, really degraded. Hope Shout!Factory puts this out soon!
Ah, Elaine, my favorite “dubutante” of all time. I bet she didn’t go to the slumber party because she was having hot flashes.
Re #40 and #42, I think that the attitude toward women in MSTied movies would be an interesting topic, though I must say that the worst, hands down, would have to be Hobgoblins. Project Moonbase has the excuse of merely magnifying the prevalent attitude toward women at the time…Hobgoblins has no excuse.
“Burn in Hell, Dad!”
This one has really grown on me over time.
A fine episode. I always lamented that the Del Aires did not have had more “acting” parts. Some of their great (and indeed only) lines include “Heeeey man, what’s hppening?” and “Ever since Tina got killed, like, no action around here”. I suppose I will always have to wonder “what if”… LOL!
One of the greatest riffs “So who is that pipe smoking idiot wandering around your house?”
Sampo: Most of the film was shot in Greenwich CT, immediately west of Stamford, particularly in the south-eastern-most portions of the town known as Riverside and Old Greenwich. The beach scenes were shot at Greenwich Point ( aka Yodd’s Point ).
If you happen to grow up in Greenwich ( as I did ) this movie becomes part of your mythology early on.
Click on my name above for my full review.
Hilarity! – Sometimes, the funniest riff is to not say anything at all. At the end of the movie, when and injured Eliane is being assisted to the car, complete with very suspisious (porno) breathing, Mike and the bots don’t say much, but Mike’s “Ummm…” floors me EVERY TIME, followed by Tom’s rebuttal, this time with a male voice. Quite possibly, THE FUNNIEST thirty seconds of the ENTIRE MST3K SERIES!
As for the rest of the episode, every time I watch this one, it climbs my chart a little more. Sampo’s right, the host segments are in Roman Times totally suck, but the “Sodium” segment and the “Mike’s Swimsuit” segment are classic!!
@ Ang (#46): “Has anybody figured out yet what the heck that Albert Vitti Permitee sign meant?”
If you want to have a bar, you need to have a liquor permit. The person in whose name the liquor permit is made is the “permittee.” The function of the sign is to essentially say, “This is a properly-licensed establishment, and here’s who takes responsibility for it.” As I understand it, the framed license in a bar serves that function today.
I Googled some of this information, and appropriately enough, one of the first sites to come up was the State of Connecticut.
While we’re talking about signs, does anyone know what the origin of the “Look Polish” sign is? I assume there was a brand of polish (as in floor polish or nail polish) called “Look,” but I can’t find anything about it.
@13&39: I’m also a big fan of the absurdity in the line “Welcome… to Roman times.” God i love that.
There’s really a LOT to like about this first Roman Times bit:
The “and that was just a few seconds ago” weirdness which gets funnier and more absurd as you think about it.
PEARL: “And this is… Braiiin….guyyyy… us.”
OBSERVER: “Brainguyus, yes. How imaginative.”
Go Romulan babe!
The episode itself is fantastic. I especially love the first host segment: “A part of me will never be back. A part of me is gone forever.” Matter of fact, the only thing that stinks about this episode is that it uses a cut print. The extra gore is really no worse than the hand scene in The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.
The best bit with Eulabelle is when the doorbell rings and they say “Oh, I’m black, I’ll get it.”
The movie uses stock music that also showed up in Doctor Who. The first episode of the story The Space Museum uses exactly the same music that you hear near the beginning of the movie when the creature is forming.
I don’t know if anyone commented on this but the end credits by this time show a shuffling/restructuring within the production team. Since Jim moved on to handling the business side of Best Brains (he’s still sole executive producer), Kevin (as the most senior cast member/writer) was bumped up to producer meaning he was probably overseeing the show’s production. Meanwhile Mike and Kevin are regularly rotating as episode directors since Jim also vacated that post early in Season 8.
I very good episode. Great riffing, wacky monsters, insipid scientific explanations, middle aged teenage “girl”, The LaVerne DaFazio Trio and the Del Aires make this a hoot. If the scifi channel hadn’t pushed for a stupid story arc (honestly, how brainless are studio execs?!?), there probably wouldn’t have been a discussion about Roman Times. They seemed a little forced, though they did have a few funny lines/moments.
