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Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA
For generations, Ed Wood has been known as “the worst director of all time.” This sympathetic critical study repositions the director of Plan 9 from Outer Space as a maverick independent whose work challenges the boundary between “bad” and “good.”
In 1978, Edward D. Wood, Jr. died aged fifty-four, days after being evicted from his home. Two years later, he was rescued from obscurity when he was voted “Worst Director of All Time.” By the time Tim Burton’s biopic Ed Wood was released in 1994, Wood’s low-budget films, including Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda, and Bride of the Monster, had become entrenched as “so bad they’re good” anti-classics. That was then. In the years since, the rediscovery of lost and neglected films has enriched Wood’s legacy, while new generations of viewers have grown more sympathetic to his eccentric style and offbeat take on gender and sexuality.
Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA is a critical study that takes Wood seriously, positioning him as a true independent whose work complicates the barrier between “bad” and “good.” Will Sloan follows Wood’s career on the margins of Hollywood, from his cult films with Bela Lugosi to his eventual fate in pornography, locating the artistic personality that unites his subterranean oeuvre.
Sloan situates Wood’s films in their cultural context, showing how he infused old styles and genres with his contemporary concerns; how his freewheeling approach to film grammar blurred the line between the grindhouse and the avant-garde; how his bringing together of faded stars, novelty celebrities, and showbiz amateurs created evocative Hollywood dreamscapes; and how his art explored cross-dressing and gender fluidity when these subjects were taboo. It also charts Wood’s place in the “bad movie” cult, from The Golden Turkey Awards to Mystery Science Theater 3000 and beyond.
- GenresFilmNonfictionBiography
150 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 22, 2025
Whatever Wood's private tastes, the gender binary is one of the defining preoccupations of his art, and the space between "male" and "female" is, for him, where pleasure and humiliation mingle.
As a long time fan of both Ed and Will’s work, it’s no surprise to me that I enjoyed Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA. What IS surprising is how effective the book is for both hardcore Wood-heads and those new to the filmography, providing a great foundation for exploring the depths without lingering too much on shallow description. It also treats Ed’s late stage work with the respect it deserves in the context of its continued auteurism and repeated motifs, despite being largely pornographic. Much of this has been preserved by boutiques like Severin and Vinegar Syndrome, it’s all fascinating and worth checking out for fans of Ed’s more “mainstream” work (given a certain latitude for the definition of “mainstream” obviously).
Will is also honest about the quality however. His thesis is that Ed’s work is “not MERELY bad” and I completely agree, the texture of failure on the movie’s own goals is part of what makes a bad movie interesting and it’s important to not gild it lest they lose the vital demonstration of artistic resilience in the face of adversity, even if that adversity is as simple as “making a movie is hard”.
I highly recommend this book.
December 29, 2025
An excellent book that makes me want to reexamine all of Ed Wood’s work, which is exactly what this piece does. The argument here is pretty clear and well founded: Wood wasn’t a technically great filmmaker but he *was* a genius who made outsider art that asked questions about gender expression.
Everyone focuses on Wood’s horror and sci films, but but by looking at all of the works Will Sloan finds that Wood typically wrote about two things: the aforementioned tribute to genre films he liked, or pulp novels and films deeply ingrained with tales of breaking the gender binary.
In this later works especially, there is almost always a character named by Wood’s other name—Shirley. Sometimes Shirley is played by the author herself. Sometimes Shirley meets a bad end in these works, sometimes she achieves great happiness. Will Sloan discovers through these forgotten works that Wood was always trying to parse what it’s like to live inside a body like this in this period of history.
While lacking in some traditional talents, the book successfully argues that Ed Wood did have unique skills in creating dreamlike surreal worlds. And we also find one of the most intimate and long ranging examinations of genderfluid person in the 1950s. What was it like then in your own head and in public? Shirley Wood can help us understand that, and so can this book.
