The Sinister Urge (1960)

Director:

Edward D. Wood Jr.

Writer:

Edward D. Wood Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

8 December 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Branded for Torture...A SMUT PICTURE!

Plot:

A flunky for a porno movie ring starts murdering the smut films' lead actresses.

Plot Keywords:

Police | MST3K | Naive | Murder | Cult Favorite

Cast

Kenne Duncan	...	Lt. Matt Carson
Duke Moore	...	Sgt. Randy Stone (as James 'Duke' Moore)
Jean Fontaine	...	Gloria Henderson
Carl Anthony	...	Johnny Ryde
Dino Fantini	...	Dirk Williams
Jeanne Willardson	...	Mary Smith
Harvey B. Dunn	...	Mr. Romaine
Reed Howes	...	Police Inspector
Fred Mason	...	Officer Kline
Vic McGee	...	Syndicate man
Harry Keaton	...	Jaffe (as Harry Keatan)
Conrad Brooks	...	Connie

Also Known As:

Hellborn
The Young and the Immoral

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park Observatory, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Headliner Productions

Trivia:

Clips from this movie featured in the video remix of U2: Numb (1993) (V) by the Emergency Broadcast Network. This mix is the one usually used by U2 when the song is performed live.

Goofs:

Continuity: Police leave the police station in a black and white Ford and arrive at the City Park in a black and white Dodge.

Quotes:

[Mary sees Ed Wood posters on pornographer Johnny Ride's office wall.]
Mary Smith: Are gangster and horror films all you produce?
Johnny Ryde: Those are made by friends of mine. I think you'll find my type of picture entirely different.

Movie Connections:

Featured in U2: Numb (1993) (V)

Makes Plan 9 look like a masterpiece of speculative fiction

"The Sinister Urge" is proof if any was ever needed that Ed Wood was a completely and utterly inept writer and director. He does, of course, have a surprising number of fans who actually like some of his work ("Bride of the Monster", I have to admit, isn't really all that bad of a film), but "The Sinister Urge" is so chock-full of Ed Wood clichés (redundant dialogue, amazingly bad acting, and taking hypocritical preaching to a whole new level are but few of the features of this film).

I've seen "The Sinister Urge" several times in its "Mystery Science Theater 3000" version, which features some of the funniest and most seemingly random riffs in the history of that show- one scene features Mike and the bots breaking into song... but I won't spoil that for you. Tonight I watched this film without their aid and it is a prime example of complete cinematic incompetence. From start to finish the script is unbelievably bad, not even in an earnest "Plan 9" sort of way- there's only the occasional laugh here, unless you can find humor in something so pathetically horrid. Similarly, Wood is incapable of even a second of flair in his direction of the film.

There are people in this world who will tell you with a straight face that this is a fine film, an indictment of the seedy world of pornography (oh let's face it, compared to what we have going now, the porn industry in 1960 was one big huge convent). These people are absolutely, unequivocally NUTS. One only has too look at Wood's filmography to see that he had already written several smut films, including notorious early nudie Western "Revenge of the Virgins", prior to this film's release.

"The Sinister Urge" is one of the most boring, plodding, miserable excuses for a film in all of cinema. I'm not a big fan of picking on Ed Wood, to be honest, but this is proof (along with the many other films of his that aren't widely known) that Wood is an astoundingly incompetent director.

1/10