Orgy of the Dead is a 1965 American erotichorror film directed by Stephen C. Apostolof (under the alias A. C. Stephen) and written by cult film director Ed Wood, who also adapted the screenplay into a novel. The film belongs to the genre of "nudie-cuties", defined as narrative-based films featuring female nudity that originated from earlier films featuring striptease performances and burlesque shows.[1]
Two muscle-bound men dressed in loincloths approach a crypt and open the doors, revealing a coffin. They remove the lid and exit the tomb. The coffin's inhabitant, "The Emperor", sits up to deliver an opening narration.
While driving down a California desert road, Bob and Shirley argue over the decision to use this night to search for a cemetery. Bob is a horror writer who hopes that the scene of a cemetery at night will bring him inspiration. The conversation ends when Bob accidentally drives the car off the road and over a cliff.
At night, in a fog-shrouded cemetery, the Emperor sits on a marble altar and summons his "Princess of the Night," the Black Ghoul. She appears and bows before him. If the night's entertainment fails to please him, he will banish the souls of the entertainers to eternal damnation, as he is an all-powerful demonic being.
The Black Ghoul summons the first dancer of the night, a Native American woman who loved fire. She and her lovers died in flames. She dances and strips before the flames of the cemetery. The Black Ghoul then introduces the second dancer of the night, a streetwalker in life. While the woman dances, Bob and Shirley make their way to the cemetery and observe from a distance.
The Emperor summons the third dancer, a woman who worshiped gold. The Golden Girl dances, and the Emperor instructs his servants to reward her with gold. This is soon revealed to be a punishment, as the servants place her in a cauldron with liquid gold. What emerges from the pot is a golden statue of the woman which is then transported to a crypt.
A werewolf and a mummy appear and seize the young couple. As ordered by the Emperor, the intruders are tied up and keep watching the dances. Next, the Black Ghoul introduces a "Cat Woman". This dancer is dressed in a leopard costume. As she dances, a servant follows her around and thrashes her with a bullwhip.
Next, the Emperor calls for a Slave Girl to be whipped for his amusement. Following her torture session, she breaks free and becomes the fifth dancer. Later, the Black Ghoul exhibits a fascination with Shirley. Drawing a knife, she is about to kill Shirley when the Emperor stops her. The female Ghoul reluctantly obeys.
The Emperor is puzzled when a human skull appears instead of the next dancer. The Black Ghoul explains it symbolizes the sixth dancer, who loved bullfighting and matadors. She used to dance over their demise, and now it is time to dance over her own. The dancer of apparent Spanish/Mexican heritage appears to perform. The seventh dancer is dressed in Polynesian garments. She is a worshiper of snakes, smoke, and flames. A rattlesnake accompanies her dance. The mummy voices his dislike of snakes and recalls the death of Cleopatra.
Next, the Emperor expresses his boredom and demands "unusual" entertainment, while the Black Ghoul notes that the night is almost over, and they will be gone at the first sight of the morning sun. They proceed to argue over Shirley's fate. The argument ends with the introduction of the eighth dancer, a woman who murdered her husband on their wedding night. She dances with the skeleton of her spouse. The argument over Shirley then resumes, as the Ghoul claims her for her own. The Emperor feels the need to assert his own authority over the Black Ghoul.
The ninth dancer was a zombie in life and remains zombie-like in death. The tenth and final dancer is introduced as one who died for feathers, fur, and fluff. She starts her dance in clothing matching this style. When the last dance ends, the Emperor finally offers Shirley to the Ghoul. The Ghoul briefly dances herself as she prepares to claim her prize, but dawn arrives. The Emperor and all his undead are reduced to bones. Bob and Shirley then wake up at the accident scene, surrounded by paramedics, suggesting it was all a dream. The Emperor offers parting words to the audience.
