Sting of Death is a 1965 American science fiction horror film directed by William Grefé, written by Al Dempsey, and starring Joe Morrison, Valerie Hawkins, Deanna Lund, John Vella, and Jack Nagle. Its plot concerns five female college students who head to the Florida Everglades for a holiday, but instead of fun in the sun, run into trouble with a mutated, bloodthirsty, and quite deadly jellyfish-man-monster.
Neil Sedaka's pop dance song "Do the Jellyfish" is featured on the film's soundtrack. Sting of Death was paired on a double bill with the Grefé film Death Curse of Tartu (1966).
Plot
A young blonde woman in a black bikini lies on a dock in Florida, sunbathing and listening to her transistor radio. She turns it off after hearing a news report about unexplained local murders. Then, without warning, a monstrous hand reaches up from the water and grabs her ankle, dragging her under, where she drowns.
Meanwhile, five of six college friends arrive at the home of Dr. Richardson (Nagel), the father of one of them, Karen (Hawkins). Richardson is a marine biologist who studies the "evolution of sea life" with his assistant, Dr. John Hoyt (Morrison). Karen and the others - Louise (Sandy Lee Kane), Jessica (Deanna Lund), Donna (Lois Etelman), and Susan (Blanche Devreaux) - are staying at Dr. Richardson's house. But they all wonder why Ruth (Judy Lee), who had gotten there earlier, hasn't joined them on the patio for a cold glass of orange drink.
Several raucous college students who have been invited to a pool party show up by boat. They taunt Richardson's mildly facially disfigured helper Egon (Vella), who is secretly in love with Karen. Unfortunately for him, Karen has fallen for John. But Egon can take revenge for all the wrongs done him by turning himself into a half-man half-jellyfish monster. He picks off the girls one by one: Ruth was the woman killed while sunbathing; Louise is seriously injured in an attack in the pool during the party; Donna dies while being chased through a swamp; Jessica is killed during the search for Donna; and Susan is murdered while having a shower. Many of the other students die when their boat sinks - the monster has chopped a hole in its hull with an axe - and they're attacked by a school of Portuguese Man O' War jellyfish.
Egon forces Karen to swim to his secret laboratory in an underwater cave. There, he shows her an enormous Portuguese Man O' War in an aquarium that is connected to the machine that he uses to transform himself from man to monster. John fatally injures the now-transformed Egon during a fight and rescues Karen. Just as she and John surface, the machine explodes, finishing off Egon and his evil alter ego.
Cast
Production
Sting of Death is a regional horror film, following film historian Brian Albright's definition. Regional films in general "were conceived, produced and often distributed entirely in corners of the country not typically associated with the entertainment industry - from the backwoods of Utah to the bayous of Louisiana to the outer boroughs of New York. Made with little regard to genre convention, or in some cases even any basic knowledge of filmmaking, by the 1970s" - just a few years after Sting of Death was made - "these regional indies were at the vanguard of horror cinema." Such films were made on low budgets with actors (often amateurs) and crews who were local to the shooting location. In this movie the Everglades and nearby locations in southern Florida were used as exteriors, while interior filming was done at the home of producer Flink. Underwater sequences were shot at Rainbow Springs, the same site used for Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).
Although listed in the credits as "Special Singing Guest Star," Sedaka does not physically appear in the movie. He is only heard singing "Do the Jellyfish" as the students perform the dance during the pool party. The song is included on the Sedaka LP Oh Carol: The Complete Recordings 1955-1966, released on Bear Family Records in 2003.