The Monsters Crash the Pajama Party Review (1965) Worth Watching?

It’s about – well, it’s about monsters that crash a pajama party.

The Monsters Crash the Pajama Party was directed by David L. Hewitt (Journey to the Center of Time and The Mighty Gorga), who co-scripted the film with Jean Jewitt (who, in turn “supervised” the script for The Mighty Gorga) and provided the make-up for this film. It stars Vic McGee (The Sinister Urge), Peter James Noto, and James Reason (perhaps better known as playing “Gramps” in Wish Me Luck thirty years later).

With experiments designed to turn humans into gorillas, what could possibly go wrong?

The setting? A dark, old mansion.

The cast? A cluster of college pledges who are willing to inhabit the mansion overnight (in their pajamas) in order to get into their sorority of choice. There’s also a 1:1 ratio of boys who tease and scare them. And then there’s a surprise.

The surprise? A mad scientist, Big G the Gorilla, and a hunchbacked assistant with ambitions of their own (viz., making more gorillas).

The Monsters Crash the Pajama Party is tagged as a “psychotronic film.” By that doesn’t really capture the stationary camera work which mostly avoids close-ups out even a second point-of-view. It feels like the vaudeville cinema of the late 19^th century. When some fancy camera work is occasionally employed – like the low-angle panning shot through the bubbling test tubes in the laboratory showing labels on the beakers like “empty bottle” and “colored water,” it’s quite effective.

This short film wasn’t meant to be watched in the traditional manner. It’s meant to be watched like The Rocky Horror Picture Show is experienced – at a midnight showing with people running about the theatre and stuff flying everywhere. If you can imagine a mad scientist, a husky guy in a cheap gorilla suit, and a few college girls with beehives and pastel-colored mini-skirt-lingerie jogging in and between the rows of seats and spilling your popcorn, you kind of get the idea.

The movie is intended as a backdrop to mayhem and hilarity. So, if you miss a few lines, like –

Boy: There’s nothing worse than a cold girl.

Girl: Knock it off. Or you’ll be ‘instant monster.’

— you won’t have missed much.

Take note of the pattern of Big G the Gorilla walking through the screen to kidnap another girl followed by stock footage of lightning and canned screaming, and the gorilla’s return with a girl over his back. At these points, a gorilla-suited member of the theatre staff would have emerged near the screen, kidnapped a girl from the audience, then tucked her into a doorway near the screen. It would have taken some skill to get the timing just right, especially if the unwilling participants resisted.