Orgy of the Dead is an example of a "nudie-cutie" film, a genre of narrative-based films featuring female nudity. Such films were an evolution of earlier films, which featured striptease performances and burlesque shows. These predecessors mostly depicted actual stage performances, sometimes attached to a frame story.[1]
Apostolof was attracted to Orgy of the Dead because the film was "relatively very inexpensive" to produce and direct.[3]
The film's graveyard prologue is a recreation of the opening scene from Wood's then-unreleased 1958 film Night of the Ghouls. Originally, Wood titled the film's script Night of the Ghouls, as he did not expect the 1958 film to ever be released. The film also had a working title, Ghoulies.[4]
The action begins when a young couple, Bob (William Bates) and Shirley (sexploitation actress Pat Barrington, billed as Pat Barringer) survive a car crash only to find themselves tied to posts in a misty cemetery, where they are forced to watch dead spirits dance for the Emperor of the Night played by Criswell (best known for Plan 9 from Outer Space). Criswell reprises his role from the earlier film. Wood convinced Apostolof to cast his friend Criswell in the film. His lines were written on cue cards, which he had difficulty reading because he wasn't wearing his glasses.[4]
Ten striptease performances by topless dancers outfitted in various motifs comprise most of this movie. The Wolf Man (wearing a very obvious mask, with the actor's bare neck visible below the bottom of the mask) and the Mummy are also tossed in for comic relief. Barrington doubles as the blond Golden Girl (inspired by Shirley Eaton in Goldfinger)[1] while her red-headed "Shirley" character watches her perform. The dancing has been described as awkward and wooden, probably exacerbated by Apostolof firing the dance coordinator during the shooting of the film.[4]
Criswell's undead consort, Black Ghoul, was allegedly written for Maila Nurmi, a.k.a. Vampira, but was instead played by Fawn Silver, who wore a black bouffant wig. The Black Ghoul appears to have "pasty white skin", with red fingernails and lipstick. She wears a black dress, implying the role of a funerary garment. Black, red, and white are the main colors associated with her.[1]
Wood served as writer, production manager, casting agent, and even held up cue cards on the film, although he did not direct. Apostolof paid Wood $400 for the script. Several gaffes typical for Wood-associated projects are present, such as day-for-night issues, poor integration of stock footage, obviously fake props and absurd dialogue (for example, at one point, Criswell declares something to be "more than a fact").[4]
Wood allegedly stole money from the film's budget to purchase alcohol for himself. Apostolof remarked later in interviews that Wood was drinking so heavily during the production, at times he was almost unconscious with his eyes rolled up in his head. Bob Caramico the cameraman, described Wood as just "living from day to day". He advised Wood's friend John Andrews, "If I were you, I wouldn't have anything to do with him."[5] The incident caused a falling-out between Apostolof and Wood, and the two men would not collaborate again until 1972.[4]
An article on the making of this film was published in the June 1998 issue of Femme Fatales.
Analysis and reception
Film journalists Andrew J. Rausch and Charles E. Pratt describe the film's attempt at eroticism as juvenile, with a puerile focus on jiggling breasts. They write that the viewer "just has to sit back in awe and speculate how something like this could come from the mind of a grown man".[4]
TV Guide criticized the film's "boring" striptease performances and music, but praised Wood's dialog as "priceless".[6]
Allmovie critic Mark Deming stated that the film "moves like molasses on a cold morning", and that Orgy of the Dead "is that rare film that would have been improved if Ed Wood had directed it".[7]
Jeron Criswell King, known by his stage-name The Amazing Criswell, was an American psychic known for wildly inaccurate predictions. In person, he went by Charles Criswell King, and was sometimes credited as Jeron King Criswell.
Edward Davis Wood Jr. was an American filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, and pulp novel author.
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exotic" or "burlesque" dancer.
Night of the Ghouls is a horror film written and directed by Ed Wood. The film was shot between April and May 1958. The film features some reoccurring cast members and characters from Wood's 1955 Bride of the Monster, including Tor Johnson reprising his role of Lobo and Paul Marco again playing the character of Kelton the cop, while the Amazing Criswell plays himself in the frame story of the film. Another returning character is Police Captain Robbins of Homicide, although the character was played by Harvey B. Dunn in Bride, and by Johnny Carpenter in Night.
This is a list of the books by Edward D. Wood, Jr.
Necromania is a pornographic horror film by Ed Wood, released in 1971. It was produced, written, directed and edited entirely by Wood. The screenplay was based on Wood's own novel, The Only House.
The Mummy's Curse is a 1944 American horror film directed by Leslie Goodwins. Produced by Universal Pictures, it is the fifth entry in Universal's original Mummy franchise, serving as a sequel to The Mummy's Ghost (1944). It marks Lon Chaney Jr.'s final appearance as Kharis, an Egyptian mummy.
The penanggalan or penanggal is a nocturnal vampiric entity from Malay ghost myths. It takes the form of a floating disembodied woman's head, with its organs and entrails trailing from its neck. From afar, the penanggalan is said to twinkle like a ball of flame, similar to the will-o'-the-wisp phenomenon.
