Del Tenney (1930-)

biography

Low-budget horror director and producer Del Tenney is responsible for bringing several cult classic horror films to the screen in the early 1960s, including The Curse of the Living Corpse, I Eat Your Skin (aka Voodoo Blood Bath), The Horror of Party Beach, and Violent Midnight (aka Psychomania). Born in Iowa in 1930, Tenney moved to California with his parents in the early 1940s. In college he took an interest in the dramatic arts and later took roles in theater and appeared as an extra in several early 1950s films. With his Hollywood career in the slow lane, Tenney relocated to New York in mid 1950s to act in off-Broadway productions. During one of these productions he met actress Margot Hartman, and the couple soon married. Eventually, Tenney appearred on Broadway in the early 1960s in a play titled Ross (1961-1962). Deciding to move behind the scenes, he took on the role of assistant director of the low-budget exploitation flick Satan in High Heels (1962; with Meg Myles and Grayson Hall). Tenney also has a role in the film as the male lead. The following year, Tenney served as assistant director for the low-budget nudie Orgy at Lil's Place (1963; with Davee Decker).


Tenney's first effort as producer resulted in the 1963 horror film Violent Midnight, aka Psychomania, an axe-murder thriller made in Connecticut for about $40,000, an amazingly low figure given the quality of the film. This film stars Lee Phillips, Jean Hale, James Farentino, Sylvia Miles, and Margot Hartman. Del Tenney also appears in some scenes. Hartman also appears in The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964; with Roy Scheider and Candace Hilligoss) and in Peter Bogdanovich's US/Russian science fiction film Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1966; with Mamie Van Doren).

In 1963, Del Tenney decided to produce, direct, and write his own films in the community of Stamford, Connecticut, during the spring of that year. The Curse of the Living Corpse and The Horror of Party Beach were made in Stamford, shot back-to-back in two weeks, and initially released in Alan Iselin's chain of drive-in theaters, with Curse leading the double bill. Coming up with the titles first, he got theater-owner Alan Iselin to back the two films, which cost a combined total of $120,000. The screenplays were written immediately before film production began, which became a problem when Tenney became ill at the end of filming Curse and ultimately was too sick to write the screenplay for The Horror of Party Beach. Voodoo Blood Bath was made in the spring of 1964 and shot in Miami, Coral Gables, and Key Biscayne, Florida. However, distribution problems shelved the film until late 1970, when producer Jerry Gross bought the rights to the film, changing its title to I Eat Your Skin for the second feature of a double-bill with Gross' picture, I Drink Your Blood. While prints of nearly all his films are available and in fantastic condition, many copies of I Eat Your Skin are from a poor print and suffer from video and sound glitches. However, recently released is an excellent print of this film, which can be found on the Morella's Blood Vision DVD.

the films of del tenney

Satan in High Heels (1962)

Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)

This fun horror film has a number of shocking elements and has Tenney's best cast, including Roy Scheider (in his first film), Candace Hilligoss (from Carnival of Souls), Robert Milli (Adam Thorpe on TV's The Guiding Light from 1972-1981), Hugh Franklin (best known for his role as Dr. Charles Tyler on ABC's All My Children from 1970 to 1986), and Margot Hartman has a starring role in the picture. Released in May 1964, Curse of the Living Corpse, along with the second half of the bill, The Horror of Party Beach, earned more than a million dollars in the initial release, a tidy sum given the budget of about $120,000 for production of both films.

The Horror of Party Beach (1964)

I Eat Your Skin (1964)

The star of I Eat Your Skin is handsome actor William Joyce (often credited as Bill Joyce). Born in New York on October 21, 1930, Bill Joyce had an on-again, off-again career as an actor from the 1950s through the 1980s. While I Eat Your Skin was his biggest (and only starring) film role, Joyce also had roles in The Young Nurses (1973), The Parallax View (1974), and Lifeguard (1976; with Sam Elliot). Furthermore, he had recurring roles on the daytime dramas Somerset (mid 1970s) and Days of Our Lives (early 1980s). In addition, he made guest appearances on a number of television series, including Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Rifleman, and The Rockford Files. Joyce retired from the screen in the late 1980s and passed away in 1998 at the age of 67.

del tenney today

In 1975, Del and Margot Tenney started the Hartman Theatre Company, which produced both familiar and new plays in Stamford, Connecticut. These plays often featured New York-based daytime drama actors, as well as Margot Tenney. Del Tenney often served as director. The Tenneys left the theatre company in 1980, and it folded in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, the couple was still very active in off-Broadway productions and sponsored the Hartman-Tenney series of musicals in Stamford.

