Billed as "the first monster musical" which I believe is an accurate statement although perhaps nothing to be proud of. The concept here is very original as are many of the movie's scenes. For me, the biggest problem with the film overall is the musical part. These are some of the worst performances from singers and dancers that I've ever seen! The folk singer Don Snyder is perhaps the most horrific thing in the film (sorry Don, but it's true). Overall, the whole thing is just confusing as to why what appears to be an all ages carnival would have strippers or interpretive dancers? The plot is kind of all over the place and many questions are left unanswered, but it's not trying to be some fascinating narrative. I'd guess Ray Dennis Steckler simply had this idea for a musical and he used the budget and the space he had to make something that while awful is at least quite interesting.The good parts I would point to would start with the main henchman Ortega. Not sure if he has makeup, a mask or is just normally hideous but he's an interesting, although far more useless version of Fritz or Ygor. The dream sequence that Steckler wrote is a rather creepy, surreal moment that I always enjoy watching. I'd also note that the "zombies" look fantastic although I'm not sure what they are would technically be zombies as we think of them. If so perhaps they are more in the sense of old school voodoo controlled people because they definitely aren't supposed to be dead. Unfortunately though, we don't get to see a lot of these well done title creatures which is typical of small budget horror cinema. Because of it's originality I would recommend seeing it in it's unadulterated form at least once. After you do that, you should just get the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the film because it's one of their best episodes and you'll be able to appreciate (perhaps tolerate is a better word) the movie much more...

Jerry falls in love with a stripper he meets at a carnival. Little does he know that she is the sister of a gypsy fortune teller whose predictions he had scoffed at earlier. The gypsy turns him into a zombie and he goes on a killing spree.The film was originally released by Fairway-International Pictures, Arch Hall, Sr.'s studio, who put it on a lower half of a double bill with one of his own pictures. Later, it was matched with "Beast of Yucca Flats", but working with Hall seems far more appropriate -- his films are notoriously trashy, and he had just worked with Steckler on "Wild Guitar" two years prior.There is really nothing redeemable about this film. Once it gets going, it is tolerably bad, but at least 75% seems to be nothing more than a showcase of women singing and dancing. This adds nothing to the plot. The sound is awful, and cuts out in some places, though even if it were fixed it may not do anything to improve the overall quality of this boring bomb.Had it not been for a catchy title, this film would have faded into obscurity fifty years ago already...

Like so many awful films, I could never bring myself to watch this without the Mystery Science Theater crew adding their many hilarious lines to the film. I don't understand how some people gave this film anything more than a 3-star rating. The movie is complete nonsense. It focuses more on cheesy dancing and singing than it does on zombies. You don't even see any zombies until near the very end of the movie and that's only briefly cause they all get shot within 3 or 4 minutes except for one of the stars of the film who leads 1 police officer on a long and boring chase along a beach before the cop finally shoots him. If you have any interest in seeing this film, please do it with MST3K.

I watched many movies in my teens, most of which I have no memory beyond a name or vague story plot. This movie, in addition to its title, created movie history in a lot of ways. I have to go to Rocky Horror to find an equivalent for several of these (combining horror, sf, comedy in a musical). I still remember the stark, anguished photography, the meaningless actions, the hopelessness so dark it could only be comedy. One review captured this, describing it as "lunar purity". I wasn't surprised to learn that one of the camera operators, Vilmos Zsigmond, went on to win an Academy Award for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Note that this review is written at least 40 years after I saw the film.