Great episode, awesome theater segments. The moment where the Professor/Dad asks Hank to call every chemical supply warehouse and then Mike goes “No, don’t want to” is HUGE in my household. That is probably in my top ten theater riffs. Too many great riffs to list but here’s some of my faves:
“And all the flesh lift off my skull!”
“But I just got up!”
“So many toenails he doesn’t even have this many toes.”
The Sodium song is perfection.
Possible Invasion of the Neptune Men – Horror Of Party Beach connection?
Just a silly observation while watching Neptune Men but here goes:
Has anyone noticed that the dubbed voice of the first speaker at the roundtable discussion (in the scene immediately after the reactor explosion and just before the Super Sugar Crisp guy calmly and collectedly introduces Space Chief) is an uncanny likeness to Munroe Wade, the tv newscaster reporting on the strange “beans” (beings) from the Horror of Party Beach?
Steve Pop said “While we’re talking about signs, does anyone know what the origin of the “Look Polish” sign is? I assume there was a brand of polish (as in floor polish or nail polish) called “Look,” but I can’t find anything about it.”
I assumed they were talking about Polish sausage, aka kielbasa. So the sign is saying “look! we have kielbasa! yay!”
But, “everybody….look Polish” is my favorite riff. I don’t think I ever noticed Elaine’s dubbing or the moaning. Now I’m gonna have to watch it again.
I like that “Summer Love” song in this movie. Wish I could find it somewhere.
Yes, Sampo, characters like Eulabelle were still fairly rampant in 1964. It would not be until a year later with the premiere of the Robert Culp/Bill Cosby television series I Spy that things would really change. I Spy was the first television series to have white and black male leads that were treated equally in every way(with exception to each one’s individual skills, of course) and was also the first to feature strong, independent black female characters. Thankfully the sufferings of characters like Eulabelle would soon be over.
The Roman Times segments aren’t wonderful overall, maybe, but they contain some of my favorite moments. I laughed at “Welcome to Roman times!” Also there’s Observer’s thinking up a noose for himself and almost everything from Space Mutiny. On the other hand the sniping between Pearl and Flavia got really old really fast.
the monsters ranks right up there with the creeping terror and the the eye creatures. apparently a better budget does not mean better results!
To Steve Pop,
Thanks so much for solving the mystery of the permittee sign. I was totally bumfuzzled by that. I don’t have a clue about the ‘look polish’ sign but the idea of it being a brand of nail polish makes sense.
Let me be the first to declare my undying love for Tina. The world becomes a little more gray after her demise. What was she was doing with that studious dullard “Hardware” Hank in the first place? “Plain Jane” Elaine is more his speed. She’s obviously pining for him at the beach before Tina’s even started seducing the biker.
Tina’s fiery speech to Hank is loaded with irony : “I have a few experiments of my own I’m just itching to try” and “We’ll see who gets the most out of life. Oh brother, you ain’t seen living ’til you’ve seen Tina swing.” Shortly after, Hank stares out at the water, fixing upon the jetty where Tina will soon meet her “experiment”.
Some viewers have theorized that once killed by the creature, you become one, explaining how two such creatures show up to the slumber party (the original “Horror” plus a transformed Tina) but said party occurs just after her funeral. I doubt it was an open casket affair, but I think the undertaker might have noticed a humanoid amphibian stirring at the funeral home.
Del Tenney is a well-regarded B-movie director and I think this movie’s a near masterpiece of the genre. Plenty of beef and cheese-cake at the beach, some rockin’ tunes, creepy atmosphere, wooden performances (with the exception of Tina and Eulabelle), goofy sexual humor, vague scientific explanations. It has the verve, the spark, that the string of B&W horrors that started Season 8 were lacking.
Watching it recently I was struck by some parallels to David Lynch’s films. All-American small-town struck by a tragedy, a hero caught between a bad girl (brunette) and a good girl (blonde), the stiff line delivery from adults and authority figures. Juxtapositions of humor and horror, such as the extreme tonal shift from the initial glee of the slumber party to the total massacre of the girls with a slow pan across their bloodied bodies. Followed by a graphic news broadcast being watched by parents with their children (Tenney’s own, apparently)! These types of things I would describe as “Lynchian” though more likely he absorbed films like this in his youth and retained them in his unconscious to emerge later in a style we now see as intentionally anachronistic.
