A rather short film, but actually this works well as the script and material probably couldn't have filled up much more time anyway. A mix between horror and farce, this is one of those films that is so bad it's good, and the whole cast and crew do seem to be enjoying themselves even with the low production values. Monsters Crash the Pajama Party is a strange little movie, but once you begin to watch it you realize it's a film that doesn't take itself too seriously and you'll want to stay with it until the end. An interesting movie to watch!
13 Reviews
Not a typical movie
Schlockmeister23 October 2002
The movie's plot has been explained well in other entries here, so I'll just cut to background and some context here. This movie was made to be part of the old movie theatre spookshow circuit. Nothing more. At one point in the movie the gorilla and other monsters walk toward the screen and this would have cued actors in the theatre to come out dressed in similar costumes to terrorize the audience. The next scene shows the monsters bring a girl in to be operated on, by this time the actors would have retreated back behind the screen.
Yes, it's cheesy fun, it was meant to be.It would have been shown as a part of a full evening of horror movies, cartoons, "live" monsters and ghosts, maybe a magic show and more, with the theatre rigged to producee various special effects.
That this movie survives at all is a treat, but it does need to be seen with the understanding of it's time frame and how it would have been shown.
The costumes as bad, but they were made to approximate how the actors (usually locally hired teenagers) would have looked when they came out into the audience.
Recommended, if in a silly mood as part of a Halloween evening's show with a favorite horror movie. "Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark" would make an excellent double feature with this one! I'd also recommend as another suggestion "Zacherley's Horrible Horror" , a compilation of 2 hours of classic bad horror movies, hosted by Zacherley. Now, thats what I'd call Halloween!
Yes, it's cheesy fun, it was meant to be.It would have been shown as a part of a full evening of horror movies, cartoons, "live" monsters and ghosts, maybe a magic show and more, with the theatre rigged to producee various special effects.
That this movie survives at all is a treat, but it does need to be seen with the understanding of it's time frame and how it would have been shown.
The costumes as bad, but they were made to approximate how the actors (usually locally hired teenagers) would have looked when they came out into the audience.
Recommended, if in a silly mood as part of a Halloween evening's show with a favorite horror movie. "Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark" would make an excellent double feature with this one! I'd also recommend as another suggestion "Zacherley's Horrible Horror" , a compilation of 2 hours of classic bad horror movies, hosted by Zacherley. Now, thats what I'd call Halloween!
This film manages to be both fun and amazingly stupid!
planktonrules6 June 2013
The acting, costumes and dialog for "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party" are all quite terrible. In fact, it's one of the cheesiest films of an era known for its cheesy teen movies. But, it still manages to entertain--mostly because it never takes itself seriously and often makes fun of itself. Because of this, the bad film has a genial quality about it that make it goofy fun. Among the best examples is the guy in the gorilla suit. He not only introduces the film but makes commentary using giant signs with words printed on it. Also, as the film is introduced, a bizarre narrator says LOTS of strange and occasionally funny remarks. Another is the mad scientist--who wears a lab coat that says 'Mad Doctor' right on it! Because this film is intentionally bad, I really don't think it's appropriate to give it a numerical score. For those who love the silly monster films of the 1960s, it's well worth seeing. For anyone just wanting to see a good film, then it's definitely one you should skip! Harmless fun.
Taken in context it's OK....
preppy-319 July 2003
by itself, it's dreadful.
Horrible short film about some idiots who decide to spend a night in a haunted house. Naturally there's a mad doctor in the basement doing some stupid experiments...or something.
Tacky sets, lousy acting, stupid script, dumb jokes...really a chore to sit through. Seeing this in a movie theatre as part of a spook show it probably worked. By itself it just looks pretty desperate. Still, I suppose we should be grateful that this even exists anymore. It IS an important piece of American cinema (so to speak). But I really can't give it more than a 2.
Horrible short film about some idiots who decide to spend a night in a haunted house. Naturally there's a mad doctor in the basement doing some stupid experiments...or something.
