Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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87 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The perfect companion to the Tim Burton film!, October 21, 2004
I got this in the mail the other day, and what a great set! For the price it costs to buy "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Bride of the Monster" together, you get ALL the films of Ed Wood -- minus the pornographic ones he slunk down to making at the end of his career -- in one convenient box. (Note: These are NOT newly rereleased DVDs, just the same ones from Image Entertainment all bundled together at a low price.)
Ed Wood is labeled the "Worst Director of All Time", but that really isn't true. These movies not only feature Bela Lugosi in his final roles, but they are also great entertainment in a "so bad it's good" kind of way. For a movie to be the worst movie of all time, it can't have any entertainment value whatsoever. I'd rather watch an Ed Wood movie than a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie any day.
The picture on these DVDs is grainy, and that can be a good or a bad thing depending on who you are. For me, it's a good thing because it helps to hide some of the weaker special effects.
Amazon.com doesn't list the special features, so I will list them for you: theatrical trailers for "Glen or Glenda", "Bride of the Monster", and "Plan 9"; FLYING SAUCERS OVER HOLLYWOOD -- the excellent two-hour retrospective documentary about the making of Plan 9. And you get a bonus DVD, "The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr.", containing audio commentary by Bela Lugosi Jr., "A&E Biography"'s interview with Brett Thompson and Mike Gabriel, the Sci Fi Channel's news coverage of the world premiere, a collection of outtakes and behind the scenes footage, films of the Ed Wood Reunion at the Palm Springs Film Festival and the biggest Wood parade at the Hollywood premiere, galleries, and Ed Wood's rarely seen 23-minute first film CROSSROADS OF LAREDO.
P.S. As of this review, Amazon.com says it will take two to four weeks for this item to ship. That's ridiculous. I ordered this set from another online retailer, and I got it three days later.
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55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Ed Wood Experience! , October 31, 2004
This set is just about perfect, even more so when compared to the previously-released, "Worst of Ed Wood" box set, this set fixes everything that was wrong with that one.. firstly, the name of that other set, which always just rubbed me the wrong way.. sure, they're "bad" films, but they're also some of the most entertaining things you'll ever sit through, and whether they're entertaining in the way Ed intended or not, he is the one who made the films, and now this DVD company is making money off his work, so it just seems really wrong for them to have a slam like that in the actual title of the box.
From the packaging-- pink angora with octopus tentacles-- to the extras, this set is what that other set should have been, and at about half the price! The sixth disk includes a very informative documentary, but not just that, it has a huge amount of special features, including commentary on the documentary and Ed's long unavailable first short film, and commentary on that too.. and galleries of additional archive footage, etc.. This is truly a special-edition kind of treatment, and not at all what you'd expect for DVD's of this particular kind of film. Then there is a second 2-hour documentary on the Plan 9 disk.. this documentary was the only special feature on the previous box, and if you watched it by itself you would probably get the feeling that it's just scratching the surface.. but now in this new box set it provides a perfect companion to the other full documentary.. the two of them together truly make a worth-while viewing experience, because they each often tell opposite versions of the stories of Ed's life, and interview different people at different points in their lives.. Watching the two of them together, in combination with Tim Burton's Ed Wood film, you can really start to form your own opinions on Wood in an informed manner, rather than just spitting back one other person's views.. All together these features give you depth rarely seen even on big-budget special editions of major films.
And, maybe more importantly than all of that, this film includes the 5th of Ed's "major films"-- The unofficial sequel to "Bride of the Monster".. the film never released in Ed's lifetime because he didn't have the money to get it developed: "Night of the Ghouls". Without that film, the other box set was just kinda incomplete. I'm totally happy with this package.. can't think of anything bad to say about it, except that I feel kinda sorry for the people who paid $90 to get that other box set. Oh well, live and learn.. don't feel bitter.. get this one too. And while you're at it, grab Tim Burton's Ed Wood.. which is really a great film in it's own way, and a very good DVD edition, and long over-due for release on the format.
And remember: future events such as these may affect YOU in the future.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfectly dreadful (in the best way), June 16, 2005
I haven't had a chance to check out all the DVDs in this set yet, but from what I've seen, you couldn't find a better compilation of our dear Mr. Wood.
These films are bad, but let me state, for the record, that they are not the worst films ever. As something of a bad movie connoisseur, I've seen dozens of movies that make "Glen or Glenda" seem like "Citizen Kane". The thing about Ed Wood is that while his films aren't very good, they're just bad enough to still find amusing. I think Ed could've been a competent, maybe even good, director/writer if he'd ever gotten a real shot. Alas, he never got that chance, instead struggling in low budget hell.
The extras are what really won me over in this set. There's an entire documentary on Ed's life that I found both hillarious and quite tragic. If you've seen Burton's "Ed Wood" film, you don't really know the true Ed Wood. There's also another doc on "Plan 9" that was just fascinating. They even find the "Studio" where the movie was shot. Just amazing.
If you like bad movies (but not too bad), you'll enjoy this set. Ed never got his break, but at least he still lives on. Maybe he was a genius after all.
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