Fuller, Dolores

The Ed Wood Collection - A Salute to Incompetence

Edward D. Wood Jr. (1924-1978) remains one of the best-remembered most talked-about directors in the history of cinema. He is a certifiable legend (well he was "certifiable" anyway). This fun and fascinating collection throws a spotlight on the man whose work personifies the phrase "so bad it s good." Here on two diabolical discs are six feature-length films written by and/or directed by and/or starring the unforgettable (or is it unforgivable?) Ed Wood. Plus the original documentary The Ed Wood Story including exclusive interviews with such luminaries as Dolores Fuller Bela Lugosi Jr. Martin Landau and Johnny Depp among others. System Requirements:Run Time: 270 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 025493224597 Manufacturer No: PIP-DV2245

Bride of the Monster

For years, conventional wisdom has had it that Ed Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space is the ultimate "bad movie," a sort of Holy Grail of cinematic ineptitude. Often lost in the shuffle, though, is Bride of the Monster (fans of Tim Burton's biopic Ed Wood will already be familiar with it and the offscreen misadventures that went along with it). Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Vornoff, a mad scientist working on a race of superbeings in his lab. His process of clamping a metal lampshade onto the heads of his subjects and zapping them with radiation usually kills them, but the monstrous Lobo (Tor Johnson) survives and becomes Vornoff's assistant. Vornoff's plans go awry, though, when he tries to get a nosy reporter to mate with Lobo and winds up being given the atom treatment himself. Suffice it to say that there's a grappling match between Vornoff and Lobo until the evil doctor falls into a pit and wrestles a rubber octopus. Stock footage of lightning and an atomic explosion round things out for a great non sequitur of an ending. Knowing Bela Lugosi's sad state by the time that he and Ed Wood had teamed up makes it hard to watch this movie without feeling a pang of pathos for the 73-year-old actor; indeed, Bride was his last speaking role. Still, any movie with as many obvious gaffes in direction, editing, set design, narrative (heck, take your pick) as Bride is a must for any connoisseur of bad movies. And of course, the gargantuan Tor Johnson gets to utter the deathless line: "Time for... go to bed." --Jerry Renshaw

Diabolical! Fiendish! Horrorific! Legendary horror icon Bela Lugosi (Dracula) stars as Dr. Eric Vornoff, who with Lobo (Tor Johnson), a crazed man-beast servant, is conducting flesh-burning radiation experiments in an attempt to create a legion of atomic supermen. Co-written, produced and directed by cult filmmaker Ed Wood, Jr., "Bride of the Monster" includes Ed's infamous stable of players: Dolores Fuller (Glen or Glenda?, Jailbait), Tor Johnson and Paul Marco (Plan 9 From Outer Space). This was Bela Lugosi's last screen performance and one of Ed Wood's best efforts.

Glen or Glenda

Is Ed Wood the worst director who ever lived? His films are campy, clumsy, and hysterically inept, but their enthusiasm and good humor overcome incoherent scripts and wooden performances with heart, soul, and an infectious sense of fun. The jaw-dropping "documentary" Glen or Glenda? is a bizarre confessional starring Wood himself as a misunderstood transvestite and Bela Lugosi as a smirking godlike narrator. "Pull ze string!" shouts Lugosi as Wood reveals his angora fetish and love of women's underwear to the world. Lugosi returns as a mad scientist revenging himself on the world ("Home? I have no home!") in Bride of the Monster, a howler of a horror picture. Tor Johnson, the hulking Swedish wrestler turned B-movie icon, made his first Wood appearance as the lumbering beast Lobo (he almost knocks over the set in one scene!) tamed by the touch of angora. Finally there's Wood's "masterpiece," the clumsy, nearly incoherent, and ridiculously cheap Plan 9 from Outer Space. A tall, skinny, blond chiropractor subs for short, raven-haired Bela Lugosi (who died after a few days of shooting), cardboard gravestones wobble as the actors walk by, and night and day randomly come and go within the same scene. --Sean Axmaker

