Edward D. Wood JR

No question that Tim Burton's Ed Wood is a great film, and a wonderful celebration of the simple joys of film-making... but is anyone here actually a fan of Wood's (the "worst director of all time"...?) movies?

Plan 9 From Outer Space and Bride of the Monster are cult favourites o' mine, can hardly say the same for Glen or Glenda however... :rolleyes:

Oh, and be sure to check out The Church of Ed Wood , has to be seen to be believed.

It's interesting that you mention him, out of either boredom or random interest, I found myself snooping around his films on IMDB. Despite the poor quality of his films, they surprisingly have a huge following! But, while reading a fan review for Plan 9 from Outerspace I came across a quote which I find to be absolutely true. It went something like: "Ed Wood is a great director, not because of talent, but because he loved what he did. The shit he had to go through to get his films made, and the fact that he actually did decide to go through it, is amazing."

It is a life story that makes you feel a little down.

Ed Wood made mostly B-movies that had a shitload of errors, bad acting, and poor effects. He also tried writing but didn't do very well. He soon became reduced to porn films, and when he died in the late 70's, it's said that he was carried out in a garbage bag.

Burton's film is great in celebrating Wood's career and love for movies. I really wanna see Wood's actual films though.

They are badly made, (for reasons so many pomopus critics can explain far better then I ) but I feel they do have social revelance for their time, (for instance, Plan 9 depicts the military and policemen as highly incompatent, when most 'alien invasion' films at the time depicted them as heroic), and Plan 9 and Bride do certainly contain a short of naive charm about them.

And yes, Wood's life story is tragic (as endearing as Wood is when he's played by Depp in Burton's film, that is somewhat a departure from what the man was like himself) - but regarding his cult status now, as one critic observed, it almost like a cliched happy ending Wood would have came up with himself. And he is - through his unique filmmaking methods - an inspiration to guerilla filmmakers, and has fans such as Sam Rami, Joe Dante and (of course) Tim Burton. (For example, in the recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Oompa Loompas greet Depp folding their arms across their chest much like the aliens do to their leader in Plan 9).

PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE is quite a movie that all movie fans should watch at least once in their life.

Yes it bad? Yup. Yes it incompetently made? Totally.

However, it is a charming bad movie, the sorts that you can laugh and giggle at how many scenes go from night to day and back to night....then of course, as depicted in Tim Burton's pretty good movie, a chiropractor playing Lugosi by only covering his lower-half of his face with a cape.

Not to mention the very Swedish and not-so-smart Tor Johnson trying to play a top-rank cop.

Hilarious movie, and at least I enjoyed it despite its epic problems, unlike some other travesties I've been stuck with, like BATTLEFIELD EARTH, ARMAGGEDON, HIGHLANDER 2: THE QUICKENING, and many more!

Ah, Tor was a big guy with a big heart. "Uhm a big boy now Johnny!"