Good riff from the opening credits, mainly funny for Bill’s delivery:
Mike: So what is “additional dialogue”?
Crow: Oh, things like “Hey you!”, “Get off that!” and “Why not?”
I always assumed “Look Polish” was two-thirds of a sign saying “Look – Polish Sausage” @ some price per pound.
Mr. Limpet (#64): I have also noticed this soundalike connection.
I forgot there was a(now) unfortunate Taliban militia joke…bummer.
Now, I like this episode. The riffing is great all the way through. But this is one of the few MST3k movies that drives me into an insane rage. The writing is so friggin bad! How will we ever find enough sodium? How about calling that one other chemical warehouse? Gee, you’re right. AAARGGGH! And where on earth could those monsters be? You think in the deepest body of water around where about ten people were killed a few days ago? Hmm, could be. It’s all I can do not to throw things at this movie.
“Ladies and Gentlemen… Scott Scrawny and Hard Gainers!”
“Music by My Three Sons!”
I think Brain Guy’s medley also touched on Seasons in the Sun.
There is something else I noticed. I think they also used that exact “Metal machine music” in Phantom Planet.
I’d just like to brag(?) that as a result of this movie, I am the proud owner of 2 Del-Aires 45s. They’re actually not bad.
Ahhhh! My skull!
A great episode, and I love Eulabelle! She’s one of my favorite MST3K characters. Amdist a blander-than-bland cast, she actually shows real (if stereotypical) character. She also seems to be the only one who recognizes the urgency of the situation. Not only does she discover the secret anti-monster weapon, only at her insistence do the oddly unmotivated scientists locate it. Later she directs the characters to the monsters’ secret hideout for the final showdown. All this points to a suspicious cleverness on her part. Could she be some sort of covert operative, or even a divine agent? How did this New England family manage to get a housemaid straight out of Song of the South anyway? Regardless she’s among the more memorable MST3K characters.
one of my faves. the swimsuit host seg is hilarious, another fave. i think the drunks are probably my favorite characters in a movie with a number of decent characters to make fun of. And did Aram Fingle(Overdrawn at the Memory Bank) discover Fingle’s quarry?
“I thought ‘All Nude’ was a dress code.”
“Do farts have lumps?”
“I’m Marisa Tomei and I’m concerned. I’m Joan Kennedy and I’m concerned.”
“Bosco puts hustle in your muscle,
Bosco puts wee in your knee.” I sing this at work a lot for some reason.
“Oh, it’s my Oscar Gamble doll.”
Great episode.
5 Stars!
I’m kind of worn out on this episode, though. And that “soundtrack” (I’m not talking about the Del Aires, they were okay) still gives me a headache.
5 stars! This movie’s even fun without the riffing. The entire first third of the film, with the musical numbers and random “comedy” bits, seems like an attempt to make an east coast version of a Frankie and Annette beach movie. Somehow, though, shooting it in black and white sort of negates the effort, and gives me the feeling that the beach scenes were probably shot in cold weather, WAY after summer was over. The scenes in Fingle’s Quarry suggest that they were shot in late fall.
Gotta agree that Eullabelle is definitely the most enjoyable character. (“Just smile at the stupid white people…”) I want her to come live at my house!
Fave riff: As Tina runs into the ocean past the two little kids…”I can’t get this beer open!”
The sequence where Tina dies is oddly effective; the quick cuts back and forth between the cheering crowd and her dying, alone, makes her seem oddly like a sacrificial victim in a very chilling way. (Sort of like a similar sequence in the movie “Slither”.)
After this episode, I can never hear the start of the song “Chances Are” without continuing it as, “…that I’ll kick your scrawny ass.”
Funny enough, I know the guy who was in the Hot Dog Monster suit.
He had such Bela Lugosi/Lon Chaney/Boris Karloff dreams and ended up with Hot Dog Monster. Very sad.
On the other hand, he did date Elaine for a while!
I’ve seen references to “Look [Nail] Polish” elsewhere.
