The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr.

This is the story of a group of people. Many of whom had worked for "Big Studios" at one time or another. Some were Stars that the Studios had kicked aside and all but forgot about. But they helped each other in their single-minded quest... TO MAKE MOVIES. In the past, they were the targets of countless documentaries slanted to portray Ed Wood and his Players as a Hustler and his Dupes. Their pride in their work prompted them to speak to these docu-vultures and lay themselves open for ridicule. BUT, FINALLY, THIS FILM DOES JUSTICE TO THEIR WORK. Each is given the respect due them. Each is allowed to tell his or her story without being made to look foolish. If you want to see a truthful look at the people who were the Ed Wood players... WATCH THIS MOVIE...

I loved this film. Not being a swooning Ed Wood Jr. fan, I prefer to appreciate his "boundless enthusiasm" and acknowledge his shortcomings. His movies are fun, but his personal story is one racked with pain. I hoped, and was delighted to find, that this film would be about understanding his turbulent life, rather than simply heaping him with posthumous praise. From beginning to end, this film evolves from a documentary into a mythology, leaving the cast and the viewer unexpectedly connected to each other and to Ed Wood Jr.

What we get are people who knew Ed Wood the best talking about him from all perspectives, positive and negative, and showing us their character as much as Ed's. We get insight into Ed's personal and professional life: from his romances, to his drinking, to his sexuality, to his friends, to his enemies, and even to his film making.

The film itself is shot in a low-budget way that seems done out of respect for Ed, as if using the techniques of most theatrically released movies from 1996 would be disrespectful (sort of like wearing a nicer suit than the President). The set designer uses a sense of humor and also a great deal of insight when matching each cast member with their background.

Fans will be excited to hear personal testimony regarding Ed Wood controversies, and new comers will be amazed that this man was real. The DVD is full of impossible to find gems ("Crossroads of Lorado" and photo galleries), but the real treasure of this film is the surprisingly engaging and interconnected story.

Ed Wood had a habit of defining people through their association with him (for better or worse), to the point where one woman will go down in history as "Swimming Pool Owner" for once letting him and his friends be baptized in her pool. This ability to define a person's legacy comes through universally, as the most amazing effect of the film is to not only give a well rounded idea of the man that was Ed Wood Jr., but also to give a comprehensive view of the community that he created. Somehow, without ever having more that one cast member being interviewed on screen at a time, the connection that Ed Wood created amongst the various people in his life becomes clear, and the viewer is left with great sense of involvement.

Even the title hints at the B-list horror genre, but by the end, we see that even this is a kindness. What begins as unrelated stories by random people ends with the conclusion that all of the cast will be forever weaved into an unpredictably cohesive fabric that history will bring into haunting unity with Wood's legend.

In many ways a living contradiction, Ed Wood Jr. could not be condensed to a single viewpoint. This collaborative effort is the closest to knowing him that we can ever get. Being itself a juxtaposition of themes, it is at once respectful, provocative, thoughtful, gripping, fun, sad, kind, and fulfilling.

For starters - This potentially promising bio-documentary that focused in on Ed Wood (who has been unanimously voted "Worst Director of All Time") gave this somewhat dissatisfied viewer the clear impression that underneath the surface of all of his undeniable incompetence there lurked a man of great directorial genius.

This, of course, is a matter that is open to some serious debate since I, personally, do not believe this to be true of Wood.

But, contrary to what my opinion might be - All of the comments made by those interviewed here who knew and worked with Wood gave one the clear impression that his greatness was, indeed, there, but it was never given the chance to "come-out-of-the-closet" (like his cross-dressing did).

Anyway - This 110-minute documentary certainly had both its fair share of good moments, as well as its not-so-good moments.

And, so - As the sad and pathetic story of Ed Wood finally comes to its inevitable close - He died in 1978, at the age of 54, a hopeless alcoholic and an utter failure as a director.

It seems the criterion for being asked to participate in this documentary was "does Ed Wood still owe you money?" All of Ed's associates are there bashing him and cashing in at the same time. Good for them. Ed was a dishonest guy and he owes them all one at least.