Tacky sets, lousy acting, stupid script, dumb jokes...really a chore to sit through. Seeing this in a movie theatre as part of a spook show it probably worked. By itself it just looks pretty desperate. Still, I suppose we should be grateful that this even exists anymore. It IS an important piece of American cinema (so to speak). But I really can't give it more than a 2.
Horrible movie, but great DVD!
The_Depressed_Star_Wars_fan27 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This movie sucks @$$! It's so bad it's funny. The acting sucks, the writing sucks, the directing sucks, the story sucks, and the effects suck! But the DVD to this awful movie, kicks @$$! The special features make the DVD worth buying. Sure the DVD is not flawless, take for example some of the short films they have drag on a bit. But for the most part they are pretty short and pretty entertaining. The menu to this movie is also pretty cool. Rather than having the traditional Play, Scene Selection, and Special Feature buttons. Instead it has this whole cemetery and haunted house that you movie around using the arrows of the Remote Control. My favorite of all the special features is this one with a dancing skeleton puppet. It some how manges to be very entertaining to watch. So in the end, the movie sucks but the DVD is great so check it out.
Don't Crash into this Oddity
mike196412 January 2002
Very odd and very short color film that tries as a horror comedy. There are no opening credits. The film opens with a man wearing a lab coat with "Mad Doctor" on his coat pocket. He talks to the audience for a while and then we get an announcer read to us who is in the movie, who made it, who edited it, etc while we see a man in a gorilla suit in different settings. Looks like an amateur film.
Plot concerns a group of sorority pledges who have to spend the night in a haunted house. The house has a mad doctor, a gorilla, a hunchback, an oriental woman, and a werewolf in the basement. Whole thing is done in fun with gorilla frequently holding up signs with one word phrases.
Plot concerns a group of sorority pledges who have to spend the night in a haunted house. The house has a mad doctor, a gorilla, a hunchback, an oriental woman, and a werewolf in the basement. Whole thing is done in fun with gorilla frequently holding up signs with one word phrases.
Movie bad.....DVD experience excellent
microfame4 May 2011
Let's put aside reviewing "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party". I love bad movies, and picked up the DVD for that, (and due to the seeming endless list of program content), but this DVD from "Something Weird" is meant to be digested as a whole offering. I was not aware of the history of the spook shows, having been a child in the 70's, after the fad had passed on, but this DVD is a lot of fun...it leaves you to root around several spooky menus, finding tidbits and exploring for more. And for some reason, the 45 minutes of "linking trailers" and promotional title cards that would have been shown ahead of the midnight shows back in the day was fascinating to me. It really paints a picture of a different time in our culture, when clean-cut teens could be grabbed by monster-suit wearing extras in the theater, without lawsuits following, and where watching "scary" movies was fun. Made me sad I missed it all.
So, yes, "Pajama Party" is bad, but it shouldn't be looked at like a regular movie, but drunk in as part of the whole "Spook show" tribute that this DVD is....lovingly compiled by someone who also wrote a very informative booklet in the DVD. I urge any fan of old-time horror, or the 50's and 60's in general, to pick this up. Really great fun.
So, yes, "Pajama Party" is bad, but it shouldn't be looked at like a regular movie, but drunk in as part of the whole "Spook show" tribute that this DVD is....lovingly compiled by someone who also wrote a very informative booklet in the DVD. I urge any fan of old-time horror, or the 50's and 60's in general, to pick this up. Really great fun.
Buy the DVD
cpetr1317 October 2005
In order to get even close to the full effect, you must get the Something Weird DVD version and imagine yourself to be a teenager in the 50's or 60's. Spook shows were evening-long events, not just a movie, and the atmosphere was giddy and creepy at the same time. I personally just missed being old enough to experience it first-hand, but have talked to many people who did go to them.
Some were awful and amateurish and some did a good job. But they were never meant to be anything more than a good time to have with your date or friends. And this movie probably typifies the experience more than any other--a little self-indulgent, a little off-kilter, and good, cheesy fun.
Some were awful and amateurish and some did a good job. But they were never meant to be anything more than a good time to have with your date or friends. And this movie probably typifies the experience more than any other--a little self-indulgent, a little off-kilter, and good, cheesy fun.
