If Creatures from the Pink Lagoon gives you any wood it will be Ed Wood. The spirit of the legendary ‘world’s worst filmmaker’ hovers over this uninspired sci-fi horror spoof like a rain cloud over a picnic.
It’s hard to make a good intentionally bad movie, because when the result is bad a viewer can’t tell whether you did it that way on purpose or not.
The premise is to remake The Boys in the Band as a horror movie from the ’50s or ’60s. In addition to adopting the basic situation of Mart Crowley’s play—a birthday party for a gay man attended by some of his closest and bitchiest friends—the movie riffs on the play’s dialogue and uses the last names of original cast members for the characters’ last names.
It seems mosquitoes are soaking up toxic chemicals from a nearby chemical plant and infecting the men who cruise the Exit 5 Rest Stop (no senators among them) with the ‘West End Virus,’ turning them into Romero-esque zombies. One of those infected is Bobby (Bill Morrison), a ‘rest stop betty’ who’s been dating idealistic, romantic Phillip (Nick Garrison), whose birthday we’re celebrating.
Our host (and token Black) is Stan (Lowell Deo), whose unfaithful partner, Billy (Vincent Kovar, not quite carrying off the ‘hunk’ look he’s supposed to have), is in attendance. Randall (Philip D. Clarke) is responsible for most of the bitchy banter, spoken as if channeling Paul Lynde, while his date for the day, Gary (John Kaufmann) is off fooling around with Billy. The only official single is shy Joseph (Evan Mosher), and no one seems to know or care whether he’s gay.
The ‘flesh-eating creatures of the night’ come out in the daytime to interrupt the party. I mean, really come out, dancing in a chorus line.
The effects are nothing special, cheap enough to make Ed Wood look like a spendthrift. It’s all in black and white except for some pink tinting to indicate a zombie’s POV.
It’s kind of like Psycho Beach Party without—come to think of it, Psycho Beach Party was without everything, too.