Moviecut—Sting of Death

source: Sting of Death

I'd scream too if the jellyfish man came at me with that suit on. Did you see how grubby it was? So much sand! I actually had a lot of fun watching this movie. The story is weird, but interesting, at least. Some of the effects were surprisingly pretty good, though others were... less so. The transformation sequence and the plastic bag jellyfish were both hilariously bad, but with an emphasis on the hilarious. Also, some of the scenes went on for way too long. (the dance party!) But, at least you get plenty of time to appreciate everyone's amazing dance moves. So again, even the 'bad' stuff is still funny. The thing I noticed the most while watching though, is that some of the cinematography is actually really nice looking. In particular, some of the shots of the swamps were really pretty, as was the underwater stuff.

Florida based schlock master Bill Grefe strikes again with this bad movie classic, an endearingly idiotic creature feature with one of the tackiest creatures ever created for film. It takes place in the heart of the Everglades, as bubble headed college students converge on the swanky retreat of marine biologist Dr. Richardson (Jack Nagle). The doc's got himself a hunky young associate, John Hoyt (Joe Morrison), and a very pretty daughter, Miss Karen (Valerie Hawkins), and they're all about to get menaced by Jellyfish Man - a supposed hybrid of Portuguese Man of War and human - who looks more like a guy in a Halloween costume with a garbage bag over his head. If you're still reading, you'll probably enjoy this piece of celluloid excrement. Granted, you do have to sit through some padding. But the padding isn't entirely worthless, because you get treated to "special singing guest star" Neil Sedaka belting out a tune to accompany the hottest dance of all time, the Jilla Jalla Jellyfish. There's lots of sexy girls to watch, and a substantial amount of close-ups on derrieres. The location shooting helps to give this colorful nonsense some degree of atmosphere. The performances are all pretty amateurish, but it'll be hard to take your eyes off Nagle, basically because he's got an ugly bump on his forehead that changes sizes throughout the course of the story. John Vella is a hoot as creepy character Egon. The music, credited to Al Jacobs and Lon E. Norman, actually isn't all that bad, and the same goes for the photography. The scenario (screenplay by Al Dempsey and an uncredited Bill Kerwin, the star of Herschell Gordon Lewis classics "Blood Feast" and "Two Thousand Maniacs!") is just stupid enough to make things consistently amusing. Kerwins' brother Harry (himself director of "Barracuda") is the man credited with the makeup effects. Ideal viewing for people looking for Z grade genre junk from decades past. Five out of 10.

Montreal's Fantasia Festival has a tradition of bringing back to the screen old and forgotten films. In this year's virtual fest, that film is 1966's "Sting of Death," via a recently restored print. Karen, a college student, and several of her female friends visit her father, a biologist, on his remote island laboratory complex in the Florida Everglades. He is working with Jon, a brilliant assistant, and Egon, a strange and mutant-looking character who complains that nobody listens to him or likes him. He's especially upset that no one believes his theory that jellyfish can be grown to enormous sizes and then, you know, sting people to death. Karen and Jon, meanwhile, host a party of her father's students, who like to dance to Neil Sedaka's "Do the Jellyfish." When they make fun of Egon, however, they find that they have drifted into very dangerous territory indeed.... This is a fun, but really bad, movie - it's very hard not to crack up at the sight of a transformed Egon, for example, and little film-techniques like, oh, continuity or any ability to act, are thrown to the wayside, or rather, overboard into the depths of the very shallow Everglades. Would have been perfect to see with a Fantasia crowd, but it was pretty fun even just at home. I wouldn't go out of my way to search it out, though!

STING OF DEATH involves a large jellyfish that attacks young scientists. Only here the jellyfish looks very much like a heavy-duty garbage bag. Grefe, along with Frank Henenloter, (cult filmmaker and Something Weird's resident film restorer) provide commentary tracks for both films. STING features young Neil Sedaka introducing a dance (that did not sweep the nation) and a song called "The Jellyfish." This disc even comes with a print-out of the lyrics ("Forget Your Cinderella, and do the Jella... The jilla-jalla jella...") DVD's really bring out the run and shoot aspects of low budget film-making. Hand held work is accented with DVD's clarity. This clarity also shows off shifts in film stocks, where grainy stock footage is cut with staged fine-grain action.

Sting of Death (1965) * (out of 4) A marine biologist and his college daughter have a small party not knowing the dangers that are in the Florida swamps. Soon a half man, half jellyfish creature begins to attack people. STING OF DEATH comes from director William Grefe and there's no doubt about it. This is a pretty awful movie. In fact, it's really so awful that one wonders why it's not better known because there are some really campy moments here that fans of "bad movies" should really enjoy. As bad as the movie is, if you're a fan of the drive-in flicks from this era then you've probably seen this one and have a soft spot for it. The biggest issue with the film is that even at just 80 minutes it seems this thing runs three times longer. There are countless bad things in the film but I guess these should be expected when you've got a week to film something and really don't have any major talent anywhere. Grefe at least makes this look like a professional film instead of just some indie flick from Florida (which it was). The monster itself gets the biggest laughs because of its wetsuit, which constantly pulls up to where you can see the human skin.

Sadly, there is always this underclass of movie making, the Poverty Row, the drive in, the direct to video and the You Tube quality film, that is out there and not very good, but someone really decided to dedicate a few weeks of their life to it. The film is that a scientist studying jellyfish has a creepy assistant who has figured out (despite the lack of any formal education) how to make a giant jellyfish that he can bond with and attack hapless girls. No, seriously, this is the plot. He joins with his giant jellyfish in Scooby Doo fashion in order to kill the girls who tormented him. Really. The costume is truly pathetic (in a bunch of scenes, you can see where the flippers don't quite meet up with the leggings) and it's otherwise laughable. Wooden acting and Neil Sedaka who probably didn't know his music was being used here....

Got to give it 4/10. One point plus three more - 1) you've got Neil Sedaka singing, "Do the Jellyfish." 2) You've got really, really pretty color, better than a lot of mainstream films from the same era. 3) And the final man vs. monster confrontation is so hilarious that you'll play it over and over, if, of course, you're drunk on your ***. Kind of disappointing, really, because this probably would've been more fun if it had either been inept and stupid start to finish, or if it had been 'way-over-the-top whack like an Al Adamson epic. Worth watching mostly so you can tell people about this messed-up movie you saw about a guy with a Portuguese Man-o'-War for a head. [The other Southern film with a trashbag-based monster, of course, is Attack of the Giant Leeches.]

Yeah I know I only rated it 2 stars, but see it anyway. It must be viewed to be believed. This is plainly one of the dumbest movies ever made - the monster, a jellyfish-man, is as lame as they come (you can see the zipper), and it is filled with risible moments. Be sure to see it with a group however, so you can all mock its many puerile bits. The unforgettable song, "The Jilla Jalla Jellyfish" is a show-stopper. And when I saw unforgettable, I mean it. The sucker is almost impossible to scrape off your brain cells. One of my friends tried to physically attack me when I teased him by playing the son. "I'll be hearing it in my head for the next week!" he raged. The fact that a man-sized pitch black jellyfish-man can hide in a small swimming pool is a surefire crowd pleaser, as are the little cheerfully-colored plastic bags which "simulate" the big jellyfish attack on the hapless teens. The final revelation of the jellyfish-man's identity will surprise not even the tiniest tot, though his suit looked so phony, it is a bit of a shock to learn that he's supposed to be a real honest-to-god monster, not just a guy dressed up as one in Scooby Doo fashion. One of the worst movies ever made - you will goggle at the decisions the director chose to make. But you will also be entertained.