Madman. Visionary. Genius. Lunatic."The Worst Director of All Time".
Edward D. Wood Jr.'s been called a lot of things in his life, but one thing is for certain is that he had an undying passion for moviemaking, and he let no one stop him in his quest to get what was in his head on film. Too bad what showed up on film was a bit on the bizarre side.
He's kind of like the original Uwe Boll, except Ed Wood's movies were at least entertaining and unique, and not entirely pieces of crap.
What most people remember Ed Wood for besides being a god-awful filmmaker is that he was a cross-dresser; he even wore a bra and panties in World War II as a paratrooper, more afraid of getting wounded and the medics discovering his secret then getting killed in combat!
But through all of his films, most famously "Glen or Glenda?", "Bride of The Monster", and "Plan 9 From Outer Space", while it is indeed evident that he pretty much had no clue what he was doing it is clear that the man had a vision.
I have seen movies FAR worse than the ones he's made. In fact, i'd go as far to say that the man is a genius artist, that if he were given actors who could actually act (except for the always amazing Bela Lugosi) and the right amount of money his movies would have been brilliant. His movies are works of art out of absurdity, way ahead of their time. Without him, we wouldn't have Tim Burton, David Lynch, or Jon Waters. With him, the world of cinema is stranger and more bizarre (for better or worse).
Next posts, i'll be reviewing some of his films (just got his awesome ED WOOD COLLECTION BOXSET for christmas).
First up are his debut film "Glen or Glenda?" and his overlooked crime drama "Jail Bait".
First up are his debut film "Glen or Glenda?" and his overlooked crime drama "Jail Bait".(ok, so technically they aren't horror films, but A: I need to start at the beginnning to get to his horror films and B. Like fellow movie reviewer James "Cinemassacre" Rolfe said, they are "so fucked up, they might as well be horror films).
tune in next time...
(credit to James Rolfe, Cinemassacre, for his excellent Ed Wood-A-Thon two part review on Spike.com, he did a great job)
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