He loved women so much, he dared to dress like one! Ed Wood strikes again. The true story of a man whose lust for women drove him to be as close to a woman as he could by trying to become one. The first film based on the strange tastes of legendary filmmaker Ed Wood, Jr., and a sordid plea for acceptance in the world of bondage and the sexually confused, decades before "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and TV's "Ellen." "Glen or Glenda?" stars famous horror icon Bela Lugosi as the "puppet master" and Ed himself in the role of Glen/Glenda. It also marks the screen debut of Wood's main squeeze at the time, Dolores Fuller, who went on to become one of Elvis's star songwriters. An important film document about the early career of a man years ahead of his time. Wildly entertaining!

The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr.

How could it be that Ed Wood, Jr., the young man who wore a woman's bra and panties at the Battle of Tarawa in World War II, went on to become the Orson Welles of low-budget films? Through film clips, still photos and extensive interviews with the bizarre cadre of actors, ministers and girlfriends who were involved in such projects as Woods' "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Glen or Glenda?," this feature film explores the man and the cult legend that has sprung up since his death. Wood's status as the Worst Filmmaker of All Times has brought him posthumous acclaim in both the film and art worlds--a recognition hardly imaginable to the man who died penniless and unknown in the late 1970s.

Mesa of Lost Women

Jackie Coogan as a mad scientist? You mean Uncle Fester? Of course, why not? As the mad scientist in Mesa of Lost Women, Coogan has assembled a race of scantily clad superwomen, "spider women" with long fingernails, led by an enormous tarantula. Deep in the Mexican interior, a researcher (Robert Knapp) tries to get to the bottom of things, but winds up under the spider women's spell, and puts in a weird, lobotomized goody-two-shoes performance for the rest of the film. Anyone who's a fan of Ed Wood's celluloid atrocities The Giant Leeches, The Giant Gila Monster, or countless other examples of '50s sci-fi junk should love the almost incomprehensible Mesa of Lost Women. In fact, Ed Wood fans should recognize this movie's incredibly irritating classical guitar and piano score from Wood's stinker Jailbait. From the first clumsy dance number in a Mexican bar to the movie's high-tension finale, this is jaw-dropping stuff. --Jerry Renshaw

If crazed scientists, weird, sexy women and giant spider puppets excite your juices, "Mesa of Lost Women" has the bite! The infamous Dr. Arana (Jackie Coogan) is conducting bizarre experiments in the forbidden Mexican desert of Zarpa Mesa. It is rumored that he has created a race of rabid super-women by injecting them with a "spider venom" derivative so powerful and perverted that it transforms them into deadly sexual predators!

Jail Bait (1954)

A rebellious young man ends up partnering with a career criminal, who leads down a path of crime, all the while the young man keeps his activities a secret from his father, a plastic surgeon, and his sister. When the man's activities escalate to helping kill a policeman, the career criminal decides to blackmail the young man's father. To keep his son's name clear of any charges, and to avoid any embarrassment to the family, the criminal wants the surgeon to alter his appearance to aid him in eluding the law.

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Mesa of Lost Women

Jackie Coogan as a mad scientist? You mean Uncle Fester? Of course, why not? As the mad scientist in Mesa of Lost Women, Coogan has assembled a race of scantily clad superwomen, "spider women" with long fingernails, led by an enormous tarantula. Deep in the Mexican interior, a researcher (Robert Knapp) tries to get to the bottom of things, but winds up under the spider women's spell, and puts in a weird, lobotomized goody-two-shoes performance for the rest of the film. Anyone who's a fan of Ed Wood's celluloid atrocities The Giant Leeches, The Giant Gila Monster, or countless other examples of '50s sci-fi junk should love the almost incomprehensible Mesa of Lost Women. In fact, Ed Wood fans should recognize this movie's incredibly irritating classical guitar and piano score from Wood's stinker Jailbait. From the first clumsy dance number in a Mexican bar to the movie's high-tension finale, this is jaw-dropping stuff. --Jerry Renshaw

