Lost Ed Wood Film Unearthed 197
BayBlade writes "It seems a lost Ed Wood film, Necromania was recovered recently, and can now be ordered on DVD. Reuters goes into more depth."
"Someone's been mean to you! Tell me who it is, so I can punch him tastefully." -- Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse
Picasso? (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess as soon as we start watching the movie, we will know if it's a genuine Ed Wood masterpiece
But like Picasso's (note I'm not really comparing Plabo to Ed) paintings, sometimes it takes a different era to appreciate them, especially when the person's dead.
Re:Picasso? (Score:5, Insightful)
Picasso was famous when he was alive.
My problem with the Ed Wood criticism is that he is so *NOT* the worst filmmaker of all time. His movies are watchable. They induce an emotion (usually laughter), and therefor they are art. Campy art, but art. "Worst filmmaker" should be a title reserved for directors who make truly boring, un-interesting films.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Picasso? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Picasso? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure I'd take one of Ed's movies over say... Pearl Harbor any day. But that's because Pearl Harbor wasn't bad, it was mediocre. But Pearl Harbor was much closer to what you'd be taught how to do in film school.
Ed's movies are amazing. It's like a kid who gets a 0 on the SAT. There's one of two things going on there. Either he knows what he's doing and making mistakes on purpose, or he's misreading the test in some fundamental way, and has no clue what's going on. Ed was either in on the joke, or he was not just inept, but posessed a fundamental misunderstanding of what movies are supposed to be.
The first option seems more likely, but watch a few of his films and you start to wonder.
If you watch 70s horror movies, or schlock kung fu action movies, or Troma, or other B movies that know that they're B movies, you don't see what you see in an Ed Wood film. Modern directors study old B movies for inspiration, just look at Tarantino. B movies have bad actors reading bad lines and working with shitty special effects on no budget, but they're at least filmed proficiently, given their resources. Watch most B movies and you're generally watching an OK filming of a bad movie. Ed Wood not only has bad actors, bad writing, bad effects, and no budget, he also has TERRIBLE pacing, camerawork thats so bad its uncomfortable, long silent pauses, and many many other unnerving problems. He gets so many things wrong it boggles the mind.
They're more than so bad they're good. They're so bad they're past good and enter the territory of the head-scratchingly bizarre.
Re:Picasso? (Score:2)
...actually, on second thought, DON'T!!
Rock Over London (Score:3, Insightful)
thanks for the memories (Score:4, Interesting)
I agree.
The "best" films I have ever seen are the ones that are truely the most bizarre.
I went to film school (many years ago) and most of us there had grown up making Super8 films.
One of the other students had a film he showed that he made in High School.
It was about a boy that falls in love with his best friend, when his best friend rejects him, he gets a Sex change operation and comes back and tries again, he gets rejected again and he throws himself off a bridge! Oh the Humanity!
This is a High School student making this around the late 1970's!
In College Film School he used to make these films about Business Men with Tortured Souls.
At school, he always wore a suit jacket and tie to class too. He had a very "efficient" way of filming, he had a pair of "clamp lights" and he would put one to the Right of the Camera and one to the Left of the Camera. Like a Copy Stand! That's how he filmed EVERYTHING! Even when the camera was moving, he had the lights moving!
Once,He accidently re-used a roll of 16mm film and shot over footage he had already shot,double-exposing it. Deadline looming, he chooses NOT to reshoot, but USES the footage! And it was Brilliant! But, of course, very Bizarre. And, of course it was another film about a Businessman with a Tortured Soul.
I have no clue where he is now, but I think I heard that after college he was working as a Weatherman at a TV station.
I wish I could remember his name!
Re:Picasso? (Score:2)
Re:Picasso? (Score:3, Interesting)
I have been taught that Van Gogh passed a painting test and got a 0 with a note along "this painting is so bad it must have been painted by a child". To which Van Gogh answered "I've finally become a painter"
Another interresting point is that he painted a vanity, and when i think about it, if you get anything else than 0 for painting a vanity means you missed the subject.
And finally, I would say that Ed Wood is Tim Burton's best movie too.
