CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Usually the work speaks louder than any artist’s ego. For some reason, some of the best artists who have lived are the most egotistical. Certainly a lot of studio execs are as well, but I guess that’s what happens when one becomes empowered by their so-called smarts. I do think Dominion is a very well written film and I’ve confirmed this with many writer friends of mine who know what is good (the original) and what is bad (Exorcist II).
It makes sense when you recall that Wood’s idol was the great innovative filmmaker, Orson Welles. In Burton’s parody of him (it’s obvious Wood inspired Burton though I think Wood is actually more novel than Burton), it would have been interesting if they met but they never did in real life. I think Wood’s main problem other than being a WWII hero who had lost his teeth in hand-to-hand combat with a Japanese soldier and had been machine gunned in the leg (this was never addressed in Burton’s parody) that all this caused Hollywood to not respect him much as a person. All of his ideas were to racy in the 50’s: story about a father and son where the father is a chauvinist surgeon and thus his neglect causes his son to turn to crime; only for his son to come back in a last desperate act of love (paralleling the apparent relationship he had with his father) to have him do surgery on him to change his appearance to help him get away, also in Plan 9 & Bride (though I think Bride was ruined by the producer adding that atomic explosion in the end) anti-nuclear/Cold War story, and eventually his last and only film in the 60’s about a rapist. H’wood thought this guy was totally nuts.
I did conclude with a friend of mine that if Wood worked in Europe it probably would have been a totally different story. 🙁
Quote: Eros explaining how the idiots of Earth will stumble upon Solarinite and use it to destory everything in the universe! Classic stuff my friends!
Plan Nine From Outer Space
_________________________Indeed, Wood’s anti-nuclear/Cold War message. The film is great absurdist fun, and that Solarinite does have some logic to it when you think of it in that atomic age period (where else do you go after the atomic bomb?) I don’t truly think Plan 9 is the worst film ever made. I think Edward D. Wood Jr. was just one of the most tortured filmmakers in Hollywood and couldn’t get anything done the way he really wanted to due to pressure and shoe-string budgets. Ever read his biography Hollywood Rat Race? Venomous stuff!
In that same vain, I’d say in Wood’s best film, the film noir Jail Bait, I love the scene when Don Gregor confesses to his father about how he killed a man for the first time. Very few films these days show the shock of someone killing a man for the first time. Murder in film has become so common that characters often shake it off like it didn’t matter (not everyone is like Hamlet!) Clancy Malone does a very good performance (he was primarily a stage actor and wanted to work with Wood when he finally got creative freedom again, which he never did. Thusly, their only callaboration) for that film.
Quote: Perceptions may be VERY different had we all seen Dominion first and Morgan Creek skipped the ETB fiasco. Not be be, sadly. As it stands ETB put a bad taste in all our mouths and there wasn’t much Dominion could do to recover from that.
_________Well, I would have to say the trick is then to just completely remove ETB from your mind. A lot of what Dominion has to offer all lies in the writing. There is a great classical, old-fashioned style of directing to Dominion. The editing style and the treatment of the script through Schrader’s direction is something that really helps Dominion along. It is an easy thing to forget while watching.
A lot of the great things about Dominion is that unlike Exorcist II and ETB is that it handles horror seriously and in a purely psychological manner as opposed to that epic good vs. evil sensibility, which does not work in connection to what made the original a masterpiece. Schrader said that it does not flow as a traditional horror film because it works off the reverse possession formula. Instead of someone getting sicker, it is the opposite. I think the more ecumenically scary moments of this film are dictated by the outside characters being driven insane as the film progresses. Something one of my friends noticed about the film is some of the surreal meanings found in Merrin’s dream like some of the Biblical-like messages like Merrin’s head in bandages: ‘one eye looking out as the other eye is taped up being forced to look in’ or the woman who appears to have her head away from the camera turns out to have her hair in front of her face meaning like a Janus figure of two faces portraying multiple sides. The choices the demon gives as a way to sway you (which ironically also causes you to revisit your pain) was also explored in a similar original concept in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
I know this sounds like I’m reading too far into this, but it does seem somewhat apparent on a universal level when you judge it via actions and images; reminiscent of Orson Welles stylized symbology. 🙂
I’m surprised we didn’t get something as impressive as this here in the States. Considering how much the Dutch (and perhaps Belgian) DVD release studios seem to really respect this film, hopefully will get something out of this here in the States too.
I like both versions actually. The original is definitely the one to watch first. That is the Oscar nominated Best Picture. The VYNS is essentially more like the book. I’m not too nit-picky about sounds (both have great mixes), so I like both.
By the way, love the avatar Tyler Durden. 🙂
Ooh, that sounds good. All I’ve seen of that trailer is that lower-res one. I’d really like to get a good look at the early pre-T2 morph job.
By the way Captain Howdy, I hope you’re feeling better. This news about hospitals and such sounds frightening. Obviously, these selected people coming back prove that we’re all here for you (assuming I’m not shooting my mouth off). I just believe in being supportive for everybody.
Dominion is a far better written film than ETB by far.
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