Swell teenagers Reg, Skip, Julie, and Pam land their boat on a deserted island and become prisoners of a female scientist (Katherine Victor) and her zombies. She is working with a foreign power that plans to use her zombie gas to take over the United States. Luckily, two of their friends wonât give up the search for the missing teens.
Before watching Teenage Zombies, I was unaware of a major artistic debate going on in the film world. The issue: does moving the camera distract from a filmâs central themes? On the static side is writer/director/artist Jerry Warren who brought the world such existential works as Frankenstein’s Island, She Was a Hippy Vampire, and Blood of the Man Devil. Opposing his well considered opinion isâŚwellâŚeveryone else.
Teenage Zombies shows Warren at his most artistic, setting his camera up in one location and then having people walk by. His indoor scenes step up his stylish immobility as not only is the camera locked in place on one side of a room, but the actors rarely move, standing rooted to their marks as they read their lines from what I assume is a cue card (certainly nothing in the film makes me believe the actors knew what they were saying before they pronounced the words). Perhaps the greatest example of Warrenâs brilliance comes in a fight scene where the camera is set on two people wrestling on the floor. When they get up, we get a shot of their legs below the knees as they run out of frame.
Warrenâs technique also has the advantage of saving hundreds of dollars on set construction as no room needs more than one wall (Iâd say thousands, but the entire film couldnât have cost more than a thousand dollars).
Outside of this fascinating controversy, Teenage Zombies also gave me insight into 1950s teens. Apparently, they were swell and said âcrazyâ a lot. The males were all brave and daring, while the females stood around waiting to be rescued. They also respected adults unless the adult dressed like Morticia Adams.
Ed Wood had nothing on Jerry Warren.