Everyone focuses on Wood’s horror and sci films, but but by looking at all of the works Will Sloan finds that Wood typically wrote about two things: the aforementioned tribute to genre films he liked, or pulp novels and films deeply ingrained with tales of breaking the gender binary.
In this later works especially, there is almost always a character named by Wood’s other name—Shirley. Sometimes Shirley is played by the author herself. Sometimes Shirley meets a bad end in these works, sometimes she achieves great happiness. Will Sloan discovers through these forgotten works that Wood was always trying to parse what it’s like to live inside a body like this in this period of history.
While lacking in some traditional talents, the book successfully argues that Ed Wood did have unique skills in creating dreamlike surreal worlds. And we also find one of the most intimate and long ranging examinations of genderfluid person in the 1950s. What was it like then in your own head and in public? Shirley Wood can help us understand that, and so can this book.
June 25, 2025
Sloan manages to very simply and beautifully link the naturally subversive artistic energy of outsider art to the naturally subversive reality of queer existence, and for that simple and beautiful act this is an essential text.
July 4, 2025
Ed Wood's filmography is the supreme example of how the gap between intention and execution can permit an authentic self to seep in around the margins. There's no one better than Will Sloan to explore this fascinating filmmaker and delve into Wood's authentic self as seen in his work--not just the "bad" films that made Wood the butt of the joke for decades but his entire work including pornography loops and novels. Sloan's writing is clear, funny, and brilliant--drawing connections and conclusions that have eluded the cinema masses for years.
February 8, 2026
I've heard of a lot of this from the author's podcasts. It was nice, and quick, to have it all put together in 150 pages.
January 20, 2026
Avid fan of Sloan's - been a listener to his Michael Moore-cum-political cinema podcast for the better part of a decade (yikes) and it rarely disappoints (Michael and Us).
A re-examination of a true oddball, Ed Wood has become a shorthand for "so bad its good" but Sloan digs a great deal into the life and oeuvre of this strange person with a refreshing humanity and respect rarely afforded to Wood. However, the wider question the book asks and examines the role of "bad" art - what makes it bad? What does our love of bad art say about us? How can it be re-appraised? Should it be? left this reader more satisfied. Sloan takes the stance that "bad" art made passionately and with a clear voice will always satisfy more than a technically well-made copy of a copy (an opinion that I find myself more agreeing with as I age)
A re-examination of a true oddball, Ed Wood has become a shorthand for "so bad its good" but Sloan digs a great deal into the life and oeuvre of this strange person with a refreshing humanity and respect rarely afforded to Wood. However, the wider question the book asks and examines the role of "bad" art - what makes it bad? What does our love of bad art say about us? How can it be re-appraised? Should it be? left this reader more satisfied. Sloan takes the stance that "bad" art made passionately and with a clear voice will always satisfy more than a technically well-made copy of a copy (an opinion that I find myself more agreeing with as I age)
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February 2, 2026Ed Wood has been seen as one of the most noted directors in movie history, but not for all the right reasons. He has also been termed the worst director of all time, for his assortment of movies that may have looked good on paper to him, but were more than lost in the translation to the silver screen. Will Sloan has done an exceptional job of delving into his life and world, giving readers insight into Woods like few ever have.
Tim Burton made a movie about his life called Ed Wood in 1994 starring Johnny Depp, bringing his work to a new generation who may not have been aware of his notorious directing life. His first movie was Glen or Glenda in 1953, that was in many ways paying tribute to this life as a cross-dresser. He insisted he was not gay but loved women’s clothing, especially angora sweaters. He often came to direct this movie in women’s attire as that helped with his vision and intensity of that film, creating a most controversial film world for its time.
One wonders if Wood had the budget how his career would have played out. In what many have called the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outer Space, there were cardboard tombstones and toy saucers with string attached to them, to make them seem to be flying through space. Bela Lugosi was one of the stars of that movie, down to the final remnants of his career, but someone Wood respected and honored, by bringing him into his movies. Lugosi died before the official production started, but stock footage of Lugosi Wood has shot earlier was used as if he was part of the film. Wood also used former wrestler Tor Johnson, Maila Nurmi who was the original Vampira, and the Amazing Criswell to narrate it.
