Necromania

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Necromania (sometimes subtitled A Tale of Weird Love) 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.^[1]

Plot[]

Before the credits, the film opens to an image seen through a prism. It depicts a group of naked, writhing bodies in the process of group sex. The prism replicates the image, so several versions are seen in a single frame.^[2] The credits are followed by a scene opening in a suburban area of California. A car is seen driving around, the passengers presumably looking for something. They stop before an old mansion, then the camera shifts to the image of a door knocker depicting a lion's head. The young couple knocks first, then enters through the unlocked door. They bicker over the decision to enter unannounced. The young man then jokes about the creepy location, saying that "Any minute, I expect Bela Lugosi as Dracula" to appear.^[2]

They next enter a room decorated with occult-related items and containing a coffin. There, the young couple is greeted by Tanya, and identified as Danny and Shirley Carpenter. Tanya herself is dressed only in a red negligee. They are there to see necromancer Madame Heles (pronounced "heals") for a witchcraft solution to Danny's erectile dysfunction. Tanya leads them to a room prepared for their stay. A dildo serves as the ringer of the room.^[2] When left alone, the Carpenters resume bickering over their sexual dysfunction. They fail to notice feminine eyes watching them through the holes in a nearby painting—Tanya's eyes.^[2]

Tanya ends her surveillance and returns to the room with the coffin. She picks up a skull and uses it to rub her body. She becomes sexually stimulated by what is implied to be a ritual of sex magic. Speaking to the coffin, Tanya informs someone that their suspicions were correct- the Carpenters are not married. The significance of this information is not explained.^[2] Tanya leaves the room and encounters a man called Carl, who demands to have sex with her, claiming that he paid plenty to be the first to have her. Tanya makes clear that she does not have to service him, but does so anyway out of pity for his sexual frustration. An explicit sex scene follows.^[2]

Back in their room, the Carpenters have their own sexual session, perhaps in an attempt at self-healing. Danny cannot achieve a full erection, however, leaving Shirley unsatisfied. She wears her own negligee and leaves the room, going in search of something to satisfy her needs. She is startled by the presence of a stuffed wolf in the corridor and admits to nearly wetting herself from fright.^[2] At this point, another young woman in a nightgown approaches Shirley and explains that this wolf died of rabies. The woman introduces herself as Barb, an "inmate" of Madame Heles. She compliments Shirley on her beauty, and starts petting her. This petting opens a scene of lesbian sex between the two young women.^[2]

In the bedroom, Danny wakes up from a nap to find himself alone and his penis flaccid. He decides to head out to search for Shirley. Elsewhere, Barb and Shirley have moved their lovemaking to another bedroom. Danny instead meets Tanya, who leads him to yet another bedroom and seduces him. Two parallel sex scenes follow. The lesbian one is depicted as mutually satisfying, while the heterosexual only manages to benefit the male partner.^[2] Following that, Tanya leads Danny to a window. Once again, group sex is seen through a prism. Tanya explains that not all people react to "the treatment" successfully. The people depicted through the window are those who will never find satisfaction in their sex lives, as some want too much and others too little. Suddenly self-conscious, Danny realizes that his own reaction to the treatment was not the proper one.^[2] Tanya assures him that he is not like them, since they are lost forever; they can never return to a world which will reject them.^[2]

Next, Tanya and Barb lead their lovers to the room with the coffin. Danny and Shirley seem hostile to each other, implying that their relationship is doomed.^[2] Tanya and Barb kneel before the coffin, undress each other, and have sex in front of their audience. In reaction, Shirley swoons, while Danny groans in displeasure. The sexual ritual summons Madame Heles from her coffin.^[2] Heles asks about the progress of her two newest students. Barb praises Shirley's prowess; in response, Heles proclaims that Shirley will henceforth live for sex alone. Barb explains that Shirley has graduated.^[2]

As Shirley walks away with Barb, Danny is left behind. Tanya declares that they still have some work to do on him. In response, Heles proclaims that he needs her personal sex teachings. While she waits in her coffin, Barb and Karl enter the room. They help Tanya restrain Danny and take off his clothes. They force him to enter Heles' coffin and then depart. At first, Danny screams, but then he is seen enjoying his healing session with Heles.^[2]

Cast[]

• Maria Arnold as Madame Heles
• Rene Bond as Shirley
• as Danny

Production and rediscovery[]

