“No one wishes to see a man’s ass”- Criswell.
Bob (William Bates) and Shirley (Pat Barrington) are driving along a highway in the California desert area. Bob is a writer of horror stories who is having a dry spell. He is looking for a cemetery that he knows about; hoping that hanging out there in the middle of the night will give him inspiration. Shirley is getting creeped out and wants to turn back. The couple begins to argue. Their conversation is cut short when they go off the road and have an accident. The two are thrown clear of the car and are knocked unconscious. When they come to, they find that they are near the cemetery. They hear music coming from it and decide to see what is going on.
In the cemetery the Emperor of the dead (Criswell) is commanding his minions. The Emperor’s assistant, The Black Ghoul (Fawn Silver), presents to him the entertainment for the evening. The women perform nude dances for the Emperor’s approval. If he is not pleased with their performances, he will banish their souls to everlasting damnation. While the festivities are going on, Bob and Shirley watch from the cover of the underbrush.
Bob and Shirley are captured by a Mummy (Louis Ojena) and a Werewolf (John Andrews) and are brought before the Emperor. He orders that they be tied up. Bob and Shirley are forced to watch naked girls dancing. (Oh the horror!)
“Orgy of the Dead” was released in 1965 and was directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. The film was based on a screenplay by Ed Wood. Wood also wrote a novel from the screenplay, also called “Orgy of the Dead”. It is an erotic horror film and part of the genre nudie cuties.
A nudie cutie is a movie with female nudity that is reminiscent of striptease and burlesque. The point of these movies is naked women, so these films usually have a loose storyline, or no storyline. Nudie cuties were popular in the sixties. “Orgy of the Dead” was one of the last films made during the genre.
Even Wood’s nudie cutie movies are wordy. They consist mostly of a series of bare breasted women dancing badly and interspersed by Criswell spouting flowery prose as he reads his lines off cue cards. Somehow, the little dances that the strippers do become not only a little repetitive but a little ridiculous as well. The result is a long and boring film.
Supposedly, the cape worn by Criswell is the same cape that Bela Lugosi wore in “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” 1948. It is also said that Criswell provided the coffin he used in the film because one of his family members owned a funeral parlor. Director Apostolof said that Criswell liked to take naps in his coffin between takes. Pat Barrington, who plays Shirley, also played the Goldfinger type stripper who was dipped in gold.