The book also looks at Wood’s other films such as Jail Bait and Bride of the Monster, and Night of the Ghouls, among a host of others. To supplement his meager income he later began writing sex and crime novels, and even was noted for directing a large amount of adult-oriented pornographic movies in the 1970's, just to keep afloat financially.
The man was complex in many ways, more than just a bad director as many say. He had a vision for entertaining movies, and many fell short because of acting and budgets. Will Sloan brings Wood into a whole new light, making us respect him and even thank him for his attempts at giving us entertaining fare during his career. His work has found a resurgence with many viewing his old works today, in a brand new light.
Tim Burton made a movie about his life called Ed Wood in 1994 starring Johnny Depp, bringing his work to a new generation who may not have been aware of his notorious directing life. His first movie was Glen or Glenda in 1953, that was in many ways paying tribute to this life as a cross-dresser. He insisted he was not gay but loved women’s clothing, especially angora sweaters. He often came to direct this movie in women’s attire as that helped with his vision and intensity of that film, creating a most controversial film world for its time.
One wonders if Wood had the budget how his career would have played out. In what many have called the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outer Space, there were cardboard tombstones and toy saucers with string attached to them, to make them seem to be flying through space. Bela Lugosi was one of the stars of that movie, down to the final remnants of his career, but someone Wood respected and honored, by bringing him into his movies. Lugosi died before the official production started, but stock footage of Lugosi Wood has shot earlier was used as if he was part of the film. Wood also used former wrestler Tor Johnson, Maila Nurmi who was the original Vampira, and the Amazing Criswell to narrate it.
The book also looks at Wood’s other films such as Jail Bait and Bride of the Monster, and Night of the Ghouls, among a host of others. To supplement his meager income he later began writing sex and crime novels, and even was noted for directing a large amount of adult-oriented pornographic movies in the 1970's, just to keep afloat financially.
The man was complex in many ways, more than just a bad director as many say. He had a vision for entertaining movies, and many fell short because of acting and budgets. Will Sloan brings Wood into a whole new light, making us respect him and even thank him for his attempts at giving us entertaining fare during his career. His work has found a resurgence with many viewing his old works today, in a brand new light.
July 1, 2025
(4.5) A long form study of the “Worst Director of All Time” Plan 9 from Outer Space’s Ed Wood. I really loved Sloan’s argument that Wood’s work is undeniably bad BUT (!!) that it was not “merely bad”
The standard for “Art” is not “talent” but whether your work is 1. Interesting 2. An unmistakable expression of yourself!
If I can be earnest for 1(!) second, that’s the kind of democratic, humanist spirit that gives me faith in the world, fills me with love for my fellow man!
Anyway a great example of this is how confessional Wood's work was. A lifelong crossdresser who also maintained that he was ramrod straight, from his very first film Glen or Glenda (1953) Wood is constantly jockeying back and forth between the pleasure and shame he takes in prying open the gender binary. Though usually taking a reactionary turn by films end, the fact that he returned to it in so many films, that it seems he had no choice but to work through this part of himself, even as he was hopelessly desperate to catch a break and escape the fringes of Hollywood. It all lends the movies a real pathos, completely independent from any qualities like competence or talent
But even in his less confessional work that same lack of talent and competence has otherworldly originality of its own! For instance Sloans points out how in Plan 9 Wood incorporates an all you can eat buffet of sci-fi tropes, regardless of whether they are completely out of place in the specific story he’s telling. This combined with his slapdash, preposterously inadequate sets, and casting of (at that point) forgotten stars like Bela Lugosi all comes together to create a dream-like feeling that you're not watching a sci-fi movie but someone's half remembered “idea of a sci fi movie”. The result is something transcendently (even beautifully!) incoherent! (or at least he makes a good case for it. I need to re-watch haha)
Anyway also pretty funny throughout! Good stuff will
The standard for “Art” is not “talent” but whether your work is 1. Interesting 2. An unmistakable expression of yourself!
