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The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr.Rating:
Release Date: 14 May, 2002 Retail Price: $24.99 OUR Price: $22.49 You SAVE: $2.50! Cast: Complete Cast (14 total) |
The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr. Reviews
one for the completionists
'Haunted world' was made in 1996, two years after the Tim Burton movie and consists mainly of (unbelievably staged) interviews with a select few people. Oddly enough did those who get the most airtime (Vampira, Gregory Walcott, Rev. Lynn Lemon) work with Wood on 'Plan 9' only, while the people who worked with Wood throughout his career (make-up artist Harry Thomas, actors Paul Marco and Conrad Brooks) are largely ignored. Sleaze-director Steven Apostolof with whom Wood worked for many years does not appear, and the entire 10-year decline into soft core porn is covered with a single cut from "Orgy of the Dead", never to be mentioned again.
Haunted World boldly claims that these people haven't spoken out for 20 years. Obviously this is wishful nonsense, since most of the actors appeared in the four year older Ed Wood bio-pic "Flying saucers over Hollywood", and were also interviewed by Rudolph Grey for his book. Haunted World does not mention any of these, and those of the cast who mention Tim Burton's movie do so only to complain about their own portrayal. One gets the uneasy impression that the main motivation behind "Haunted World" is to allow the actors to paint a more flattering picture of themselves than Burton did.
Haunted World never really takes off. It does not have the spontaneity of "Flying saucers" and has a strange phobia of leaving the studio. Where "Flying Saucers" took us on location, 'haunted world' has only miniatures of the exact same locations.
It must be noted that the main reason for making this movie was Crawford Thomas' initiative to release the 22-minute "Crossroads of Laredo". Co-produced with, and directed by Wood. It was never finished and the fragments were stored in Thomas' garage. Interviews with Ed Wood's friends and actors were meant to pad out the release, but quickly ballooned into a separate feature.
Haunted World covers familiar ground and is not an essential buy as such. It attempts to be a serious homage to Wood, yet lacks the structure of Grey's book and the chirpy enthusiasm of "Flying Saucers", but the Wood completionist will want this for "Crossroads of Laredo".
Can your mind stand the shocking truth?
Crafted with great respect, director Brett Thompson has fashioned a smart, sentimental journey back into the mind and movies of one Edward D. Wood, Jr.. He's done it rather well. Ed Wood and Orson Welles used their own money and private resources to finance the original "Independent Movies" of the 1950's and 1960's. Welles you've heard of. And today, we also remember Ed Wood. He directed the still humorous classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Ed Wood was so broke he couldn't pay the lab to develop the film on his last movie. "We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives". Those were his words. This is his life. A complete work of love, "The Haunted World of Ed Wood" reviews his first 5 movies, his amusing Hollywood antics, and his own personal decline. Bulging with special features, easter eggs, interviews, premieres, and memorials, "The Haunted World of Ed Wood" chronicles the now famous B-picture director and casts bright lights on a 1950's Hollywood we can no longer find. From Vampira to Bela Lugosi(including rare 1932 interviews), actors living and dead are interviewed(where possible) for this tribute to the sexually ambiguous Wood. This brand new DVD enhances the original 1995 documentary and includes the first complete release of Wood's 22-minute western, "Crossroads of Laredo(featuring director Wood acting in 3 small parts)". Somewhere in another dimension, in a place known as B-picture heaven, the fog is starting to lift. The lights have flickered on. The camera box is dirty. There's dust on the lens. The actors flub their lines. The cardboard set shakes a little. Somebody mutters about getting paid. Ed Wood is making a movie.
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