Jerry Warren made a career out of buying foreign films, hacking them to pieces, and inserting scenes of people sitting in offices talking about what we just saw. But Teenage Zombies is a special vintage of Warren: it’s one of the few he actually sat down and directed himself from start to finish. And by directed, I mean that he pointed a camera at people and hoped for the best.

A quartet of clean-cut teens (Reg, Skip, Julie and Pam) who decide to go water skiing and end up on an island that isn’t on any map. Why? Because it’s the secret HQ of Dr. Myra (Katherine Victor, Mesa of Lost Women), who isn’t just your run-of-the-mill mad scientist. She’s working for an Eastern country to develop a drug that turns Americans into mindless, obedient slaves. Her current test subjects? A man in a gorilla suit — well, it’s supposed to be an ape — and a bearded zombie named Ivan, played by L.A. jazz DJ Chuck Niles, the only jazz DJ to be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Niles later said his only direction was to walk like Frankenstein and make gurgling noises.

Speaking of people who did much better after this, Brianne Murphy, who played Pam, was for a time married to Warren, who wrote the script to this on their honeymoon. While working on his movies, she worked as a production manager, which saved money. It also gave her experience as a second unit director. She became a trailblazing cinematographer who shattered gender barriers in a male-dominated film industry. Her career gained momentum in 1975 when she took over as script supervisor on Columbo, and in 1980, she became the first female director of photography on a major studio film, Fatso. 

Initially denied entry to her local union by an officer who swore she’d join “over his dead body,” she successfully joined after his passing, eventually becoming the union’s first female executive board member. To bypass systemic bias, she often used the name “Brian” or her initials “G.B.” on applications and even lowered her voice during professional phone calls to secure work.

Murphy is widely remembered as a pivotal figure who fought for women’s rights and visibility in Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Scientific and Engineering Achievement in 1982 and an Emmy for her work on Highway to Heaven.

Warren wrote this under his favorite pseudonym, Jacques Lecoutier. He used it so often he actually forgot how to spell it, frequently misspelling his own fake name in the credits.

Because the copyright was not actually registered (despite a 1957 claim), this movie entered the public domain immediately. It’s been a staple of 50 Movie Pack DVDs and late-night creature features for decades.

The poster promises “Young Pawns Thrust into Pulsating Cages of Horror,” but what you actually get is a lot of walking, a sheriff who is obviously evil from the second he appears and a climax involving a gorilla that looks like it was stolen from a high school drama department’s dumpster. I loved it, as you can gather.

You can watch this on Cultpix.