If I can be earnest for 1(!) second, that’s the kind of democratic, humanist spirit that gives me faith in the world, fills me with love for my fellow man!
Anyway a great example of this is how confessional Wood's work was. A lifelong crossdresser who also maintained that he was ramrod straight, from his very first film Glen or Glenda (1953) Wood is constantly jockeying back and forth between the pleasure and shame he takes in prying open the gender binary. Though usually taking a reactionary turn by films end, the fact that he returned to it in so many films, that it seems he had no choice but to work through this part of himself, even as he was hopelessly desperate to catch a break and escape the fringes of Hollywood. It all lends the movies a real pathos, completely independent from any qualities like competence or talent
But even in his less confessional work that same lack of talent and competence has otherworldly originality of its own! For instance Sloans points out how in Plan 9 Wood incorporates an all you can eat buffet of sci-fi tropes, regardless of whether they are completely out of place in the specific story he’s telling. This combined with his slapdash, preposterously inadequate sets, and casting of (at that point) forgotten stars like Bela Lugosi all comes together to create a dream-like feeling that you're not watching a sci-fi movie but someone's half remembered “idea of a sci fi movie”. The result is something transcendently (even beautifully!) incoherent! (or at least he makes a good case for it. I need to re-watch haha)
Anyway also pretty funny throughout! Good stuff will
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July 22, 2025Well I've done it. For the first time in many years I have finished a book!
Will Sloan is a writer who I was exposed to through his two film podcasts. I quickly became a fan because we share a similar taste and affinity for film and art, and unlike me Will Sloan is a good at composing his thoughts and expressing why he likes what he likes.
Ed Wood exists as a central figure and a skeleton key to Sloan's taste and this book is a reflection on Wood as an artist; a little bit of a biography, a little bit of a criticism, but mostly a reflection on Wood's films from beginning to end and a reclamation of Wood as a filmmaker.
He was for many years known as "The Worst Director of All Time" and this book does a great job of repositioning the discussion on Wood rather than defending him. Sloan acknowledges that Wood is technically a poor director, but his works are not merely bad. They have a lot to offer, exist with supreme authorial intent and also open us up to question why the hell we so often want to draw a distinction between good or bad art.
This was a really great read, Will Sloan is a great writer and I think he's on the right side of history with Ed Wood. More than a movie being "good" we should want to champion art that connects with us, fascinates us, challenges us and makes us laugh. And on that front Ed Wood's movies succeed.
Will Sloan is a writer who I was exposed to through his two film podcasts. I quickly became a fan because we share a similar taste and affinity for film and art, and unlike me Will Sloan is a good at composing his thoughts and expressing why he likes what he likes.
Ed Wood exists as a central figure and a skeleton key to Sloan's taste and this book is a reflection on Wood as an artist; a little bit of a biography, a little bit of a criticism, but mostly a reflection on Wood's films from beginning to end and a reclamation of Wood as a filmmaker.
He was for many years known as "The Worst Director of All Time" and this book does a great job of repositioning the discussion on Wood rather than defending him. Sloan acknowledges that Wood is technically a poor director, but his works are not merely bad. They have a lot to offer, exist with supreme authorial intent and also open us up to question why the hell we so often want to draw a distinction between good or bad art.
This was a really great read, Will Sloan is a great writer and I think he's on the right side of history with Ed Wood. More than a movie being "good" we should want to champion art that connects with us, fascinates us, challenges us and makes us laugh. And on that front Ed Wood's movies succeed.
January 4, 2026
An extremely persuasive argument that's encouraged me to reevaluate a filmmaker I've long dismissed - first as simply a bad filmmaker, then as a failed critical reclamation project. It's not that I never suspected him of having infused his work with his own idiosyncratic personality, but I never really reckoned with how consistently he had done so.