Short & Sweet-For A Reason!
googoomuck1312 June 2018
How ANYONE that has procured and sat through this film (I'm referring to the first reviewer, no offense) can not know the details of WHY this film is so short just amazes me! The entire lore and told & retold story of this film is half of it's entertainment! This film was two thirds (the beginning and end) on film and one third (the middle) a live spook show/stage show! The film pauses and all the monsters and whoever all jump out of the screen, terrorize the audience and do a little show, sit on peoples laps, cut heads off of audience members, etc, etc. Then they run back into the screen and the last third of the film plays...the end! The only film of it's kind! I wonder why...hmmmmm...hahahahaha. Now if only there was footage of the live part!!!
This DVD is fun
EricLoubert20 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Monsters Crash the Pajama Party isn't only a movie, but a collection of all sorts of crazy stuff! You won't know what you'll find. It could be a short film, an obscure movie clip, a home-made video from the 1920's, & there's lots more to find on this great DVD. It's the perfect DVD to watch during a Halloween party. You'll even have fun playing with the menus. This is something that you'll want to snag a copy of for Halloween. For another review of this DVD, you may wanna check out for a more specific input on the DVD. James Rolfe has a great review on video, of this DVD on his website, cinemassacre.com. here is the link for the review. http://www.cinemassacre.com/new/?p=2614
Good ol' Fashioned Cheesy Halloween Fun!!!
Pumpkin_Man1 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I received this in the mail on Halloween today, which is perfect timing. This DVD was a bizarre trip back to the 60's with over-acting and classic Grindhouse moments. From being hypnotized to a 30-minute movie called Monsters Crash the Pajama Party. A 'mad doctor' turn women into gorillas. You also get a 60's horror movie called 'Tormented' Throughout the DVD menu, you can find crappy 3D clips, a tour thru a haunted ride with cheesy-lookin' monsters, classic music like the Boogie-Woogie Man, dancing skeletons, ghosts looking like sheets, a short film of a man at a drive-in theater turning into a Werewolf, and much more. If you want classic cheesy Halloween fun, you'll love MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY: SPOOK SHOW SPECTACULAR!!!
Bad
Michael_Elliott9 July 2008
Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (1965)
1/2 (out of 4)
Long before audience members started acting out The Rocky Horror Picture Show, there were the famous "Spook Shows". With these events theaters would show some sort of low-budget horror movie and do a William Castle-like event of having monsters from the screen walking around in the theater scaring those watching the movie. This film has five sorority girls spending the night in a haunted house where an evil doctor and his gorilla assistant are doing nasty experiments. As far as the film goes it's incredibly poorly made, features horrid acting and the so called story is very weak but I guess the events in the movie would make for an interesting spook show. Since I only have the film itself to review then it's not really fair to guess what the spook show crowd would have done but even at thirty-minutes this particular show is hard to get through. I think what really hurts the film is how it starts. There aren't any opening credits and instead we just have a narrator telling us who directed, stars and wrote the film. Okay but we also have the gorilla acting out all the jobs, which is okay I guess but this sequence runs on and on to the point where it just gets boring. The only time I laughed during the film is one sequence where a werewolf jumps out to scare the girls but his pants fall down instead.
1/2 (out of 4)
Long before audience members started acting out The Rocky Horror Picture Show, there were the famous "Spook Shows". With these events theaters would show some sort of low-budget horror movie and do a William Castle-like event of having monsters from the screen walking around in the theater scaring those watching the movie. This film has five sorority girls spending the night in a haunted house where an evil doctor and his gorilla assistant are doing nasty experiments. As far as the film goes it's incredibly poorly made, features horrid acting and the so called story is very weak but I guess the events in the movie would make for an interesting spook show. Since I only have the film itself to review then it's not really fair to guess what the spook show crowd would have done but even at thirty-minutes this particular show is hard to get through. I think what really hurts the film is how it starts. There aren't any opening credits and instead we just have a narrator telling us who directed, stars and wrote the film. Okay but we also have the gorilla acting out all the jobs, which is okay I guess but this sequence runs on and on to the point where it just gets boring. The only time I laughed during the film is one sequence where a werewolf jumps out to scare the girls but his pants fall down instead.
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