The Undertaker and His Pals (1966)

Director: TLP Swicegood

Starring: James Westmoreland, Ray Dennis and other nobodys

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: A macabre story of two motorcycle-riding, knife-wielding, shiv-shaving, eye-gouging, arm-twisting, chain-lashing, scalpel-flashing, acid-throwing, gun-shooting, bone-breaking, pathological nuts and their pal the UNDERTAKER...

Plot: An undertaker and his two friends, who are restaurant owners, drum up business by going out on the town and killing people; the restaurant owners use parts of the bodies for their menu, and the undertaker gets paid by the families to bury the remainder. Their racket goes awry when 2 detectives suspect that something isn't quite kosher.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Would I watch it again? I wouldn't kick it out of bed...

#1 on 42nd Street Forever Vol. 1 (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)









TUaHP will take you by surprise with its humor. I was sort of expecting a horror flick of sorts but it's so silly and charming I couldn't help but like it. It's very much in the vein of THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) and BUCKET OF BLOOD (1960) (both films, btw, filmed back to back in 3-4 days total by Roger Corman! - two of my favorites). All of the actors are likable and fun, there's a little gore (could've used more) and it's only 63 minutes long! There's only a 5 minute stretch around the 2/3 mark that drags but other than that, it's well-paced and funny.

Get it? Leg of lamb is on the menu? Now meet Ms. Poultry. The waiter nicknames her chicken. That night she's killed and the next morning...

Great stuff!

The comedy is broad but it's the actors that sell it. I'm quite surprised. I was expecting this to under deliver like the last two pictures I checked out. The short running time really helped out.

Meet Friday!

Say goodbye to Friday...

...and say hello to her twin sister, Thursday! Hubba, hubba!!!
Both of them need to have my babies - now that'd make for a long weekend...OH!!!

The last couple of minutes or so have all of the cast (most of them died) come alive from when we last saw them. It's pretty hilarious. If you dig low budget flicks like I do, you owe it to yourself to watch it. Netflix it or whatever. It's pretty neat-o. That song you hear in the trailer is not in the film, btw, but there is a fun tune over the final bit (see below). This would have been a gas to see at a drive in with a bunch of friends. The only thing that would have been better is probably more gore and some skin. The actresses in this thing were uber cuties and fun to watch.