Book Review: Orgy of the Dead by Ed Wood

“No one wishes to see a man dance!”

— Criswell

Orgy of the Dead (A. C. Stephen Productions, 1965)

If one is expecting this book to be a virtual adaptation of Wood’s Orgy of the Dead (1965) screenplay and film, rest assured. Although the film was an hour and fifteen minutes, there was only 22 minutes of dialogue. The rest of the time was spent with bad strippers in pseudo-supernatural dances being leered at by the infamous Criswell (of Criswell Predicts! fame and immediately recognizable to any Ed Wood fan). The novelization of the film proves to be quite a bit more entertaining. The book itself is a compilation of some of Wood’s short stories. This book even includes an introduction by Forrest J. Ackerman (who invented the term “sci-fi” and served as Wood’s self-proclaimed “illiterary” agent for a time). Many of the stories in Orgy were published previously or subsequently (owing to the nature of the smut-biz). One of Wood’s best shorts, “The Night the Banshee Cried” is included in this volume at no extra cost to you and is one of the Orgy of the Dead standouts. The book itself was fairly successful. In a past conversation with Forrest Ackerman, he related a story about Wood and Orgy. Ackerman stated that Wood would call him at all hours, sometimes drunk, and finally, to end the intrusions, Ackerman negotiated the deal with Greenleaf to publish Orgy of the Dead. Needless to say, Ackerman was not a big fan of Wood’s writing or subject matter.

BUY ORGY OF THE DEAD BY ED WOOD!

At this point in Wood’s career, the heavy drinking had begun to take its toll (but would get far worse). Friends like soft-core porn producers A. C. Stephen (Stephen Apostolof) and Joseph F. Robertson were Wood’s only real employers in the film industry. Orgy of the Dead was Wood’s first in a long line of screenplays for Stephen, and he also functioned as the film’s Assistant Director. He, of course, was paid almost nothing. Through Criswell’s involvement, and the “name” strippers that Stephen employed for the film, it began to generate a small following at drive in theaters and adult movie houses. This prompted Wood to use the title of the film as the title of his short story collection. Greenleaf, an adult publisher with a better-than average literary output, agreed to publish the book.

The cover painting was done by the outstanding Robert Bonfils, who has done countless adult covers. Interestingly, the Wolfman from the film appears on the cover but there is nary a werewolf in sight in any of the included stories.

In addition to “Night of the Banshee,” Orgy of the Dead includes “Final Curtain” (a vampire tale filmed by Wood earlier in his career, 1957, and starring Duke Moore as a proposed television pilot for his series, Portraits of Terror) and “The Day the Mummies Danced” which was read aloud by Tor Johnson (yes, he of the indecipherable speech) for a 45 rpm record that Wood produced. The record also included Criswell reading “Final Curtain.” In yet another forward-thinking move, Ed Wood may have been the pioneer of Books-On-Tape—although, I wouldn’t believe that if I were you. This is one of Wood’s volumes that is rarer than most and can be considered a collector’s coup. Recent online purchases of Orgy of the Dead have been in the neighborhood of $250. Driving the price up is Wood’s use of his real name, the association with the film and its cult following.