Aaron1375 I saw this film as an episode of Mystery Science theater 3000 as I am sure 75 percent or more people have. This Ed Wood film was not like Plan 9 From Outer Space or Glen and Glenda, this one is a bit less known. To be honest, I only thought he did the two movies! That is not the case as he has apparently made a whole lot of films and most of them are pretty bad to say the least. Though I always find it strange that the gang from the satellite of love riffed so many of his films, but never did riff Plan 9 From Outer Space. My only guess as to why not is that one would be too easy. This film is one of his films looking at crime and such which seems to be one of his favorite type films along with horror. This one he literally seems to attack the pornography industry frequently using his police characters to condemn it and such and I kind of find this ironic in that one of the last films he did was Necromania which is at least a soft core porno itself.The story in this one has gruesome murders in a park and it all somehow ties into the local adult film industry. The police are trying their best to not only solve the murders, but to destroy the adult film industry responsible for the crimes. Which is a stretch to say the least as the killer in this one sees a picture then goes to kill the female. I do not know, I have never had the urge to kill someone based on seeing a naughty picture. I mean, if the guy had a wife would he kill her if she got naked? So the whole concept of the film is preachy and though the film is centered around the adult film industry there is very little skin being shown. The shoots they do show has a person filming random girls in poses. Pretty sure that would be just as effective using a camera.This made for a pretty funny episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as most of the Ed Wood films do. The film is preceded by yet another hygiene short as they seemed to do a lot of those as they apparently made a lot of those back in the day. I also enjoyed watching Frank go crazy and try to blow up Deep 13 because he watched to many movies featuring explosions! All in all a rather good episode of the show, but Ed Wood films give the gang a lot to work with! So this film pretty much tries to stress to the viewer that porn is bad and that it is responsible for all crime in the known universe. Pretty much like people who claim drugs are all bad while they drink a cocktail, just someone trying to jump on a bandwagon of waving their finger and trying to feel they are doing some good. Then later they make a film that is basically what they are condemning. Ed Wood and his films are a bad lot, but for my money, Coleman Francis is a lot worse!

John W Chance The best of Ed Wood's films-- his love song to Bela Lugosi, 'The Bride of the Monster' (1955), the amazing Wood-de-force, 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' (1959) and his masterpiece 'Glen or Glenda' (1953)--all contain the elements of his classic 'film making' style. These include poor direction, stilted acting, fakey looking action, monologues and dialogs ranging from the poor and sit-at-the-desk pedantic to the surreal and bizarre, non sequiter sequences, mistakes not edited out, non matching inserts of stock and original footage, lack of camera movement, cheap post production overdubbing -- oh, the list could go on forever if I had a film making degree from USC.This film shares these elements, but somehow, for me they just didn't 'click' this time. Too many boring sequences of Kenne Duncan (as Lt. Matt Carson) sitting at his desk talking to Duke Moore (Sgt. Stone) either about the relationship between pornography and crime, or to explain the developing action of the story that is mostly not shown. Here is the ultimate crime of visual or print story telling-- don't tell what happens, show what happens (don't say a man is evil, to make your point describe or show him kicking a cat or squashing a lizard with his foot). We finally do get a visual story: a mix of a serial killer (a well cast Dino Fantini) knifing models in the park after looking at their 'smut' photos; a small town girl, eager to make it in Hollywood, getting tricked into the porno racket, and the battles of the 'smut' merchants Johnny Ryde (Carl Anthony) and Gloria (the bizarrely dressed hoarse voiced Jean Fontaine) with the police, their customers and 'the syndicate'.This description makes the film sound better than it is. Little that goes on is of note, except for its unintentional humor (another great part of Ed Wood's 'style'). This is why it's best to watch the 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' 1994 version (available on DVD) that not only glorifies the humorous high points ("You're filming your shirt!" etc.), but also helps us wade thru the tedious dead spots, of which there are many.We know why Ed Wood relied so much on explaining off stage action rather than showing it: it was a simple lack of budget and time (but also skill). This does not put him up on the level of doing the best with the least. That honor properly goes to the great Edgar G. Ulmer whose landmark Poverty Row films 'Detour' (1945) and 'Man From Planet X' (1951) are master classes in film making technique in working on virtually no budget or time.Ed Wood can never be considered in the same rank as other film makers, but occupies his own unique and special place: The Top of the Bottom. The MST3K version helps it a lot, but still I'll have to give it a 2.

ragreen259 Don't fall into the evil world of pornography!This movie is classic Wood. For some reason, I have a hard time seeing it as being made in 1961, however.It's great going through, looking for how many errors due to budget constraints there are, continuity errors, all the usual. Add to this the stiff acting and memorized lines, and you're all set. I enjoyed this movie, and see new stupid errors in it every time I watch it, it can supply you with hours of entertainment. Don't expect Ben Hur, but if you enjoy Ed Wood, or haven't seen anything else by him but want a classic example of his work, this is one you'll want to see.

counterrevolutionary Some people believe that Ed Wood knew exactly what he was doing: that he *intended* to make "bad" movies in order to make people laugh. There are plenty of good reasons not to buy into that theory, and THE SINISTER URGE is Exhibit A.PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, GLEN OR GLENDA, and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER are endearing in their goofy lunacy. This one, though just as bad as the rest of Wood's oeuvre, is mostly just plodding and dull.Not that there isn't entertainment to be had here, at least for the bad movie connoisseur: my personal favorite is the obvious use of pre-existing (and completely unrelated) footage, shoehorned in on the waste-not want-not principle and "justified" through the use of atrocious dubbing and risible expository dialogue (which takes place *after* the inserted scene, making it even more ludicrous). But that's not the sort of thing calculated to make a mainstream audience roar with laughter.I can imagine someone trying to make a movie like PLAN 9. I can't imagine anyone trying to make a movie like this.