Re:Picasso? (Score:2)
Ed Wood was a great film maker because he understood what film should be. Entertainment. It's great to appreciate the skill in creating a certain mood or a certain special effect, but movie making isn't a skills competition. I don't want to see how a certain technique is utilized. I want to be entertained.
We could go on all day about movies that have decent acting, good effects, competent camera work and editing, big budge
I'd rather watch Plan 9 then Star Wars 2. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I'd rather watch Plan 9 then Star Wars 2. (Score:2)
Now that you mention it... (Score:2)
Re:Picasso? (Score:2, Funny)
not meant to be a flame, hoping for a laugh.
Re:Picasso? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Picasso? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Picasso? (Score:2)
Re:Picasso? (Score:2)
Q. How much Keefe is in this movie?
A. Miles O' Keefe.
Although I have to say Mitchel was the probably the worst I ever set eyes on. That is including the many Hercules films, and the American Ninjas.
Re:Picasso? (Score:2)
I have yet to see Cave Dwellers, though.
Boredom is not enough! (Score:4, Interesting)
There's an episode of The Sopranos where Tony tells his shrink how he and his friends used to let a guy with a cleft palate hang around with them, just so they could snicker at his funny way of talking. (He's recently had that particular role reversed on him, which makes him feel guilty.) I think that's the same, cruel appeal that Ed Wood has. It's entertaining to snicker at a guy who manages to make every mistake a movie person could possibly make -- swooping microphones, lame dialogue, actors standing around visibly wondering what they're supposed to be doing. I've never been able to laugh at Ed Wood, perhaps for the same reason I can't laugh at people with speech defects. But whether you can laugh at the badness or not, it's definitely there.
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
Around here, you probably don't want to admit that you work for Microsoft
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
Re:Boredom is not enough! (Score:2)
They'd be better off if they did. It's always amazed me that MS manages to have such bad UI designs, considering how much effort [microsoft.com] they expend on usability studies. I'm guessing that the design process is so numbers-driven and bureaucratized that anything like a creative spark or a critical attitude about design mistakes just gets stepped on.
The Ed Wood of software engineering (Score:2)
Re:Picasso? (Score:3, Interesting)
So famous that people were forging him while he was alive.
I remember a story of how he was once given a lineup of his painting and some fogeries and asked if he knew which ones were fake. He pulled out off the forgeries and also three of his own orignals. When that was mentioned to him he responded, "I can forge a Picasso just as well as anyone else."
misquote: (Score:3, Funny)
Talk about Necromania:-)
Quick! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Quick! (Score:5, Funny)
You don't believe us??
You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid! All you of Earth are idiots!
This has got to be the worst film ever (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This has got to be the worst film ever (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This has got to be the worst film ever (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This has got to be the worst film ever (Score:2)
The problem with the consequent SW series (after the first three) is that you know the story, there isn't much you can do.
That and Jar Jar.
*shudder*
Several other trilogies where you knew/could guess at the ending have done well, however Lucas should have stopped with the first three.
But hey, he was (and is continuing) to milk the SW cow for all it's worth and that's where the problem lies - I'm sure if Lucas were to make a ONE episode movie as a prequel and a ONE episode m
Re:This has got to be the worst film ever (Score:2)
Uhura.
MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Worst! Movie! Ever! (Score:2)
Yey (Score:2, Funny)
I'm sure it's the pinnacle of the art (Score:5, Insightful)
The best part is... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The best part is... (Score:3, Funny)
I simply don't understand it (Score:2, Funny)
From Wikipedia - his legacy . . a turkey (Score:5, Interesting)
Is that Ed Wood's equivalent of a last "hurrah"?
How is this possible? (Score:5, Interesting)
The movie has an entry [imdb.com] on IMDB, with comments dating as far back as 1999.
How did these people see the movie?
phozzRe:How is this possible? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How is this possible? (Score:5, Informative)
How did these people see the movie?
phozz
That's because they actually discovered the movie back in 2001. They didn't try to obtain a DVD distributor until last year, but apparently some VHS copies are in circulation.
Re:How is this possible? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How is this possible? (Score:2)
Re:How is this possible? (Score:2)
Who knew the first documented incident of time travel would circle around an Ed Wood film?
Re:How is this possible? (Score:2)
How did these people see the movie?