Stephen C. Apostolof, sometimes credited under aliases A.C. Stephen(s) or Robert Lee, was a Bulgarian-American filmmaker specializing in low-budget exploitation and erotic films, who gained a cult following for a wide variety of films that range from erotic horror and suburban exposé to western-themed costume pictures and Mission Impossible-type capers such as. Apostolof had gained a reputation for creating high-quality mass entertainment with minimal budgets. He was also one of the few directors to work steadily with the infamous Ed Wood and such sexploitation icons as Marsha Jordan and Rene Bond in the 1960s and 1970s.
Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School is a 1988 animated comedy horror made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera for syndication as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series.
Flesheater is 1988 horror film directed, written, produced, and co–edited by Bill Hinzman. An independent production, the film also stars Hinzman, best known for playing the cemetery ghoul in George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).
Pat Barrington was a dancer and actress who appeared in the films Orgy of the Dead credited as Pat Berringer, The Agony of Love and Mondo Topless. She had several husbands, including Robert Caramico, the director of cinematography on Orgy of the Dead; in between she lived with jazz musician Melvin Rees in 1960 when he was arrested for mass murder—and later for serial murder—in West Memphis, AR. They met in D.C. when she was stripping as Vivian Storm—a job secured for her by a mobster—and lived together there in 1959 before venturing further south. She stripped until the early 1990s, then became a telemarketer, and supported animal rescue groups. Barrington died from lung cancer at age 74 on September 1, 2014.
Frightmare is a 1983 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Norman Thaddeus Vane. It stars Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Jennifer Starrett, Nita Talbot and Barbara Pilavin, along with Jeffrey Combs in his horror film acting debut. The film's plot follows a group of drama students who decide to kidnap the corpse of a recently deceased horror movie star. By disrupting his tomb, they unwittingly release an ancient black magic that begins consuming them one by one.
Striporama is a 1953 comedy film directed by Jerald Intrator. The film starred a number of burlesque comedy, dance and striptease acts that were popular during the early 1950s. Today, it is best known as one of the few feature films starring pin-up model Bettie Page.
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and premiered on March 15, 1957 at the Carlton Theatre in Los Angeles. Retitled Plan 9 from Outer Space, it went into general release in April 1959 in Texas and several other Southern states before being sold to television in 1961.
Spookies is a 1986 American independent horror film directed by Brendan Faulkner and Thomas Doran, with additional footage directed by Eugenie Joseph. It stars Felix Ward, Dan Scott, Alec Nemser, and Maria Pechukas, and follows a group of partying teenagers who find an abandoned mansion and become trapped inside as a warlock tries to sacrifice the group with the intention of using their vitality to keep his wife alive.
Dad Made Dirty Movies is a 2011 Bulgarian-German documentary film by Jordan Todorov following Stephen C. Apostolof's life and career. The film premiered at Visions du Réel International Film Festival in April 2011 and consists of archive footage as well as interviews with Apostolof's family, friends and associates.
Count Dracula's Great Love is a 1973 Spanish film directed by Javier Aguirre, and starring Paul Naschy as Count Dracula. The film also features Rosanna Yanni, Haydee Politoff, Mirta Miller and Ingrid Garbo.
Fawn Silver is an American actress. She is best known for her role as "Ghoulita", the Black Ghoul, in the 1965 Ed Wood sexploitation film script Orgy of the Dead.
Auntie Lee's Meat Pies is a 1992 American comedy horror film directed by Joseph F. Roberston and starring Karen Black, Pat Morita, Kristine Rose, and Michael Berryman. Its plot follows a devil-worshipping woman who employs her four nieces to lure virile young men back to her farm where they are butchered and their bodies ground into meat pies that she sells to the community. Its supporting cast includes Pat Paulsen, Ava Fabian, Teri Weigel, and Huntz Hall, in his final film role.
↑ Senn, Bryan (2017). The Werewolf Filmography: 300+ Movies. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p.327. ISBN978-0786479108.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Rausch, Andrew J.; Pratt, Charles E. (2015). The Cinematic Misadventures of Ed Wood. Albany, Georgia: Bearmanor Media. ISBN978-1593938017.
↑ Grey, Rudolph (1992). Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. Port Townsend, Washington: Feral House. p.197. ISBN978-0-922915-24-8.
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