This year’s marathon brought something new to the table.  A third victim!  Joining me and AC this year was our buddy Matt Carr (aka gore artist Putrid) who finally decided to take up our offer to spend the day rolling around in cinematic garbage.  With Matt being a fan of such things and very used to it, we know he’d feel right at home.

Sting of Death (1965) – Our first movie came from Florida’s own William Grefe, another renegade filmmaker that didn’t want to leave his Florida location and would stay and make his movies there.  Sting was Grefe’s first real venture into the horror genre, creating the first half man/half jellyfish creature that has to be seen to be believed.  Seeing a guy wearing a black wetsuit, with basically a plastic garbage bag over his head, and wires hanging off of him that are supposed to be tentacles is just priceless.  It really is one of the best cheesy monsters in cinematic history.  And it’s a blast.

A group of biology students head over to an island off the coast of the Everglades to have a party at Dr. Richardson’s house, where his daughter has just showed up to stay for a while.  The doctor’s assistant, Egon, stands out like a sore thumb amongst her friends because he’s slightly deformed.  So that makes it okay for all her friends to laugh, point, and generally make fun of him.  But hey…they’re just wacky kids.  In fact, right after they get there, they start the swinging dance party.  There’s even a song playing called ‘Do the Jellyfish’ that was written and sung by famous singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka.  I’m sure this was at the start of his career…But somehow, with all the dancing, the kids don’t happen to see this jellyfish creature sneak into the pool that they’re dancing around, waiting for someone to jump in the pool.  As we said, it has to be seen to be believed.

Grefe would go on to make other successful drive-in style movies, including his most famous one, Stanley (1972).

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