Orgy of the Dead

REVIEW
Rhino Home Video has the name of Ed Wood featured prominently on the DVD packaging for the 1965 nudie feature Orgy of the Dead, although the film is actually not one of Wood’s infamous directing efforts (i.e. Plan Nine from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda), since A.C. Stephens (a.k.a. Stephen C. Apostolof) is the auteur behind the camera for this project. Rather, Wood simply provided the film’s screenplay. . .and the mind boggles at just what that must have entailed, for Orgy consists of little more than extended exotic dancing sequences wherein topless women gyrate throughout a tacky graveyard set for the duration of the overlong running time. While the cinematography is colorful (if inept – take a look at the alternating daytime/nighttime shots of the opening sequence), the threadbare cemetery set and ghoulish surroundings are endearingly artificial, and the Wood dialogue is predictably outlandish, the fact remains that there really isn’t much to Orgy of the Dead, and the film will likely prove rather tedious viewing to those audience members who don’t have overwhelming fetishes for strippers with 60s hairdos cutting a rug with plastic skeletons. The “plot” (ahem…) concerns mystery writer John and his girlfriend Shirley, who suffer a car crash on an isolated country road and subsequently find themselves imprisoned in a mysterious cemetery, where the Master of the Dead (professional psychic and enthusiastic cue-card reader Criswell) surveys a series of ghostly women who dance for his pleasure. Hence, the remainder of the film is wholly devoted to real-time depictions of the topless dancing routines performed by the Gold Girl (nudie movie fave Pat Barrington, who, oddly, also stars as the film’s female lead Shirley), the Indian Dance girl, the Zombie Dance girl, the Cat Dance girl, etc.. So…that’s about all there is to Orgy of the Dead, and while the film certainly has its fair share of nostalgic charm, it’s unlikely that a viewing of the film would be greatly appreciated without the assistance of a large-sized glass of Johnnie Walker, or a bowl packed with…er, never mind. Following Orgy, the Bulgaria-born Apostolof (who also provides an entertaining interview on the DVD, wherein he reveals that he is planning a sequel to this film) was among the more prolific and successful sexploitation directors of the 60s and 70s, responsible for such films as Suburban Confidential, Motel Confidential, and College Girl Confidential, along with The Snow Bunnies and The Beach Bunnies. Both Wood and Apostolof are important figures in American exploitation cinema – and both are in possession of actual talent – but Orgy of the Dead is not the best representation of their work (despite being one of the best known).