After 35 years away from the film business, Del and Margot Tenney returned to filmmaking with the 1999 release of Clean and Narrow, directed by and starring William Katt. Del Tenney served as producer and also appeared in the film along with Margot Tenney. In March 2001, Do You Wanna Know a Secret? was released, starring Joey Lawrence and Jeff Conaway, and again featuring Del and Margot Tenney in small roles. Del Tenney again served as producer.

tenney crew member rhoden c. streeter: filming the horror of party beach and the curse of the living corpse
In 1998, Rhoden Streeter, who served as a crew member on two of Tenney's films, reflected on the making of The Curse of the Living Corpse and The Horror of Party Beach:

I had just dropped out of college when I went to Tenney to get a job. I said, 'Exploit me.' His response was, 'That's just the kind of talk I like to hear! I worked on Horror of Party Beach and Curse of the Living Corpse, first in set construction, and then as assistant editor, sound boom man, extra, etc. (I was the blond's body thrown in the quicksand in Curse and the smallest monster in Horror). I left before the editing was finished on Curse to get a better film editing job in Boston. I told Tenney he hadn't bought my loyalty. He understood---$50 a week wasn't that much even in 1964. (I'd had a $10 raise up from $40.) There are two different sets of monsters in Horror. The first set is three guys in shapeless rubber suits with sponges glued on. The second was just a mask used for close-ups when the first set didn't seem to cut it. We didn't have any flash powder for effects to blow up the monsters in Horror, so I went to the local pharmacy and bought the ingredients for gunpowder that I mixed up. There was a Horror of Party Beach comic book put out with stills from the film instead of drawings.

rhoden streeter remembers curse of the living corpse
In Curse of the Living Corpse, when the mother is burning in the four-poster bed, in the high-angle long shot, you can just catch me crouched down pumping the smoke machine like crazy!! Thirty-four years ago? Heck I'm still smiling!" When I last heard from Rhoden Streeter, he was happily working for the State of Kentucky.

del tenney films available from movies unlimited

The Del Tenney Collection [DVD] DVD
Two-disc set includes "The Horror of Party Beach," "The Curse of the Living Corpse," and "Violent Midnight."
The Horror Of Party Beach (1964)/The Curse Of The Living Corpse [DVD](1964) DVD
Frankie and Annette never had problems like the kids in "The Horror of Party Beach," as toxic waste, sea slime and dead sailors combine near a seaside resort to create aquatic monsters eager to prey on surf daddies and beach bunnies. Features the hit song "Zombie Stomp" by The Del-Aires; John Scott, Alice Lyon and Eulabelle Moore star. Next, a deceased millionaire in late 19th-century New England returns from the grave to personally bestow upon his horrified family a bloody bequeathal. "The Curse of the Living Corpse," from "Party Beach" director Del Tenney, stars Helen Warren. Candace Hilligoss and (in his film debut) Roy Scheider. 162 min. total. Standard; Soundtrack: English.
Morella's Blood Vision [DVD] DVD
Join hellacious hostess Morella for a three-film fearfest! First, a mad doctor on a Caribbean island uses radioactive snake venom to help him create an army of undead "Zombies" (1964). William Joyce, Heather Hewitt star. AKA: "I Eat Your Skin." Next, a woman involved with cultists seeks to retain her youth through bizarre experiments and ritual killings, and a secret agent must stop her, in the Philippine frightener "Blood Seekers" (1965). With Yvonne Nielson, Robert Winston. AKA: "Blood Thirst." And the Florida swamps are the setting for terror, as a group of tourists is attacked by the "Blood Stalkers" (1978). Kenny Miller, Toni Crabtree star. 4 1/3 hrs. total. Soundtrack: English.
I Eat Your Skin [DVD](1964) DVD
Originally paired with "I Drink Your Blood," this gory goodie about a mad doctor who uses radioactive snake venom to help manufacture disgusting zombies stars William Joyce and Heather Hewitt; directed by Del Tenney ("Horror of Party Beach"). AKA: "Voodoo Blood Bath." 82 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English mono. Plays All Regions.
Violent Midnight (Psychomania) [DVD](1963) DVD
From the people who gave you "The Horror of Party Beach" comes this shocker filmed in Stamford, Connecticut, about an artist who likes to work with nude models who becomes a suspect in murders that occur at a girls' college. Lee Phillips and Jean Hale star. 93 min. Soundtrack: English.
Satan In High Heels [DVD](1962) DVD
A carnival stripper takes some cash from her drug addict hubby, heads for New York and gets a job at a nightclub, where she carries on an affair with her new lover's son and gets her former husband involved in a murder plot. Meg Myles, Grayson Hall, Sabrina and Del Tenney star in this seedy sexploitationer. 89 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; bonus shorts; bonus feature "The Wild and the Naked" (1962); photo gallery.

del tenney photos and posters available

filmography

This listing includes films directed by Del Tenney, and well as films he has acted in:
Descendant (2003) with Jeremy London, Katherine Heigl, William Katt, and Margot Hartman
Do You Wanna Know a Secret? (2001) with Joey Lawrence and Jeff Conaway
Clean and Narrow (1999) with Laura Leighton, William Katt, Sondra Locke, and Wings Hauser
I Eat Your Skin (1964) with William Joyce and Heather Hewitt
The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) with Roy Scheider, Margot Hartman, Robert Milli, and Candace Hilligoss
The Horror of Party Beach (1964) with John Scott and Alice Lyon
Satan in High Heels (1962) with Meg Myles and Grayson Hall

del tenney film now showing

Watch Del Tenney's 1964 film I Eat Your Skin