That's because they actually discovered the movie back in 2001. They didn't try to obtain a DVD distributor until last year, but apparently some VHS copies are in circulation
So they only time traveled from 1999 to 2001? More time travel than that is dangerous?
Re:How is this possible? (Score:3, Funny)
That's because they actually discovered the movie back in 2001.
Okay, thanks. That clears it up for me.
Re:How is this possible? (Score:4, Funny)
So what we have here is the... [drumroll please] director's cut extended version!
How is it that a discussion of XXX films keeps coming back to words like 'longer' and 'extended'?
Re:How is this possible? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:How is this possible? (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe this new 'lost' version has different/more hardcore material but the film was never really that hard to see. Necromania was originally a softcore feature, with hardcore inserts shot by cinematographer Ted Gorley to spice up Wood's softcore effort and make it more marketable, a very common practice in those days (Wood never actually liked to film actual hardcore scenes). As with most films of this kind, I'm sure there are tons of different edits/versions floating around, but that doesn't mean it was a "lost" film.
And anyway an hardcore version (credited to director "Don Miller") has been has been available from Alpha Blue archives for years (they sell it on VHS paired with another similar short titled Daughter of Satan). Something Weird Video also used to sell it.
The guys who announced this are trying to get mileage from to the recent DVD release of Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" -- and it looks like it worked: you think CNN and Reuters would have picked up this story otherwise?
Nothing to see, move along...
Wood (Score:5, Funny)
So this is like Blair Witch project meets Deep Throat?
Re:Wood (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wood (Score:2, Funny)
imdb (Score:3, Informative)
The affirming thing about Ed Wood.... (Score:5, Insightful)
People keep saying his "masterpiece" was Plan 9 but you REALLY should see Glen or Glenda? [imdb.com] if for nothing else the mixture of Bela Lugosi and a buffalo stampede.
Re:The affirming thing about Ed Wood.... (Score:2)
Plan 9 has a distinct plot - well, several, of sorts, that don't actually mesh that well - but "Glen or Glenda?" doesn't seem to. It's one of those films that genuinely defies description
Re:The affirming thing about Ed Wood.... (Score:2)
rj
Re:The affirming thing about Ed Wood.... (Score:3, Informative)
It was a really good movie. I'm sure there's some irony in there somewhere.
Re:The affirming thing about Ed Wood.... (Score:2)
How DARRRE you mention me in thee same BRRREATH weeth that LIMEY COCKSUCKERRR!!!
rj
What was the name... (Score:3, Funny)
There were some seriously yummy chicks in that movie, but I can't find it anymore.
Of course, now I'm going to have to buy Ed's movie and see just how much Wood it produces.
Re:What was the name... (Score:3, Informative)
Dichotomy. (Score:5, Funny)
He might have made lousy movies, but porn is porn!
Re:Dichotomy. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Dichotomy. (Score:5, Funny)
That's what I thought, so I clicked a few random things of a p2p network to download, a few years ago.
Had to burn my HD in a holy, cleansing fire on consecrated ground with the blessing of the Goddess. You can't simply delete EVIL.
Re:Dichotomy. (Score:2)
So sayeth a poster whose nick is Dark Lord Seth =)
Can you say irony?
Filesharing porn horror! (Score:2)
Here's an evil idea:
Goatse. The Movie.
Find out if there is film of the goatse guy (or someone who could plausibly be the same person) doing his... uh, tricks. Splice them together into a short "movie", keep various copies under inappropriate names (e.g. "Britney Spears My Prerogative video.mpg", "S
Quotes (Score:5, Interesting)
"Struggling to find backers for more mainstream work, Wood turned to smut in the 1960s, making a string of films and "loops" -- short porn flicks shown in coin-operated booths -- up until his death in 1978."
"This is an old film. It's in the '70s, they're hairy, they don't look the way we are used to now,"
"He says "Necromania" displays Wood's wit and style and he points to a scene where the main character Danny is struggling to untangle a pair of red pajama bottoms to put them on."
You KNOW you want to see it!
The movie also include for fans of Ed
That film shows the making of Wood's most famous film -- "Plan 9 From Outer Space" from 1956 -- in which actors screw up their lines and "special effects" include pie tins for flying saucers.
Re:Quotes (Score:2)
By everywhere else - do you actualy mean the rest of Canada?
seriously, I have friends that do collect lame and unfunny humor - and the stuff can be pretty hillarious
Re:Quotes (Score:2)
It's actually a sad story... the guy had to turn to pr0n industry at some point, because nobody wanted to fund him anymore (I'm sure you can guess why)
He tried so hard for so long, putting his heart into something that he believed in (angora sweater fetishes aside) and never made it into the Hollywood system. At least now his films are well known if only for extreme badness. Plan 9 from Outer Space is widely considered to be the worst film ever.
I always think of Russ Meyer [imdb.com] (who died just recently) for
Re:Quotes (Score:2)
Well, actually, designated as such by the noted film intellectual Michael Medved back in his pre-Religious Right days. Today, I imagine he'd give that honor to a picture with more hooters in it.
rj
Re:Quotes (Score:2)
Today, I imagine he'd give that honor to a picture with more hooters in it.
Any film with gratuitous hooter exposure are auto-placed in my favourites, that's why I referenced Russ Meyer.
Porno hooters are just too easy to come by. Oh, crap that sounded like...oh, nevermind.
Re:Quotes (Score:2)
Worst director of all time? Hardly. E
I love when slashdot covers porno... (Score:2, Funny)
We need a new slashdot category (Score:5, Funny)
And Now (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:And Now (Score:2)
Q: So how come they didn't do "Plan 9 From Outer Space," which is touted the worst movie ever made?
A: BBI said that they did not want to do this movie for several reasons. First, the voice-over from Criswell would interfere with the commenting that Joel/Mike and the 'bots would make. Second, making fun of this movie is just too easy. Everybody has done it. The Brains would prefer fresh territory. Third, it's kind if redundant: The movie really makes fun of itself.
Also, while "Plan 9" is
Porno huh? (Score:3, Funny)
Worst movie maker of all time? Not hardly. (Score:5, Interesting)
Many modern producers couldn't have breakfast for less than $7,000. The man was a genius.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Worst movie maker of all time? Not hardly. (Score:2)
Why is 7000 the magic number though? Interesting...
Re:Worst movie maker of all time? Not hardly. (Score:2)
Irony (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Irony (Score:2, Funny)
This has been available on VHS for a long time (Score:4, Informative)
Undead Wood (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Undead Wood (Score:5, Funny)
Unearthed, or downloaded? (Score:4, Insightful)
The results were for 100+ sources for "Necromania (E D Wood Jr 1971) VHS-Rip by Davide-466.avi". I'm not saying anyone's lying, or that the copy on emule is even the same thing (we all know it probably is, but whatever...), but the story seems to indicate that this guy went through a lot of time and effort to locate "the" copy. And I quote...
Rudolph Grey, author of a biography of the director, and a fellow Ed Wood enthusiast, movie distributor Alexander Kogan, unearthed "Necromania" in a warehouse in Los Angeles after more than 15 years of detective work.
I'm guessing the guy coulda saved a lotta time if he'd just looked on a p2p service. While it's probably not as nice as the master he found hopfully is, it doesn't appear that this movie was ever truly lost, as the article leads you to believe.
Re:Unearthed, or downloaded? (Score:2)
Obviously, there's going to be a certain loss of fidelity if you make a DVD from a rip of a VHS tape. Chances are that they found a copy closer to the original than was previously available.
Plan 9 is OK .. (Score:3, Funny)
So He's His Generation's (Score:2)
Actually, nevermind - William Hung probably had more success.
Not even close... (Score:2)
Considered the worst film maker of all time, Ed Wood
Oh come on! I can think of a few that are worse than Ed Wood:
And many others...
Despite his incompetence, Wood had a goofy earnestness that made his films at least watchable.
Re:Not even close... (Score:2)
The only one of those I've seen is Event Horizon. If the others are that bad, then yes, Paul Anderson should be added to the list.
Short Opening Credits Preview [WARNING EXPLICIT] (Score:3, Informative)
[WARNING EXPLICIT]
quicktime movie
Re:This DVD is revisionist bullshit! (Score:2)