Teenage Zombies (35mm Upgrade) (1959)

aka: Teenage Torture

A crazed female scientist (Katherine Victor) uses nerve gas to turn local teenagers into her unquestioning zombie slaves. Also stars Don Sullivan and Steve Conte. Also with J.L.D. Morrison, Brianne Murphy, Paul Pepper, and Mitch Evans (as the Gorilla).

This film came from a 35mm film print in excellent picture quality.

TRIVIA: Director Jerry Warren married actress/cinematographer Brianne Murphy in Las Vegas in late 1956. During their honeymoon there, Warren wrote the script for this film. It was filmed in just over five days in early 1956.

This film’s title score, and indeed most of its entire score, was taken (uncredited) from the film Kronos (1957), originally composed by Bert Shefter and Paul Sawtell.

This film may have been released to theaters for a short period in 1957, but its general theatrical release was on November 18th, 1959.

Brianne Murphy was the first female director of photography for a major studio film and the first female who became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers Guild (ASC). Murphy is often referred to as a pioneer for women in the film industry.

Murphy died on August 20th, 2003, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after suffering from a combination of lung cancer and a brain tumor, both of which she had been struggling with since April of that year. She was 70.