Although M&TB focused on the babushka wearers at the beach (“Polish immigrant girls”) and “Look Polish”, they never connected the two (“Oh, so THAT’S why they were wearing babushkas! They were trying to look Polish!”). I guess by that point the beach scene was too long ago.
Crow: Part of me will never be back. Part of me is gone forever! Ohhhhh!
fathermushroom and I are of one accord. Trust me…as someone who was actually alive in the 60s, the “Look!” sign was common supermarket advertising. Look (with or without exclamation mark) followed by the special of the week. So the sign is shouting “Hey! We have polish sausage!!!”
One of the very first episodes I saw as a kid, way back in ’97 or ’98. Love the ‘Metal Machine Music’ reference. Add me to the list of people who want to know why the lead actress is dubbed.
John Seavey: ‘The sequence where Tina dies is oddly effective; the quick cuts back and forth between the cheering crowd and her dying, alone, makes her seem oddly like a sacrificial victim in a very chilling way. (Sort of like a similar sequence in the movie “Slither”.)’
Good call. It really is the same scene and I’m wondering if James Gunn has seen this. Everyone should check out “Slither” BTW.
I’m going to watch this one again tonight.
#81 – RockyJones. I felt the same way about the half-hearted attempt at a “beach” movie. It becomes immediately apparent during the jarring scene change from the beach party to Dr. Gavin’s house, where all the leaves are clearly off of the trees in the background, and during the Fingle’s quarry scene as you correctly point out. So unless a couple of months elapsed between Tina’s death and her funeral, the teens were clearly partying at their Connecticut beach in November! I was always surprised that M&TB didn’t comment on that, or the fact that the “beach” angle of the film is abandoned about 1/3 of the way in.
I’ve only gotten to see this one once and even then it wasn’t the complete episode (the recording cut off right after the monsters were destroyed) so I don’t have the full commentary to offer.
Favorite riff: “Do farts have lumps?”
Favorite host segment lines: “She thinks I’m average-looking!” and “Extrie! Extrie! Mike starting to lose patience with newspaper gag!”
@88 good lord, going to one of the CT beaches in November and dancing around in bathing suits. I’m surprised that they weren’t shaking. And when the exgirlfriend goes out to swim and let her hair out?
Well, the shooting probably took place over several months.
In general though, this is one of my favorite episodes. The movie is just so goofy, and it feels like the stereotype of that genre. Goofy monsters, Lantern jaw numbskull hero, “science” saving the day, and unfortunate racism. I’m pretty sure that’s what people would guess without seeing this movie.
Soundtrack not available. You’ll thank us.
Listening to this now at work and burst out laughing at IAMCOMPRISEDOFASERIESOFONESANDZEROES.
I’d forgotten just how much I really loved this episode!
Fantastic episode. But I actually find myself disturbed at Elaine’s “moaning” at the end. It really does sound like what it sounds like! I have this creepy feeling that the filmmakers may have recorded a “casting couch” session and put it on the soundtrack as a inside joke. Seeing as how the filmmakers’ obviously viewed women as objects, it wouldn’t surprise me.
This is my second or third favorite ep of all time, depending on my mood. I admit to not watching it for a while as I don’t want the magic to wear off too much.
But it’s pretty perfect.
The riffing is non-stop great and the film gives them so much to work with.
In fact, I would argue that even more than Manos this is the quintissential movie for the show. I mean: silly monster with costumes, dumb scientists, dumb hero, goofy rock band…you could go on and on.
My fav bits: anything with Eulabelle; the entire opening with the Jean-Paul Satre gang; the panty raid slumber party massacre; the three girls from downstate getting killed scene; the irrelevant but fun tour of New Yawk City; and there are some riffs when they are killing the monsters that always knock me out of my chair.
As for the host segs…yeah, not so great. But I have an ability to just zone them out when they are not so good, and they never affect my enjoyment of a particular episode.
Elain was probably dubbed because her voice sounded horrible when they saw the rushes. But she was the daughter of (fill in the blank) and they needed her in the film. It happens quite a bit. It might even be her actual voice dubbed badly later on…who knows.
I have an orginal poster of this film. Given to me as a gift a few years back.