Ed Wood produced, wrote, and directed the film under the pseudonym "Don Miller".^[2] The title seems to imply necrophilia, but the content implies an obsession with Death.^[2] The film was based on the novel The Only House (1970), also written by Wood. Rob Craig observes that certain elements of the original story were "slavishly" adapted, while others were altered or removed in their entirety.^[2] For example, in the novel the rituals of sex magic are depicted in detail, and the Carpenters are actually married, not pretending to be.^[2]

The film was shot on a budget of US$7,000.^[2] According to Charles Anderson, a Wood collaborator, the director himself played a role in the film. Anderson recalled this role to be a wizard or an evil doctor. However, no such role appears in the finished film. Craig suspects it was in a deleted scene.^[2]

The film was an early entry to the new subgenre of hardcore pornographic film. The pioneers of the subgenre were films such as Mona the Virgin Nymph (1970) by Howard Ziehm and Sex USA (1970) by Gerard Damiano. The subgenre went on to enter the mainstream with Deep Throat (1972).^[2] The idea of graphic sex as an integral part of an adult-oriented narrative was further explored in Last Tango in Paris (1972) by Bernardo Bertolucci, Sodom and Gomorrah: The Last Seven Days (1974) by Artie Mitchell, and The Opening of Misty Beethoven (1976) by Radley Metzger. As a narrative-driven film, Rob Craig argues that Necromania can also be considered part of the Golden Age of Porn, along with these films.^[2]

Thought considered lost for years, it resurfaced in edited form on Mike Vraney's Something Weird imprint in the late 1980s, then was re-released on DVD by Fleshbot Films in 2005. Opening titles indicate "Produced & directed by Don Miller. Our cast wish to remain anonymous."

Analysis[]

Wood included the reference to Bela Lugosi as a tribute to his old friend, who appeared in Wood's films Bride of the Monster, Glen or Glenda?, and Plan 9 From Outer Space prior to his death in 1956.^[2]

The front door is decorated with the image of a trident. Rob Craig suggests that it can also be seen as the pitchfork of a devil.^[2]

The spying eyes, seen through a painting are part of a trope derived from films featuring haunted houses.^[2]

Craig sees the group sex sessions seen through the prism as a depiction of the then-ongoing Sexual Revolution.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

A coffin owned by The Amazing Criswell is seen in the film, the second of Wood's films (after Night of the Ghouls) in which such a coffin appears.^[2] Criswell's family was in the mortician business. The coffin used in Necromania, however, looks antique. According to cinematographer Ted Gorley, this was the result of a misunderstanding. Criswell had meant to donate his own coffin, but the crew of the film borrowed the wrong coffin. The one used in the film was a relic dating to Abraham Lincoln's presidency (1861–1865).^[2]

In Rudolph Grey's 1992 Ed Wood biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Maila Nurmi, who played Vampira on TV and in Plan 9 from Outer Space, tells the story of how she declined Wood's request for her to do a nude scene sitting up in a coffin in the role of Madame Heles.^[2] Nurmi said she was dumbfounded at how Wood had found her after so many years. She was recovering from a stroke at the time and told him that she could hardly walk. Wood told her on the phone, "It's OK, it doesn't matter. You can sit up, can't you? You've got nothing on, you're in this coffin and you just sit up. And this guy jumps on you and (howls like a wolf)..Aarroow!". Then he promised her $100 just for doing that one scene. Nurmi responded, "I'm really not interested. Miss Garbo isn't working. I think she can probably sit up better than I can." She added, "I've done professional suicide before, but I just don't think I should do this picture." Wood hired another actress for the scene, and made her up to look like Vampira.^[3]

During the two-day shoot, Wood directed the film in a pink baby doll nightie and a bra. It was so hot in the studio that actress Rene Bond fainted and the crew had to throw water on her face. ^[4]

Wood's friend John Andrews acted as his assistant on the project. He said the Arriflex camera Wood was using would jam up constantly, and when he suggested that Wood use an Eclair camera instead with a specific Zoom lens, he was surprised to see that Wood didn't seem to know what he was talking about, as if he wasn't very technically proficient.^[4]

Rediscovery[]

The film magazine Cult Movies (issue #36) printed a detailed article about the rediscovery of Wood's Necromania and The Only House in Town. The piece was written by Rudolph Grey, author of the Wood biography Nightmare of Ecstasy.

References[]

Sources[]

• Craig, Rob (2009). "Necromania—A Tale of Weird Love (1971)". Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786454235.
• Grey, Rudolph (1992). Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. Port Townsend, Washington: Feral House. ISBN 978-0-922915-24-8.
• The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr. (1996), documentary film directed by Brett Thompson

External links[]

• Necromania at IMDb
• Necromania at AllMovie
• Necromania at Rotten Tomatoes