Ed Wood is one of the most polarizing figures in genre history. Some people absolutely adore his work, while others (the majority?) see his output as absolute trash. No matter how you perceive it, the man was quite an interesting character. One of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s greatest collaborations was Ed Wood (1994), an award-winning film that scored a Best Supporting Actor win for Martin Landau at the 1995 Academy Awards. There was also a Best Make-up win for Rick Baker, Ve Neil, and Yolanda Toussieng for their work on the film.
Later in life, when he became an alcoholic, the money he earned from writing pornographic novels and films would be spent almost entirely on supporting the addiction. Severin Films have compiled a collection of Wood’s porn flicks in Hard Wood: The Adult Features of Ed Wood, a multi-disc set that includes four features and a plethora of bonus content.
The first disc features Necromania (1971?), which follows a young couple whose husband has trouble ‘rising’ to take care of business, so they see a necromancer who can hopefully help them find a solution. Like most of Wood’s work, it’s cheap, features poor acting, and is not particularly erotic, but it’s definitely an oddity. Severin has included the fully uncut hardcore version and a softcore version that runs roughly two minutes shorter.
Also on disc one is The Only House in Town (1971), a sexploitation film that appears unfinished and has no real story to speak of. A group of hippies chase a young woman and sexually assault her before other sex scenes are kind of stitched together. It’s another complete mess but may interest Wood fans and fans of Uschi Digard, the European beauty known best for her work with Russ Meyer.
Disc two features The Young Marrieds (1972), which follows a newlywed couple, Ben and Ginny. Ben isn’t showing Ginny enough attention, so he grows obsessed with dancers and clubs. When he finally comes around, and the two begin taking pictures, Ginny realizes she likes being watched, and the couple takes up a whole new lifestyle.
It’s not much of an improvement over Necromania, but the dialogue is pretty silly and good for a few laughs, which is certainly a staple of Wood’s entire resume. Available in both a hardcore and softcore version.
Disc three features Shotgun Wedding (1963), a film Wood scripted under the direction of Boris Petroff. It’s far tamer than the other films in this set and follows moonshiner Buford, who has knocked up a woman he’s been blackmailing and intends to marry. She is messing around with Buford’s son, Cub, behind his back. Buford’s daughter, Lucianne, finds out and starts to blackmail her brother, and everything eventually comes to a head. For me, this was the most fun to watch: nothing extraordinary, just a fun film without all the XXX nonsense.
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Disc three also contains some great (and not-so-great) extras. The inclusion of The Incredibly Strange Film Show episode on Ed Wood is the best. This show means the world to me, it’s how I started my foray into weird cult films and really enjoyed being able to revisit it. Maybe Severin Films should attempt a box set of that series. Also very interesting is a chat between comedians/filmmakers Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait about Ed Wood and his twilight years. Nothing overly insightful, but I enjoyed the conversation.
The set includes some Ed Wood sex loops, numerous audio commentaries, an interview with Fred Olen Ray about Beach Blanket Bloodbath, a project they were supposed to collaborate on, and much more.
This set is meant only for Ed Wood fanatics, a very niche group. I didn’t need to see any of these films, nor will I ever revisit them except Shotgun Wedding, but I can understand why they chose to release them. Fanatics will love what Severin has done with the set. It was not my cup of tea, but the bonus features on disc three made it all worthwhile.
Check out the trailer on YouTube.
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