A+
Love this one! 5 stars. Night of the Living Dubbed. This one is a good example of how wide ranging the humor was on the show. I think it is during the scene with the 2 unfunny drunks – there is a reference to “Waiting for Godot”, and the next joke is about farts. Something for everyone.
Horror of Party Beach has always been one of my favorite episodes.
“I don’t go to slumber parties any more…”
“…now that I’m in my 40′s”
“He’s been badly burned, but he’ll be alright”
That last line kills me every time. and it’s not even a riff.
Here’s a review site which practically lets you watch the movie just by reading it because it’s THAT detailed:
http://www.jabootu.com/hopb.htm
He found plot holes that even M&TB didn’t notice…
My favorite riffs:
The several-times-aforementioned “Do farts have lumps?” I like that in the middle of this painful drunk-humor scene, the Brains casually blow the film’s “humor” completely out of the water.
Eulabelle: It’s a HUMAN thing, Dr. Gavin!
Mike (as Eulabelle): You wouldn’t understand!
Trivia time! (and maybe some more bad spelling)
The bizzar Japanese sounding Music near the end of the movie is indeed Japanese. It’s from the 60′s Cartoon series “8 MAN”.
#64-> you might be right, There are only so many studios that can do ADR for movies so maybe the same studio that dubbed “8 MAN” and “Neptune Men” also did the sound re-recording for “Party Beach.” (If the work was done in New York City, there is a chance the studio was owned and operated by Ben Stern, Howard Stern’s dad).
I see someone already brought up my other observation that some movies are so boring that you notice the scenery and signs while ignoring the actors.
“ALBERT VITTIE PERMITTIE”?
“LOOK POLISH!”
These were put on screen on a bet by the crew to see if the director was really paying attention.
“OH! FLAVIA…”
I’ve also noticed the leafless trees at Dr. Gavin’s house, but in the scene with the two doomed drunks, you’ll see a shot with forsythia blossoms. That says “April” to me. So, they filmed the beach scenes in summer, and the rest before or after.
They clearly filmed over several months, and I guessed they figured no one would notice (or care).
Another thing I always thought was odd was the casting choice of Dr. Gavin’s daughter Elaine, whose performance must have been so poor as to apparently needed dubbing to cover it, when the actor’s real life daughter was assigned a different role in the movie (she played the least unattractive of the women from New York). It seems like she would have been a better choice as Elaine and probably would have had more natural interactions with her dad. Perhaps the studio insisted on a blonde for the lead role?
I nearly forgot! We get to witness another delightful misuse of Carbon-14 testing in this film. Apparently in addition to detecting objects from the future, 14C testing can be used on fresh crime scene specimens to identify the DNA sequences of killer monsters.
It’s the sodium song that ends with Mike (or is it Crow?) going into a rant about these kids today with their: colored chalk, Neve Campbells, VW Golf leases, No Doubts….and on and on…right? I use that one all the time.
I like the two “Southern gentleman” riffs that they do when Hank says hello.
“Just rode in from Richmond.”
“Just arrived on the riverboat.”
“I’m back from Bull Run.”
Another movie with a Romulan girl. How many movies that make it for MST3K? There’s this one and the short “Are You Ready for Marriage?” I think there is at least one more.
I like the Roman Times segments in this episode. I don’t care for the later one, especially when everyone is fawning over Bobo. I do like the last one, though. The real bright spot in these is Bridget Jones as Flavia. I think she is the most versatile of Brains to guest star as a character on the show.
The monsters in this movie are just the goofiest look things. Did the designer not want his monster to be compared to the Gill Man? Is that why he didn’t stick with a simple fish mouth and went with the mouthful of pickles?
What is the deal with movie bikers? They are always dressed so inappropriately for the beach. Is it a sign of their toughness that they can stand to wear leather jackets in the hot sun?
I also found myself falling in love with the Del-Aires after watching this episode, and have since tracked down everything they put out. I believe they have something like 4 singles to their name. Lead singer Ron “My skull!” Linaires later formed a band whose name escapes me at the moment…something like “Queen’s Nectarine Dream Machine.” I know of at least one LP that came from this project.
A soundtrack was never officially released, but has been rumored to have existed. Norton Records (http://www.nortonrecords.com/) was supposed to release a Del-Aires CD, but haven’t done so yet.
