Double Dose of Ray Dennis Steckler

[ChiO]

This coming Saturday morning at 2:15am and 3:45am EST (that's Friday night in TCM World) aficionados of the deliriously outre have two reasons to rejoice when TCM airs THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED-UP ZOMBIES!!? (1964) and RAT PFINK A BOO BOO (1966), respectively, both directed by Ray Dennis Steckler.

Steckler is a master of the zero-budget and fantastically enjoyable cinema. He started as a cinematographer, doing the still photography for Timothy Carey's vastly under-seen and under-appreciated THE WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER (1962). His debut as a director was the Arch Hall, Jr. classic (aren't they all?), WILD GUITAR (1962).

THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES, filmed in Hallucinogenic Hypnovision, is arguably the first zombie musical. Stars include Carolyn Brandt (her first credit, appearing uncredited in EEGAH! and WILD GUITAR), Atlas King (he of an undecipherable Greek accent), and Cash Flagg (aka Ray Dennis Steckler). Cinematographers include Laszlo Kovacs (whose later credits include EASY RIDER, FIVE EASY PIECES and NEW YORK, NEW YORK) and Vilmos Zsigmond (whose later credits include McCABE AND MRS. MILLER, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A THIRD KIND, for which he received an Oscar, and THE DEERHUNTER); both have received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.

Classic dialogue --
Jerry: How's college?
Madison: Fine. You should try it sometime.
Jerry: No, thanks. The world's my college.

RAT PFINK A BOO BOO stars Carolyn Brandt, with cinematography by Steckler. Its original title was RAT PFINK AND BOO BOO, but the printer inadvertently dropped the "N" and "D" from the posters and, thereby, created a classic nonsense film title.

I have not had the good fortune to see RAT PFINK A BOO BOO, but one analyst praised it thusly: But of all his films, none is more schizophrenic than the unbelievable RAT PFINK A BOO BOO. At times this film seems to be writing itself -- the plot changes suddenly, continuity is non-existent....It begins as a straightforward thriller. Three hoods...terrorizing the girlfriend of Lonnie Lord....Suddenly, as if by whim, Lonnie Lord and sidekick Titus Twimbly decide to save the girlfriend by turning into Rat Pfink and Boo Boo, a pair of low-budget superheroes. From this point on RAT PFINK drops the melodrama, turning into a slapstick comedy....Whatever its faults, RAT PFINK A BOO BOO represents filmmaking at its freest. It's hard to imagine what Steckler had in mind when he made this movie; often absurd, occasionally tedious, it is never predictable!

Good enough for me.