TheRetroCritic

Johnny Deep is "Worst Director Of All Time" Edward D. Wood Jr. in this stylish Tim Burton biopic/hommage which looks at the man's rise to... making Plan 9 From Outer Space , his biggest and "best" movie, and his friendship with ageing icon Bela Lugosi. How much of the movie is based on facts is hard to say, parts of it are clearly anecdotal, others feel put on for the sake of the narrative or character development. Did Ed Wood really help Bela Lugosi check into rehab? Possibly. Did he ever bump into Orson Welles in a bar and have a deep conversation with him? Probably not. It doesn't matter though, this isn't so much about presenting an accurate depiction of Wood's personal life as it is celebrating the guy's passionate drive for what he does (or at least tries to do) and his quirky-ass career. Was he deluded? Perhaps. His films were certainly not well made. But this is a guy who went through hell trying to make his trashy sci-fi monster mo

The RetroCritic needs YOU ! So yeah, I'll be making a new short next February/March: think Ed Wood's Bride Of The Monster meets Bride Of Frankenstein . The short will be a springboard to my first feature Dr Vornoff vs The Martians! which I'm looking to shoot next Summer. So if you're at all interested in either film, check out the link below and contribute however you can, loads of rewards on offer! More info on the project itself on the Razorhead Films blog: http://www.razorheadfilms.blogspot.com And, as ever, if you want to help out in other ways here's the email: razorheadfilmsltd@gmail.com Thanks guys!

 Hey, remember that film where Joey from Friends befriends a chimp and they start sharing a flat and playing baseball together? Sure you do. Ed is one of those films which had a rubbishy trailer in every single VHS tape bought in and around 1995. You'd basically see it and rejoice that you only owned the trailer to this odd creation rather than the entire thing. 16 years later and there I was in a train witnessing Ed for the very first time in its entirety. Feeling the initial awkwardness of trying to figure out whether the ape was real or not (mostly not), flashing back to a simpler time when Matt Le Blanc was pretty much everywhere and feeling the slight embarrassment of being a grown man watching a fake ape and Joey piss in the same toilet 16 years prior. Although I can never fully relate to any sports movie, I know I would have enjoyed that little nonsensical treat as a kid. Even now it's pretty harmless and watchable, although when my adult brain is

There's no easier target for spoofs than old sci-fi B movies, especially if Ed Wood is somehow involved. With their cheesy effects, cheap costumes and sets, below par actors, ridiculous dialogs and storylines: they're great but of course they're riddled with comedy gold. It is surprising that there aren't more films like The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra out there...so lets just be happy this one exists! Where to start? From the offset, it's pretty clear that Larry Blamire's film will not take itself seriously for a second: you get the overuse of the word "science", a material called "atmospherium", aliens in silver jumpsuits, a plastic fish monster, a half-woman half-forest animals character named Animala, obvious, redundant dialogs, unmotivated dancing...and a talking, walking, sarcastic skeleton. What more could you possibly ask for? Fans of Ed Wood and old B movies will be in heaven here as the silliness escalates to a titanic battle be

Ed Wood directs this masterpiece of mediocrity which stars Bela Lugosi as mad scientist Dr Erik Vornoff and Tor Johnson as his lumbering disciple Lobo. And although entertainment-wise it's no Plan 9 From Outer Space , there is definitely plenty to enjoy here. For one thing the dramatic score is pretty unforgettable and is about as perfect as an OTT monster movie can hope for. Then there's Bela Lugosi who defines the word HAM but does so with so much style that he is actually rather good. The slight story is essentially just an excuse to include stock footage of an octopus and atomic blasts. Ed Wood certainly doesn't disappoint here as his titular Bride acts more wooden than the sets themselves, scenes drag on for what seems like forever and the plot digs more holes into itself than...something with lots of holes. Damn metaphors... Overall, although the pace is a tad more soporific than Plan 9, there are enough ridiculous moments and clunky lines to make Bride Of The