69°F
weather icon Clear

Area’s haunting stillness charmed Wood

“Bride of the Monster” is a 1955 horror movie directed by the late, not-so-great, Ed Wood. As I noted in my previous column, my October Throwback Thursday movie recommendations are based on not only ties to Boulder City, but also ties to “Saturday Fright at the Movies” with Las Vegas icon Count Cool Rider (Danny Koker).

Wood was an underwhelming Hollywood hack. His movies were so bad that his reputation was not only based on his “one take is enough” attitude, but Johnny Depp starred in the 1994 biopic movie about the odd director, aptly titled “Ed Wood.”

“Bride of the Monster” was written and directed by Wood. The movie starred Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vornoff and Tor Johnson as Lobo. Filmed mostly in California, with a few scenes also around Lake Mead, “Bride of the Monster” is about a psychotic doctor who is trying to create atomic men or atomic monsters.

Out of all of Wood’s failure films, “Bride of the Monster” was the only one that actually made money. Ironically enough, this film was also one where Wood insisted on using cue cards for Lugosi out of stated concern for the actor’s memory. Lugosi was defiant and refused to use the cards on set, often improvising his lines and ignoring Wood’s writing. However, right after shooting this movie, Lugosi checked himself into a rehab center for morphine addiction.

Wood, whose birthday would have been Oct. 10, was born in New York. He was a member of the military who moved to Los Angeles in 1947 after being discharged from service. His work was often oversexed and, in 1975, the director was awarded a Golden Turkey Award for being worst director of all time.

When I watched “Bride of the Monster” on “Saturday Fright at the Movies,” I don’t remember the film being hokey, but it wasn’t scary either. Instead, the movie and backgrounds of the actors and director went underappreciated as a result of my youth.

I recently rewatched “Bride of the Monster” and found myself glued to the bad acting, comical plot and searching for — and capturing — a small blink of Lake Mead. With other scary movies filmed around Boulder City and Lake Mead, I can see why Wood and his film crew were charmed by the haunting stillness of our desert background and the eerie stillness of the our nighttime air.

The movie is one of two of my Throwback Thursday movie recommendations today. “Bride of the Monster” is a corny family-friendly Halloween movie with a short tie to the city, but “Ed Wood” with Johnny Depp is even better — but not kid-friendly. The life of Wood was complicated as the director had more dumb luck than he had talent. Even more odd? The movie about the so-called “worst director of all time” was nominated for two Academy awards and the major Hollywood stars featured in “Ed Wood,” such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Murray and Martin Landau, to name only a few, would have made the director with big screen dreams proud.

Tanya Vece is an entertainment and music writer who resides and volunteers in Boulder City. You can follow her adventures on Instagram @hollywoodwriter.

MOST READ
THE LATEST
A graduation gift to remember

Over the last couple of weeks, I twice drove over the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Bridge, aka the Hoover Dam bypass.

Democracy dies in … Oh, shut up

OK, so, fair warning. I may be a little “spicier” than normal. It’s been a challenging couple of weeks and I’m in a worse mood than usual.

Real ID will help combat terrorism

Most veterans in Nevada are aware that when they obtain a driver’s license or renew their old one, they can ask the DMV to add the word “veteran” on the license. While that won’t give them a get-out-of-jail-free card, it might evoke some sympathy from an officer if a veteran is pulled over for a minor infraction. (No guarantee, but it has happened to me.)

Centenarian Sara, a Boulder City treasure

At 100 years of age, Sara Denton is certainly one of Boulder City’s oldest residents. And if you’ve met her, you’ll likely agree that she’s one of its most cheerful residents as well. Sara loves to laugh and has always lived life with gusto and adventure.

Know what wheels kids can (and can’t) operate

Motorized devices are growing in popularity, especially with teens, but many parents don’t know the legalities or the dangers.

Teamwork resonates in City Hall

Every year, college basketball fans get excited for their team to play in the “Big Dance.” March Madness (women’s and men’s NCAA basketball) is down to the final four teams this weekend. It’s estimated that 34 million brackets were completed this year.

My bighorn buddies

Having grown up in Boulder City, I was always aware of its unofficial mascots …the bighorn sheep.

Can’t we all just disagree?

Once you asked me, “What do you think?”

What if they gave a war and nobody was home?

The subjects in most of the articles and columns I write tend to include positive stories about American veterans and veterans’ organizations. And in fact the pieces are about veterans, not active-duty military.

Gratitude for government

I moved to Boulder City in 1981. Boulder City is blessed to have been a government town. Can we recall the blessings we have received from government?