History Film / TheIncrediblyStrangeCreatures

* GoryDiscretionShot / ShadowDiscretionShot: Jerry's murders are depicted in this manner.

* NonIndicativeName: The "zombies" are really just brainwashed slaves, and no-one gets "mixed up." The extra long, silly title makes it sound like the film's a parody, when it isn't.

''The Incredibly Strange Creatures'' (full title: ''[[LongTitle The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies]]'') is a 1964 American monster movie written and directed by Ray Dennis Steckler, who also starred in the film, billed under the pseudonym "Cash Flagg". It was originally titled ''The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-Up Zombie''; you can see [[Film/DrStrangelove why they were forced to change it]] by Creator/ColumbiaPictures. (Why Columbia would bother to threaten a lawsuit is an utter mystery.)

This freaky little film with the [[LongTitle famously unwieldy title]] (''The Incredibly Strange Creatures'' for those of us who don't have the pecs to swing the full title around) billed itself as "the first monster musical!" beating out ''Film/TheHorrorOfPartyBeach'' by a month. Considering the general crappiness of either film, the "honor" involved is dubious at best. Like that movie, it features many incidental song-and-dance numbers performed at the carnival's night club. Almost all of these performances were [[AnInsert inserted]] into the film wholesale and have [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment no bearing, narrative or thematic, on the story]]. The only connection is one night club dancer who figures into the plot as a victim.

* LongTitle: The second-longest title of any horror film at the time of its release.

* NiceHat: The carnival barker's straw boater.
-->'''Barker:''' Oh, uh... ''I'll'' wash the dishes. [tips hat in a playfully rakish manner]\\
'''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike:]]''' With my ''hat''.

''The Incredibly Strange Creatures'' (full title: ''The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies'') is a 1964 American monster movie written and directed by Ray Dennis Steckler, who also starred in the film, billed under the pseudonym "Cash Flagg". It was originally titled ''The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-Up Zombie''; you can see [[Film/DrStrangelove why they were forced to change it]] by Creator/ColumbiaPictures. (Why Columbia would bother to threaten a lawsuit is an utter mystery.)

* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: It's never stated outright, but Estrella fits the mold in practically every way.

* WordSaladTitle / LongTitle: Taken to its logical extreme.

[[BlitheSpirit Unemployed, free-wheeling]] Jerry (Steckler/Flagg) and his "foreign" roommate Harold have fun with Jerry's well-to-do girlfriend Angela; he takes her to places she's never dreamed of -- like the amusement park in Long Beach. Oh, and he's totally into that night club/strip joint on the carnival's main concourse, to Angela's ire. Oops. Unfortunately for Jerry, the stripper he's interested in is the sister of the film's BigBad, evil [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} fortune-teller]] Estrella, who keeps a harem of acid-deformed "zombies" in her place of business, attached to the night club on the carnival's concourse. Oops! Oddly enough, people keep tumbling onto Estrella's [[strike:dahrty leetle seecret]] dirty little secret, and so she hypnotizes Jerry and sends him out to silence them, then tosses him aside. Eventually the "zombies" escape their evil mistress and begin a campaign of minor mayhem through the carnival concourse before being gunned down. Jerry too, being mistaken for one of them, is chased by over-eager young cops out to the beach for a final confrontation.

* BlitheSpirit: The film tries to pass off its [[strike:hero]] [[strike:protagonist]] main character as this, but he mostly comes across as an irresponsible deadbeat.

Originally titled ''The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-Up Zombie''; you can see [[Film/DrStrangelove why they were forced to change it]] by Creator/ColumbiaPictures. (Why Columbia would bother to threaten a lawsuit is an utter mystery.)

This freaky little film with the [[LongTitle famously unwieldy title]] was directed by the late Ray Dennis Steckler. [[BlitheSpirit Unemployed, free-wheeling]] Jerry (Steckler under the pseudonym Cash Flagg) and his "foreign" roommate Harold have fun with Jerry's well-to-do girlfriend Angela; he takes her to places she's never dreamed of -- like the amusement park in Long Beach. Oh, and he's totally into that night club/strip joint on the carnival's main concourse, to Angela's ire. Oops. Unfortunately for Jerry, the stripper he's interested in is the sister of the film's BigBad, evil [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} fortune-teller]] Estrella, who keeps a harem of acid-deformed "zombies" in her place of business, attached to the night club on the carnival's concourse. Oops! Oddly enough, people keep tumbling onto Estrella's [[strike:dahrty leetle seecret]] dirty little secret, and so she hypnotizes Jerry and sends him out to silence them, then tosses him aside. Eventually the "zombies" escape their evil mistress and begin a campaign of minor mayhem through the carnival concourse before being gunned down. Jerry too, being mistaken for one of them, is chased by over-eager young cops out to the beach for a final confrontation.

''The Incredibly Strange Creatures'' (for those of us who don't have the pecs to swing the full title around) billed itself as "the first monster musical!" beating out ''Film/TheHorrorOfPartyBeach'' by a month. Considering the general crappiness of either film, the "honor" involved is dubious at best. Like that movie, it features many incidental song-and-dance numbers performed at the carnival's night club. Almost all of these performances were [[AnInsert inserted]] into the film wholesale and have [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment no bearing, narrative or thematic, on the story]]. The only connection is one night club dancer who figures into the plot as a victim.

* MonsterMisogyny: Like many serial killers, this killer's targets are female (though he does kill a couple guys while he's at it).

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Harold sounds like an American doing a bad imitation of an Italian accent. Probably because he is.

[[caption-width-right:300:AKA '''[[TheContributors Tropers]]'''.]]

* BigBad: Estrella.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Jerry.

* CannotTellAJoke: The comedian in the nightclub is horrendous, especially his timing on the "my mother irons and my father steals" joke, which was really old even when this movie was made.

* FemmeFatale: Carmelita the stripper.

* TheIgor: Ortega.

* LargeHam: Estrella.
* LongTitle
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's never really made clear whether Madame Estrella has any real prognostication abilities or not. She performs a couple of fortune readings over the course of the story which ultimately prove entirely accurate; but while these are pretty much [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Self-Fulfilling Prophecies]], they become so only after the reading has been made [[note]]Marge gets her fortune read -- the Death Card -- then stumbles upon Estrella's zombie harem and must be eliminated; Angela is told someone close to her will soon die -- and later Jerry is hypnotized into a murderer and subsequently shot by police[[/note]].

* TheUnintelligible: Ortega.

* WordSaladTitle: Taken to its [[LongTitle logical extreme]].

* DeathByDisfigurement: Every single one of the "zombies." Even Jerry, who's pretty much physically and mentally fine except for a little scarring.
* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The "zombies" of the title don't appear until the very end of the movie and then get killed before they can do anything.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: And by "zombie," we mean "acid-scarred hypnotized serial killer." Though, admittedly, hypnotized slave is more in-line with the popular idea of a zombie at the time. And save for Jerry (who uses a knife), their killing method is the same as every other monster from the era: Putting both hands around the victim's neck and bodily shaking back and forth until deadness ensues.

* StopOrIWillShoot: As unarmed Jerry attempts to escape the police at the end of the movie, he climbs up a large rock face to escape. One of the police who's been chasing him can't be bothered to follow, and simply shoots him from ground level.

'''[[MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike:]]''' With my ''hat''.

* RightWayWrongWayPair: Jerry and Harold have shades of this. Jerry is a huge slacker who refuses to work and is a bit of an unfeeling jerk to Angela and women in general while Harold seems to be a nice, responsible, easygoing good guy who even suggests to Jerry that Jerry should get a job. Though it's unstated, it's likely that he owns the car and earns an income to pay the rent. Harold would probably be a much better boyfriend to Angela. Even [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike and The Bots]] acknowledge this.

[[quoteright:274:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cashflagg.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:274:AKA '''[[TheContributors Tropers]]'''.]]

-->'''Mike:''' "''[[GoofusAndGallant Goofus & Gallant]]: The Movie!''"

* ButterFace: Madam Estrella, while not ugly, [[HollywoodHomely except claimed in the movie]] has a pretty nice body.

* TarotTroubles: Along with performing a palm-reading and a crystal ball reading for the protagonists, Estrella also performs a tarot reading for the superstitious dancer Marge. Marge freaks out and bolts after drawing the Death card[[note]]As with most productions, they confuse the Death card with actual Death. In Tarot, the Death card means "change". Reversed, it means "disastrous change". The Tower and 10 of Swords would be more forboding.[[/note]], accidentally stumbling upon Estrella's "pets" and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy setting off the events that]] [[HeKnowsTooMuch lead to her murder]].

* TooDumbToLive: Jerry.

* ProfessionalSlacker: Jerry, full stop!