Customer Reviews

The Beach Girls and the Monster

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For some reason, American International Pictures never properly exploited the huge potential crossover appeal of their highly successful beach party and horror genres (witness the tepid Ghost in the Invisible Bikini). Attempting to fill this void, kiddie-show producers Edward Janis and Joan Gardner concocted this mildly enjoyable, very low-budget beach/horror item (fondly remembered as Monster from the Surf on TV). The story is primarily a dysfunctional-family melodrama: it seems oceanographer dad (Jon Hall) is losing his grip because son Richard (Arnold Lessing, looking rather more than teenaged) is being distracted from his studies by the surf and sand set, and also apparently because frustrated, shrewish wife Vicki (Sue Casey) is stepping out on him. Meanwhile, an alleged "sea monster" is bumping off errant teens (the minute a stray couple heads down the shore you know they're toast). The production is 'enhanced' somewhat by the participation of puppeteer/voice artist/sculptor Walker Edmiston (who plays the crippled sculptor Mark, wrote the song "Monster in the Surf," and sculpted the creature's head) and more so by surfing photographer Dale Davis, who supplied some nice footage of hot-dogging tube action. Also on the upside: BG&TM offers probably the largest chunk of halfway-decent instrumental surf music to make it onto a movie screen during the craze years (Dick Dale, The Pyramids, et al. were usually not allowed to play their best [instrumental] stuff in the Beach Party movies). The main title theme, repeated throughout the film (minus the horrendous opening vocals), and a "spooky" reverb guitar-and-sax theme actually hold up pretty well today. No musical group is credited so apparently these and the vaguely Brubeckian cocktail/spy-jazz cues are courtesy of Frank Sinatra Jr. (yes, THAT Frank Sinatra Jr.) The movie also generates a modicum of sleazy Adults Only ambience, mostly thanks to Ms. Casey, whose cold-eyed, acid-tongued demeanor begs comparison with Meg Myles in Satan in High Heels, Tura Satana in Faster Pussycat, and other definitive "bad girl" performances. And trash film junkies will have fun snickering at the Edwoodian dialogue ("I still believe that a human clawed that girl to death, not a fish, no matter how big"); ultra-chintzy, overlit monster suit; and some of the least convincing rear-projection driving scenes ever committed to film (check the size and trajectory of some of those following/passing vehicles!). Unfortunately, the homely beach girls, lacklustre party scenes, and cringeworthy vocal numbers and 'blackout' jokes cause one to reflect only on how brilliantly these elements were handled by William Asher in the AIP series. Cult status or no, "More Than Wanting You" is just lame, and the singing hand puppet is, well, a singing hand puppet. According to several of the principals, the film was actually directed 'by committee' and it shows. The writing, performances, editing, and continuity are consistently amateurish (watch the white MG transform into a different auto as it heads over the cliff in the finale); plot points are telegraphed by obvious, heavy-handed dialogue; and nominal director and star Jon Hall (looking puffy and bug-eyed) overacts wildly throughout. Hard to believe he was once the debonair ladies' man romancing Maria Montez on-screen. SF/horror fans will groan at the cop-out ending and the entire picture will most likely disappoint straights expecting an actual Good Movie. However, Beach Girls and the Monster does offer a sizable chunk of cheese for low-budget schlock aficionados to snack on. Makes a great double bill with Horror of Party Beach (still MIA on DVD).
Yet another fine Image/Wade Williams presentation, Beach Girls is offered here in probably the definitive DVD edition. The source print has been transferred in anamorphic widescreen, matted at 1.85:1, and other than some light speckling and blemishing, and sporadic, barely noticeable lining it looks great, with generally excellent brightness, contrast, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail (limited at times by the quality of the original cinematography). The full-frame BG&TM trailer looks a little dupey but still very good, with only some light speckling apparent, and the usual five bonus WW Collection trailers are included in a cookie. The disc also features an extensive gallery of stills, on-set candids, and advertising art (some of the photos are in color), and an underwhelming eight-page extract from the original script in Adobe PDF format. The Dolby Digital 1.0 mono sound is clear and full, the main menu is nicely animated, and there are informative liner notes by Tom Weaver in the keep case. One of the nicer packages in the Image/Williams series. Three stars for the movie, five for the DVD, equals four overall.

