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[tab title="Movie Review"]
It is suggested in Ed Wood’s last fleshy fable that, “to love the cat is to be the cat.” Criswell’s own princess of the dark says that to him, peering up at his noodle-blonde hair. Bring out the pussycat for the whipping then is the command. They are born to be spanked. Come again, Ed? And who can breathe from all the fog that goddamned machine is churning out anyway? I can barely see the fabulously unfazed nude dancers through all that …ehem… shades of gray.
Edward D. Wood, Jr. Criswell. Vinegar Syndrome. The nudie cutie. And absolutely no damn direction at all. This is the territory of you are about to wonder toward with Orgy of the Dead. It is a movie with great melodramatic lines from Criswell, a sidekick named Black Ghoul (Fawn Silver) who wants nothing more than a human all to herself, and what has to be the shitiest screaming to ever be heard on film.
Mix these wonky ingredients together, shake well, and you have the groovy gravy in what has to be one of the most bizarre cult flicks served up yet this year in HD. Orgy of the Dead and its conga line of shapely Sixties pin-up girls has finally been unleashed by Vinegar Syndrome for the most depraved audiences out there to shovel down the pie hole.
Hosted by an undead Criswell (known to all the dancing women in the cemetery as The Dark Master), Orgy of the Dead is what happened when a Horror novelist (William Bates) goes out on a midnight ride to a graveyard with his lovely wife (Pat Barrington) in tow. She can’t understand why he has to write about dark things. He can’t understand why she hates money and, as the discussion heats up between the two, he decides to just end it and forget the trip to the cemetery.
Big mistake.
And that’s when he loses control of the car and both he and his wife wind up tumbling off the side of the road and land – miles away from the vehicle – in a ditch next to a graveyard that is very much alive with an undead burlesque show. The beginning scene is so obviously shot on a soundstage that you can’t help but chuckle at the movement of the car against a black background. And the amateur acting from the two leads makes for quite the surreal experience. Just wait until you hear Barrington scream. It’s as if Ed Wood himself is behind the camera.
Wood is not, of course, directing this skin flick. Oh, he was there for the filming. He just wasn’t that into the filming aspect of this extended striptease. That responsibility is with A.C. Stephen, who takes Wood’s unexceptional screenplay and makes it even more a stretch (as far as films go) by showcasing one nude gyrating woman after another as they vie for the top spot right next to The Dark Master himself. Entertain him or be punished is the understood consequence of the undead dance-a-thon.
But for our car passengers who seemed to have survived the vehicular plunge off the road, this lifting of the veil – as they witness the gyrating hips and heaving bosoms of one naked chick after another – is a most spooktacular girlie show. Pasties for nobody. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Here, in the few short years between the porn and the stag movie, the late 1950s and early 60s gave us the “Nudie Cutie” genre of fleshy filmmaking. Girls with no clothes on. No sex either; just naked female flesh from a time period in which women were shapely AND grand and new how to shake their moneymaker.
And a wolf man and mummy watches over all of the dancing girls.
Bombarded with all sorts of jazzy lounge lizard sounds, our couple follows the sounds coming from deep within the graveyard and comes face to face with destiny itself. And it wears no fucking clothes! With an out of control fog machine and some masked henchmen to carry off (without even a scream) our two voyeurs of the campy celebrations, Criswell puts them to the test. Tie them up! Tie them down! Watch the naked dancing and be one of us!
Newly remastered from the original 35mm camera negative, Ed Wood’s Orgy of the Dead is a buffet of bad acting and badass babes whom can’t fucking dance to save their souls. Be careful, though, the heathens might see you! Don’t interrupt their Orgy of the Dead or else!
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[tab title="Details"]
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 92 mins
Director: Stephen C. Apostolof
Writer: Edward Wood, Jr.
Cast: Criswell, Fawn Silver, Pat Barrington
Genre: Horror | Fantasy
Tagline: A bevy of gorgeous girls!
Memorable Movie Quote: "A pussycat is born to be whipped."
Theatrical Distributor: F.O.G. Distributors
Official Site:
Release Date: June 1, 1965
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: September 26, 2017
Synopsis: Horror novelist John and his girlfriend Shirley are taking a night drive, in search of an eerie graveyard that will hopefully inspire John to come up with his next story, but instead stumble into the wild rituals conducted by The Dark Master and his faithful servants. Taken prisoner, they’re forced to watch the shocking rites unfold as they await their fate!
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Home Video Distributor: Vinegar Syndrome
Available on Blu-ray - September 26, 2017
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set; DVD Copy
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
With an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, Vinegar Syndrome presents Ed Wood’s Orgy of the Dead in a blisteringly brilliant and crisp 2k restoration. It is minted from the film’s original camera negative and it shows. Colors are strong. Black levels are pristine. And the greens are solid. Shadows are thick and defined. Skin tones are good, too. And the flesh is immaculate. Pores are visible and the women are fabulous. Sure, there are limitations to the transfer but all that is due to a limited budget. The sound is presented in a DTS-HD track.
Supplements:
Commentary:
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The commentary track is provided by biographer Rudolph Grey and exploitation filmmaker Frank Henenlotter. It is both interesting and humorous.
Special Features:
Vinegar Syndromes provides fans with a commentary track, an interview with actress Nadejda Dobrev and one with lighting director and camera assistant Ted V. Mikels. All are solid. A still gallery is also included. It should also be noted that the first 2,000 copies sold through Vinegar Syndrome will include a double-thick limited edition fluorescent dayglo slipcover designed by Earl Kessler.
- Impressions of Nadejda
- Orgy of the Ted
- Still Gallery
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