User reviews

The film tells the story of Ed wood calling together his acting friends to tell them about a script he wants to shoot called PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

You get the feeling watching the film that the characters are more based on the characters in the movie ED WOOD than the real actors that use to appear in Wood's movies.

This is not a bad movie if you can get pass the high school play level of set design and acting. None of the actors really capture the looks of the people from Ed Wood's movies that they are portraying. The actors playing Lugosi and Tor Johnson did not capture the looks or style of the actors they are trying to copy.

This would be a good movie to watch with the underground feature DEVIL GIRLS which was based on an Ed Wood novel. Good luck finding a copy of that hard to find movie.

If you are a fan of low budget films, then you know who Ed Wood is and you'll more than likely enjoy, Night of the Fools. If you are not a fan of low budget films and do not know who Ed Wood is, you will probably not understand, Night of the Fools. Having said that, I am a fan of the first and did enjoy, Night of the Fools. It is low budget at it's lowest....all the way down to Lugosi's cape. Filmed entirely in black and white, just cause it looks cool.

Night of the Fools is the story of Ed Wood putting together his masterpiece, Plan 9 from Outer Space. See him gather with his gang including Ed Wood himself, Bela Lugosi, Vampira, Criswell and Tor Johnson. Yeah, Yeah...the actors look nothing like the people they are portraying...maybe they should of borrowed some masks from David "The Rock" Nelson. My personal Ed Wood favorite has always been Tor Johnson and the Tor, in Night of the Fools, is downright funny. Maybe he is 300 pounds too small to play Tor but he plays him as no one else ever can.

This is no way a masterpiece like Plan 9 From Outer Space(snicker) but it will take away 60 minutes of your life like nothing else can. Gather with your friends and "Spend a Night with the Plane Nine Gang!" You'll be glad you did!

For serious fans of Ed Wood...Night of the Fools is an homage to the ed wood gang as that make plan 9. Insane plot? Yep. Elementary school props and costumes? Yep. It's a like a fun house carny mirror of the ed wood mythos put on by a local dinner theater when the script for ibsen fell through...the average film fan won't like this movie, but for fans of 'so bad its good' or Ed Wood films...worth a look. Ed Wood drinking brings the gang back together....'Criswell' and Bela Lugosi barely look like their counterparts in real life. Vampira looks somewhat like the real deal, but main gist of the film is a loose idea of how plan 9 came about...another homage to a Japanese UFO cult film gets tagged into it. Space aliens again causing harm to the 'stupid' humans. The film feels like it was shot on a cheap VHS camcorder for added effect.

WOW !!! What more can be written about this Indie? It has clips of Old Bela movies, A costumed dog, great music from the "Wood" Era, full bottles of bourbon and strange wigs from Goodwill. Every director and producer has to start somewhere and it's usually on a very limited or a no budget film. Shooting in black and white helped set the tone for the Era the director wanted to establish (late 1950's). The actor portraying Tor Johson could have used more makeup to cover this skull cap but this just added to the charm of the entire movie. Surprisingly, one of the best actors was the woman who played the part of the waitress. Over all the movie is good but the "alien sequence" was a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Having seen Robert Rodriguez's first attempt at film-making, this one is no worst. Watch it, enjoy it and remember it's budget.

Night of the Fools (2004)

** (out of 4)

Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Dash Titan) starts writing the screenplay for GRAVE ROBBERS FROM OUTER SPACE (later named PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE) and decides to gather his friends up to tell them about it. Wood calls up Bela Lugosi, Vampira, Criswell and Tor Johnson and the group goes to dinner to discuss the movie. NIGHT OF THE FOOLS is a pretty unique but very weird film that should have been a whole lot better. I got interested in the film after being so impressed with the director's FRANKENSTEIN VS. Hitler but I think the end result here is a little disappointing. For starters, yes, this is a very low-budget movie that wasn't meant to be taken serious but I think they should have at least tried to get the actors to sound like the people they're playing. The accents to Lugosi and Johnson are just embarrassing and distracting. I also think at times the film bites the hands to the fans who are actually going to be paying money to see it. The entire thing is obviously fictional but I think fans of these people are probably going to be offended by how some of them come off looking. Yeah, I know ED WOOD gets some panties in a bind but this here basically just shows Wood and especially Lugosi as drunks. For a "tribute" the film isn't all that kind to the people. With that said, this obviously isn't meant to be taken serious and it's somewhat entertaining just for the "what if" factor. Who knows how Wood really got the idea and sold it but here's a made up story that is mildly charming if very uneven.