This movie used to play periodically on late Saturday night Philadelphia TV in the 60s. My family and I must have watched it at least a dozen times without ever seeing the end. It got to be a real joke. We used to watch for it in the listings, and every time it would play we would gather together in front of the tube resolving to stick it through to the end, only to fall asleep once again. Twenty years later I finally got to see the end, but I won't ruin it for you.

This flick is just plain goofy fun. Put your brain on hold, fire up some popcorn and settle in for pure goofy silliness. Don't expect it to make any sense, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Favorite scene: What better way to celebrate the loss of a dear friend than to have a beach party where she met her demise! There's A Monster in the Surf.... Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Oh yeah, you'll be singing along.

BGATM is a wonderful low-budget entry from the 60's heyday of exploitation anything goes insanity (Horror Of Party Beach, The Flesh Eaters, Brain That Wouldn't Die). Unfortunately three versions of this film exist and all three sport different cuts. One would need all three versions to create a composite of the complete movie. Sadly, the Image disc is missing chunks of footage and is far from the definitive cut of this amusing time capsule. I hope one day somebody will care enough to present this movie in all it's delightful splendor, but I doubt it.

I loved this movie. And if you are a B-Movie freak like me you will love it too. Don't worry, it does have a plot. You will get a kick out of seeing the old tape-deck out on the beach. Take notice of the furniture in the house. It seems to be coming back in style today. This is a Fun little movie that you would want to watch
again and again. (Don't forget the popcorn.)

The Beach Girls and the Monster is a horror film as well as a comedy. The main story is about a sea-creature going around killing beautiful bikini-clad babes at a California beach. The Highlights of the film was the dance sequences by the Watusi Girls from the Whiskey A Go-Go nightclub in Los Angeles, the lion puppet singing along with the beach girls and the music score composed by Frank Sinatra Jr.(Old Blue Eyes' son). This movie is perfect for rainy-day weekends and Halloween parties.

I love a good beach monster movie -there are way too few,
and this is my favorite! Oh god, is it cheesy. Don't
ask me why, but it is very addictive and gets watched often!
If you want to numb your mind and escape to a very strange place,
this works for me. (My other favorite beach monster movie is;
The Horror of Party Beach) Look it up on Amazon! Get the pair,
they are so cheesy good that you will be hypnotized and forget
everything else! Need more? Get 'The Monster that Challenged the World"
That should hold you till my next review.

Since there are apparantly other versions of this film, what is the point of releasing just one. It seems that there are others using additional and/or alternate footage. Either put together one complete film or give us all versions. There is also supposed to be a surfing sequence in color. This DVD is ok for one version but thats all. In B/W and widescreen.

I purchased this DVD in memorium of Walker Edmiston in light of his recent death. He was a great man and actor and I thought it would be nice to have something of his work on film. The film also has an interesting history (google it for fun.) I realized that this film was low budget and that monsters had evolved little as of the 1960's, but I hoped that would result in comedy. Such was not the case. I'm not really sure why anyone would want to buy this DVD. I was hoping for 'it's so awful it's funny.' However I found little humor in the shallow plot and dancing beach girls. The title of the film pretty much sums it up: "The Beach Girls and the Monster." If you're hoping for more you'll be sadly disappointed.

Here's a fun little flick to lighten your spirits. Lots of booty shaking beach chix, dancing and singing, and surfing stock footage. A monster is lurking around the beach and killing those no-good deliquent surfer teens. The whole "monster" concept of the film actually seems like it was thrown in as an afterthought coz most of the film seems to be about a guy wanting to hang out on the beach and be a surfer dude while his dad wants him to get serious and become a marine biologist. Throw in a cheating wife and gimpy roomate and what we got here is a surfin soap opera with an occasional monster attack. The same surf song seems to be played throughout the whole film. When the monster attacks we're treated to a peppy jazz tune that sounds alot like Dave Brubeck's song, "Take Five". Look at the cover of this dvd. That's exactly what you get with this film.