I’d just like to brag(?) that as a result of this movie, I am the proud owner of 2 Del-Aires 45s.
I also found myself falling in love with the Del-Aires after watching this episode, and have since tracked down everything they put out.
Ooh, gentlemen, I am impressed!
Similarly, it was thanks to MST that the Gummo household fell in love with Arch Hall, Jr. — we not only own all of his movies, we have a CD put out a few years ago that collects all of his music — except, inexplicably, the wonderful ballad from Eegah, “If I had/a million dollars…”
Well, we pulled out this episode for a viewing last night and laughed as hard as ever. And it reinforced my partiality to the Roman Times segments — they’re very funny! Any chance to see Kevin is welcome and I bet he was thrilled to get on camera WITHOUT the Bobo makeup; and the stereotypical feminine sniping between Flavia and A-pearl-o is hysterical. “Golden spider duck” and “squat crimson pig”? C’mon!
#104: re. Romulan girls:
514 (Teenage Strangler) – Liz in the short “IS THIS LOVE?”
#104 k re. Romulan girls.
Also in Girls Town – Gloria Talbot and henchwoman are dubbed Romulans.
This one’s good, and Spinal Tap references are always welcome (“oh how they danced, the children of stonehenge”). The brains seem to have been slow on the concept that while sodium was the right weapon, they needed something else for TRACKING the monsters. No weapon is good if you can’t find your target, especially a moving target that can walk and swim. That reference to hot dog buns after a booty shot-I just don’t see the connection.
This will always be one of my favourite episodes, since it was the first actual episode I saw after seeing the Movie. And while I realize some don’t dig the Roman Times host segments, I like them, especially this first set. I laugh out loud every time Apearlo and Brainguyus start playing “Seasons in the Sun.”
And Kevin and Bridget are perfect as Callipygeas and Flavia. (I love watching her mouth the “conquered grapes” joke while Callipygeas tells it, since she’s obviously heard it a million times. And I love Kevin’s deep “Roman” voice.)
As for the actual episode, one of my favourite moments occurs when the bikers say in unison, “I think she likes us.”
Is that the Coke commercial where the little brother keeps telling his dad “I told my dame id ‘D’!”
Or something like that?
I can’t type…
“I told you my name is ‘D’!”
This episode is very funny, but the best thing about is the Bill Corbett line –
“It’s my Oscar Gamble doll!”
Best riff of the episode.
Who’s Oscar Gamble, you ask?
Check him out here if you are too lazy to type his name into a google image search.
http://dkpresents.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/doubleshot-tuesday-oscar-gamblebilly-ripken/
>>>514 (Teenage Strangler) – Liz in the short “IS THIS LOVE?”
Apropos of nothing, the jokes about Liz’s age were sort of pointless (if the word really applies to anything about MST3K), since the actress didn’t have to be young to portray a college student, since one doesn’t actually have to BE YOUNG to attend college. Of course, MST3K is *FAR* from the only TV show/movie to not get that.
This is one episode that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I believe I caught this one when it first aired. I do remember watching it, and my mom came in, saw the creature, did a double take and said, “My god, I saw this movie in the drive in.” She then left the room in a hurry.
I hadn’t seen it since then, but I think I remembered it as being a lot funnier than it was. This is another movie that has a funny beginning, slow middle and funny ending, making it a bit uneven with the riffing.
Still the host segments are entertaining, and the creatures are so goofy looking that you can’t help but laugh when they are on screen. For me a 3 and a half star episode.
Of course, everyone knows that Callipygeas is Latin for “nice ass”, right?
Am I the only person to find Bridget kinda foxy in her Roman getup?
I just assumed most of us did.
Anyone else find it nice and ironic that way back when, the ‘bots wished the fight amongst the Merry Wives of “MANOS” had been ‘shirts vs. skins’…and here they finally, technically, get such a fight within the first 20 minutes and it’s part of the most horrific scene ever? An even more devious twist than Pearl sending up that Second Spider Invasion if you ask me.
And has no one commented on the oddness of the bikers using teamwork to battering-ram their leader head-first into our hero for a finishing move?
“Wait, hold on guys, I’m not sure this is such a great idea anymore, maybe we should– AAUUUGH! GOD! MY SPINE…”