After a ship wreck, some dumped atomic waste combines with skeletal remains to form bloodthirsty radioactive creatures that resemble sea horses and attack humans. The first victim is Tina (Marilyn Clarke), the plain girl who acts sluttish to get attention. Her boyfriend, Hank Green (John Lyon), works with Dr. Gavin (Allan Laurel), to come up with a way to defeat the monsters while drawing closer to Gavin's daughter, Elaine (Alice Lyon, John's sister). Meanwhile the attacks continue, including a "slumber party massacre" in which twenty young women are slaughtered. A trio of women are attacked at the quarry where the monsters have relocated, and two drunk men become victims as well. Gavin's housekeeper Eulabelle (Eulabelle Moore) -- simple-minded perhaps but feisty -- is gently mocked by the doctor for suggesting "zombies" are responsible, but as the creatures are, in a sense, living dead men, (giant protozoas) she's more on target than she realizes.
The Horror of Party Beach combines a creature feature with a typical beach party movie, with scenes of bathing belles, lame jokes, and songs by a group called the Del-Aires. There's also a brief rumble on the beach and other stock elements of the Beach Party genre. Actually the idea for the monsters and some of the sequences are interesting enough that this might have worked much better as a straight horror picture -- it's the beach scenes and music that give it that campy, schlocky aspect. Another problem is that the mimes who play the monsters in their costumes walk more like dancers than a new species of creature. Still, you might get a bit of a frisson when the monsters creep out of their quarry at night and prowl through the forest. A gangling score and sound FX also help. Del Tenny also directed The Curse of the Living Corpse.
Verdict: Atomic skulls on the rampage! **1/2.
Has been a while but need to see again. I remember it was fun, and you seem to concur!
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It is definitely fun in its weird, cheap way!
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