Plus, having now done deep dives on so many other filmmakers who've toed the exploitation/pornography line throughout their careers (Ray Dennis Steckler, Andy Milligan, and Al Adamson in particular), Wood's specific predilections are at least as interesting, and his films often markedly more entertaining for a variety of reasons, than the work of those would-be auteurs (all canonized by lush boxed set collections from Severin - whither Ed Wood's celebratory, career-spanning doorstop?).
Okay, actually, it is very weird that none of Wood's best-known films have received the white-glove treatment so many others have on home video. Yes, AGFA and Vinegar Syndrome have done great work releasing many of his lesser-known efforts (Orgy of the Dead, Take It Out In Trade, The Love Feast, etc.), but are the rights issues really holding up Bride of the Monster, Jail Bait, Night of the Ghouls, Glen or Glenda, and Plan 9 from Outer Space from receiving worthy home video releases?
Plus, having now done deep dives on so many other filmmakers who've toed the exploitation/pornography line throughout their careers (Ray Dennis Steckler, Andy Milligan, and Al Adamson in particular), Wood's specific predilections are at least as interesting, and his films often markedly more entertaining for a variety of reasons, than the work of those would-be auteurs (all canonized by lush boxed set collections from Severin - whither Ed Wood's celebratory, career-spanning doorstop?).
Okay, actually, it is very weird that none of Wood's best-known films have received the white-glove treatment so many others have on home video. Yes, AGFA and Vinegar Syndrome have done great work releasing many of his lesser-known efforts (Orgy of the Dead, Take It Out In Trade, The Love Feast, etc.), but are the rights issues really holding up Bride of the Monster, Jail Bait, Night of the Ghouls, Glen or Glenda, and Plan 9 from Outer Space from receiving worthy home video releases?
January 5, 2026
3.5/5
I respect Will a lot as an academic and theorist, and with the number of hours he's in my ear every week due to his multiple podcasts/podcast appearances, I was very excited to dive into this. The analysis I was most compelled by was the idea of films being vehicles for textures, or acting as "dreamscapes." Will very well articulates how great cinema is found in the experiential, rather than entirely in the binary of good and bad. I especially enjoyed the commentary on Wood's pornography work; in what I've seen from that era of his career, the thematic threads of his earlier work remain, as abstracted as they may have become. The stickiness of Wood's relationship to queerness and gender were also very well explored. Beyond occasional wheel spinning and dense plot summaries that sometimes lose the forest for the trees, this is a very snappy read. Good stuff!
I respect Will a lot as an academic and theorist, and with the number of hours he's in my ear every week due to his multiple podcasts/podcast appearances, I was very excited to dive into this. The analysis I was most compelled by was the idea of films being vehicles for textures, or acting as "dreamscapes." Will very well articulates how great cinema is found in the experiential, rather than entirely in the binary of good and bad. I especially enjoyed the commentary on Wood's pornography work; in what I've seen from that era of his career, the thematic threads of his earlier work remain, as abstracted as they may have become. The stickiness of Wood's relationship to queerness and gender were also very well explored. Beyond occasional wheel spinning and dense plot summaries that sometimes lose the forest for the trees, this is a very snappy read. Good stuff!
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July 14, 2025I felt like I knew what it meant to be a real fan of an artist when I could acknowledge that REM (my favorite band ever at the time) put out some very lame songs but I would listen to them anyway since you want to see how they progressed and where they were going. This book is that kind of exploration if REM put out Murmur (perfect) and then held onto a career for several more decades with 15 riffs on Around the Sun (bad/boring).
Some people really think the biggest sin a movie can make is look "cheap," sigh.
Some people really think the biggest sin a movie can make is look "cheap," sigh.
September 21, 2025
Like many others who got into film at a young age, Edward D. Wood Jr. has followed me my entire life. From discovering “Plan 9 From Outer Space” to watching Tim Burton’s biopic of the man, there is something special about Wood as an auteur that most other “bad movie directors” don’t have going for themselves.
