Long-Lost Final Film by Ed Wood Rediscovered

[dr. what]

Huzzah!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Considered the worst film maker of all time, Ed Wood won a cult following after his death and now fans can see his long-lost last film "Necromania," a work some say shows he was so bad that he was brilliant.

But it's not for the faint-hearted. The 1971 movie is a porn film documenting the sexual enlightenment of a young couple at the hands of a coven of witches.

The much maligned creator of enduring cult classics such as "Bride of the Monster," Wood was himself the subject of Tim Burton's 1994 biopic, the lead role played by Johnny Depp (news).

That film shows the making of Wood's most famous film -- "Plan 9 From Outer Space" from 1956 -- in which actors screw up their lines and "special effects" include pie tins for flying saucers.

"Necromania" -- the last film Wood directed -- was filmed over two or three days with a budget of no more than $7,000 and the only copies went missing soon after it was made. The movie tells the story of Danny and Shirley, a young couple who visit the mysterious Madame Heles for help with their flagging sex life. The lessons they are taught involve skulls, spells and sex in a coffin.

Rudolph Grey, author of a biography of the director, and a fellow Ed Wood enthusiast, movie distributor Alexander Kogan, unearthed "Necromania" in a warehouse in Los Angeles after more than 15 years of detective work.

A year ago they contacted the editors of a pornography Web site called Fleshbot, which this week will start selling the DVD by mail order for $19.99.

"I knew of its existence since about 1982 and it intrigued me because it was supposedly one of the last feature movies that Ed Wood did, so naturally I wanted to see it," said Grey.

At one point Grey and Kogan were frustrated to be told the only person who might know the film's whereabouts was in jail -- as a result of a porn bust in Florida.

They waited until he got out and resumed the search, striking gold in 2001.

PURE GENIUS?

"This is something more than just porn," said Fredrik Carlstrom, executive producer of the DVD featuring two versions of the film, one soft core, the other more explicit.

"This is an old film. It's in the '70s, they're hairy, they don't look the way we are used to now," Carlstrom said.

"It has a story, it has ambition ... It's like all his films, like anything that's so bad it becomes good. Or maybe it's pure genius. That's the appeal of Ed Wood."

Struggling to find backers for more mainstream work, Wood turned to smut in the 1960s, making a string of films and "loops" -- short porn flicks shown in coin-operated booths -- up until his death in 1978.

Grey, author of the biography "Nightmare of Ecstasy," said those who dismiss him as naive and talentless are plain wrong.

"These movies seem to exist in another plain of existence where nobody pays any attention to them whatsoever, and that must have been frustrating to Ed Wood," Grey said.

He says "Necromania" displays Wood's wit and style and he points to a scene where the main character Danny is struggling to untangle a pair of red pajama bottoms to put them on.

"The guy's fumbling for about 15 seconds and he's starting to laugh -- the actor, he can't get the pajama bottoms Grey says. "He could have cut that out but Ed Wood left that in intentionally. He was having some fun."

[DPDarkPrimus]

I like good bad movies. This sounds like a goldmine.

[Master of Ossus]

At one point Grey and Kogan were frustrated to be told the only person who might know the film's whereabouts was in jail -- as a result of a porn bust in Florida.

Oh my god. I also loved the guy's reasoning for why the scene with the actor who couldn't get his pants on was left in. "He was having some fun."

Lots of filmmakers have fun without leaving shit like that in their films.