Ed Wood

Archived Review
October, 2005

Ed Wood
Burton, 1994



Ed Wood is my favourite Tim Burton film. It has an excellent blend of comedy, drama, and it's even a bit creepy at times. Seriously, Depp's freakish grin , despite how bad things are going, is creepy. But the movie is also very funny. Despite not even being a full fledged comedy, it still manages to get more laughs from me than most movies that are completely dedicated to being funny. And to make it all even better, it even has some very good drama, particularly concerning Lugosi. All in all it was very, very well rounded.

The direction from Burton was very well done, and he successfully made his film appear like an old horror movie. I really loved he refrences to various horror movies, especially when Lugosi goes to the fridge and his large shadow is cast, ala Nosferatu. The preformances are equally strong. Depp and Martin Landau (who played Lugosi) both deserved Oscar nominations, at least. I'm actually pretty sure Landau deservingly won an Oscar. They both completely honed their characters.

However, I felt the ending was a bit sudden, and thought maybe more time should have been spent on the Plan Nine segment. I also thought that, as great as the movie was, it didn't not quite reach masterpiece level. As I always say, a movie has to have something extremely unique and rare to get a ten from me.

Nonetheless, I still really enjoyed this. Watching Ed Wood make completely horrible movies, thinking they are good, was hilarious. One of the funniest moments of the movie was when Ed Wood met his hero, Orson Welles, who inspired him to go off and finish what was to become the worst movie ever. The preformances were also at times Oscar worthy, and I really liked the directorial style. Overall I really enjoyed this movie, and will defiantly revisit it in time to come. It was very versatile and well rounded, and perfectly emulated the old horror movies of Lugosi and the cheesy 50s sci fi movies. Highly recommended!