What I love about Will Sloan’s book is that it finds a way to provide some much-needed context about Wood’s film career post-“Plan 9” as well as information on the various novels that he wrote.
What I love about Will Sloan’s book is that it finds a way to provide some much-needed context about Wood’s film career post-“Plan 9” as well as information on the various novels that he wrote.
June 28, 2025
A must read for not just Wood fanatics, but also for curious folks who have a passing familiarity with the director/writer/actor who want to see beyond the "world's worst director" label and Burton biopic for a more honest and fair assessment of the artist, the man (?), and their work. The final chapter where the politics of "good" and "bad" in art are illuminated and questioned is a particular highlight.
It's compact, clearly well researched, and well worth your time!
It's compact, clearly well researched, and well worth your time!
October 1, 2025
It's good! I'd rank it higher had I not already been familiar with Will Sloan's observations across the two podcasts he co-hosts. Still, his notes on the pornography and novels are new and invaluable; and his argument against the simple "good/bad" binary still resonates. I'd readily recommend this entertaining and thoughtful study to anyone who only has a superficial understanding of the director behind Plan 9.
October 31, 2025
A cool little insight into Eddie's world from multiple angles. the final chapters are especially interesting comparisons to other 'bad' movies over the decades that further explore what Ed's ideals and direction might actually have been. The notes of his works - both known and recently unearthed - are especially appreciated.
November 28, 2025
Very interesting approach to Ed Wood, with some minor but necessary tweaks to the auteur theory.
I particularly enjoyed the final two chapters with the discussion of how other works about Wood have created his popular image and how that differs from his body or work and about the legacy of Wood in modern "bad" filmmakers that should be considered outsiders artists.
I particularly enjoyed the final two chapters with the discussion of how other works about Wood have created his popular image and how that differs from his body or work and about the legacy of Wood in modern "bad" filmmakers that should be considered outsiders artists.
January 14, 2026
Will Sloan (of the excellent IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB) podcast was always going to praise Wood, rather than bury him. Im here for this. There are so many terrible worthy melodramas from the 1950s, as well as overblown Biblical epics - I’d rather watch PLAN 9 than any of them.
An exploration of the man’s work, where the tone remains affectionately lovely, even when exploring the darker corners.
An exploration of the man’s work, where the tone remains affectionately lovely, even when exploring the darker corners.
July 15, 2025
A book that instantly makes you a fanatic of the subject. It truly feels like no one else would be willing to give Wood's work, especially his work in porn, this much consideration, Will Sloan is doing a valuable service here. The kind of thing that makes me want to get better at watching movies.
January 5, 2026
I really resonated with Will Sloan's point of view here. We both came of age when the Tim Burton film was a hit.
Wood was truly an interesting transgressive artist. His movies are entertaining, no matter how you look at the.
Wood was truly an interesting transgressive artist. His movies are entertaining, no matter how you look at the.
July 5, 2025
I loved this, the last section of the book is particularly inspiring and thought provoking, I have a newfound respect for both Edward Wood but also film makers generally!
November 11, 2025
Sloan illuminates an artist with bad technique, which under some circumstances makes for impactful art. It’s nice to see a critical work of this size not sneer at an artist like Wood.
January 5, 2026
Now I want to read all of Ed’s freaky short stories
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January 31, 2026Book fever tonight.
December 10, 2025
An interesting look at the infamous director--made me rethink my opinion of him, tbh.
February 2, 2026
Feels like a comprehensive take on the great trash auteur, the course of his filmography, conditions of his production, psychological fixations, and evolving cult reception. Very enjoyable to read a longform work from critic and podcaster Will Sloan. Thanks for all the work Will, and for broadening my horizons on directors from Ed Wood to Roberta Findlay and Bruno Mattei. I'm sure I will revisit this in the future as I continue to explore the film of Edward D. Wood Jr.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews