Thursday, April 7, 2011

Nudist Colony of the Dead

Do you like zombies?  Do you like musicals?  How bout nudist colonies?  Well, if you answered to yes or all three of these, I've got just the flick for you.  May I present to you, the 1991 cult classic, Nudist Colony of the Dead!  A zany little indie flick about a group of nudists who commit suicide rather than let the stuck up bible thumpers take thier Sunny Buttocks Nudist Camp away from them by religeous zealots. 

Now I originally heard about this movie from a rather odd source:  Dr. Demento!  Back in the day he used to broadcast his show Sunday nights on WZLX in Boston from 11pm - 1am.  Every October he would air a special Halloween show full of nothing but Halloween and Spooky songs....which actually I think I'll dedicate a whole article to at some point in the future.  But anyway, I heard the theme song for Nudist Colony of the Dead on his 1992 Halloween Special and immediately fell in love with the song.  Luckily for me, I used to tape all his shows and listened to it non-stop...even after Halloween was over.  I still have that tape somewhere.....and now I'm going to have to dig it out and listen to it! 


See?  I told you that was catchy!  It was so catchy that I tried to convince my band at the time to cover it.  Sadly we never got to cover it because the band kinda fell apart not long after.....but that is a story for a differnt time.  Now remember this is 1992...before I had the wonderful World Wide Web to search for everything that my heart desired.  So I spent my time pouring through magazines like Fangoria and Gorzone trying to see if I could find it for sale anywhere.  Eventually I forgot about the film until about 5 years ago when I was going through some random boxes at my parent's house and found my old Dr. Demento Halloween Tape.  A flood of nostalgia washed through me and off I rushed to see if I could track it down online.  As it just so happens, it's quite easy to find these days!  You can order yourself a copy here....and if you're reading this blog, then you are obviously a lover of this kind of stuff and owe it to yourself to check it out!



So, as I was saying before going off on a tangent about how awesome the theme song is, Sunny Buttocks Nudist Camp is shut down by Judge Rhinehole (who is played by Forrest J Ackerman!!!  UNCLE FORRY!!!!) at the request of a bunch of religeous zealots.  The Nudists, rather than just give up thier camp enter into a suicide pact (drinking poisoned Kool-Aid, natch) and vow to rise from thier graves should anyone try to claim thier land.



Well, wouldn't ya know....those same religeous zealots re-open the camp as a religeous retreat for kids.  Of course they did, why wouldn't they....even though the last group of kids was brutally murdered!  Que the highly entertaining musical numbers featuring songs such as "Inky Dinky Doo-Dah Morning" and "Kill, Kill, Kill All The Zealots!"  The musical style varies from song to song, but as a whole, I found them to be fairly amusing.



The gore effects are pretty low budget, DIY style, but it all just adds to the charm of the movie....my favorite being a kid who has been cut in half and his legs go running off without the torso, part of his spinal column exposed and blood spurting with wild abandon.  Really must be seen to be believed!  Severed limbs and a talking severed head round out some of the gore (non) special effects. 

If you're looking for a good flick to watch for movie night, or just looking to laugh, do yourself a favor and check out Nudist Colony of the Dead.  Best enjoyed with some drinks and like minded friends!