In the wake of the breakup of the monopoly Hollywood had over production, distribution, and exhibition in the late 1940s, AIP pioneered in youth and new identity oriented films throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. AIP films tended to mine certain genres and themes--horror (where they pushed the envelope), the youth beach film, the youth oriented motorcycle film, topical concerns to the youth of the 1960s and 1970s (drugs, freedom), the countercultural gangster film, sexploitation, blaxploitation. Renowned independent Roger Corman made several films for AIP during these years.
"The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" is a rather typical AIP film beach film though this time without the beach. There's the women in bikinis, the men in swimsuits, the pop stars singing pop songs, the genre blending, the presence of Eric von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and the Rats, the smattering of stars from the classic Hollywood era, and even a bit of reflexivity (Brechtianism? modernism? postmodernism? parody? breaking the fourth wall?).
"The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" is a rather typical AIP film beach film though this time without the beach. There's the women in bikinis, the men in swimsuits, the pop stars singing pop songs, the genre blending, the presence of Eric von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and the Rats, the smattering of stars from the classic Hollywood era, and even a bit of reflexivity (Brechtianism? modernism? postmodernism? parody? breaking the fourth wall?).