The story is fascinating of those who were stepped upon by a man who pretended to be a Hollywood director/producer/writer. He was so good at pretending though he actually finished a couple of films.

It didn't matter that he had no business doing it. This is the story of how Hollywood could be hijacked for a short time, when it wasn't looking. For this feat Ed Wood is still admired by fans of truly independent film. Wood cheated Hollywood, investors, studios, and even his friends, but he never cheated his audience. Ed Wood did what he wanted to do. He made the films he wanted to see. It's just that his tastes weren't all that refined. Fortunately, neither were those of the syndicate stations who played Ed's Plan 9 from Outer Space ad nauseum in the 70's and made Ed a cult legend.

The biggest problem with The Haunted World of Ed Wood is the fact that actor/mystic seer "Criswell" is given short shrift.

Well, I can't say this is a bad documentary but it isn't one that is being terribly interesting or well made either. Guess it serves its purpose but I did wish it covered some more new grounds and explored more of Edward D. Wood Jr.'s life and especially his personality.

The thing is that this documentary won't offer anything new for the Ed Wood enthusiasts and those who aren't interested in Wood's persona or movies probably won't even watch this movie in the first place. So who does this documentary appeal to exactly and what audience did it got made for? It just isn't being clear enough for me to say but having said all of that, this is not a bad watch and it at least features a ton of Wood regulars in it, not saying anything new really but it's still interesting to hear their side of things, though it at times doesn't gives you a clear view of things since sometimes everybody is telling you are different version of things, so you still don't know what is being totally true and what's not.

I was actually surprised to see the amount of people, who were once involved with Wood, they got in front of the camera to speak. Not just the obvious persons like Dolores Fuller, Vampira, Conrad Brooks and Paul Marco but also people such Norma McCarty, who he was married with for one day and reverend Lynn Lemon, who pretty much got ripped off for money by Wood. This is sort of refreshing that it's not just being a documentary in which everybody is saying good things about its main subject but there is also definitely criticism and times in which Wood's bad sides and mannerisms get emphasized. Especially Bela Lugosi Jr. makes it very clear he did not liked Wood at all and hated him for what he did to the final years of his father's career and life.

It was also nice to see Lyle Talbot in this, who starred in a couple of the most infamous Wood movies and died in the same year as this documentary got released, at the age of 94, making this documentary probably the last thing he appeared in.

As strange as it might sound, I'm a really big Ed Wood admirer, not because of the quality of his movies but the way he always got them made and the love and passion he put in to them. He by no means was the worst director that ever lived but it's definitely fact he was one of the absolute worst writers out there. But I still don't feel I truly understand the true person and this documentary didn't do anything to change that. I wished it delved a bit deeper into his personality and private live and not just focused on his movies and the people he was involved with so much.

Of course I still learned some new stuff from this documentary and it does contain some unique footage, such as the first commercial Wood directed in the '40's. But the things I mostly learned from this documentary were mostly non-Wood related, such as Vampira being a bit of a wild thing when it came to men and especially celebrities. I never knew she was involved with Orson Welles more than once in his life. They were lovers, as Vampira is not reluctant to tell you about, even though she didn't really got asked about it and then suddenly pretends as if it's something she doesn't want to talk about too much or go into detail about it.

The documentary isn't shot all that interesting. It just consists out of a bunch of Wood regulars sitting around, getting interviewed and some archive footage, from mostly Wood's own work. At times it even looks and feels as if the interviews got shot in different years and this documentary is just a compilation of already existing interviews, though I doubt this really was the case though.

It perhaps was also a bit of a problem that the documentary makers obviously were Wood admirers, just happy to do this and to talk to some of the people who appeared in his movies, or that were involved with him in another way. It makes this movie of a happy and entertaining documentary, rather than an interesting and insightful one. I'm not complaining all that much about it though, since I still had a good time watching it, as any other Wood enthusiast should be able to do.

7/10

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