The Corpse Grinders II

Return to a world of cats and cannibalism in maverick director Ted V. Mikels' outlandish sequel to one of the most successful drive-in films of all time! The heirs to the original Lotus Cat Food Company decide to crank up the old corpse grinding machine to churn up some profits, with the aid of a few handy cadavers. Little do they know that cat-like aliens from a starving planet have come to Earth to procure this special, meaty kitty food ("For cats who love people!"), laced with that secret ingredient felines and aliens can't resist. Cult favorites Liz Renay (Desperate Living) and Dolores Fuller (Glen or Glenda?) co-star in this ghoulish mixture of chuckles and chills.

The Ironbound Vampire

A former police officer uncovers a pattern of strange disappearances and unsolved deaths in and around the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey. The crimes all seem to involve a mysterious man named Thomas whose background is shrouded in the occult.

The Stars of Star Wars - Interviews from the Cast

What's cool about this video is also what makes it seem amateurish at first: it is neither endorsed nor authorized by 20th Century Fox or Lucasfilm. The result: a montage of interviews with everybody of importance to the Star Wars world--from George Lucas and Liam Neeson to Samuel L. Jackson and Harrison Ford, with intelligently written voice-over narration, and a unique exploration of Star Wars and Star Trek together. This is at once an homage to the Star Wars trilogies and a documentary of its sci-fi precursors, from silent film to Star Trek.

Since this collection of interviews isn't authorized by Lucasfilm, you won't find footage of the Star Wars movies here, although you will find terrific snippets from sci-fi milestones such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis. A youthful Carrie Fischer talk about the interplanetary appeal of the original Star Wars, while a 20-years-older Fischer talks about the films' fairytale-like grasp across generations. Young and older Harrison Fords and Mark Hamills give interesting perspectives as well; the video also sports one of the longer interviews recorded with the man inside C-3PO.

Besides the actual cast and crew of the Star Wars movies including The Phantom Menace, there are interviews here with stars as fans, famous people who love the movies as much as anyone: Sharon Stone, Gary Busey, Hugh Hefner, Magic Johnson, Christina Ricci, and William Shatner. A fun and provocative look through uncensored interviews across the spectrum at all that is Star Wars, worthy of any fan's archive, a must for any serious collection. --Erik Macki

There has never been a phenomenon quite like it in the history of movies. Now, experience firsthand the power and impact of STAR WARS with this exciting documentary. See interviews with the stars and filmmakers of both the original STAR WARS series and the new prequel THE PHANTOM MENACE. Experience the thrill of PHANTOM's opening day and the premiere of the 1997 Special Edition Re-release of the STAR WARS series. Learn what influenced George Lucas when he created STAR WARS and what effect the film has had on the world of science fiction. Travel back in time to meet the creator of special effects then into the future to see how the worlds of STAR TREK and STAR WARS compare. Laugh at Mel Brooks' hilarious spoof SPACEBALLS then listen in as Hollywood superstars like Sharon Stone, Gary Busey, Hugh Hefner, Magic Johnson, Jennifer Tilly, Christina Ricci and Fran Drescher tell why they're fans and what effect the films have had on their lives. Best of all, go behind the scenes and meet George Lucas, Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and many more as they talk about their roles in the most successful movie series of all time-- they're the STARS of STAR WARS! Bonus Material: The Complete Interviews Collectors bonus! Enjoy the complete, uninterrupted interviews with the stars of THE PHANTOM MENACE including Liam Neeson, Jake Lloyd, Natalie Portman, and Samuel L. Jackson. Plus Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and George Lucas himself discuss THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and the original1977 STAR WARS. Chapter stops you can go directly to on DVD include: The complete interviews with *Liam Neeson *Jake Lloyd *Natalie Portman *Harrison Ford *Carrie Fisher *Samuel L. Jackson *Mark Hamill *George Lucas *Billy Dee Williams