I Woke Up Early The Day I Died

Aris Iliopulos directed this campy comedy utilizing schlock filmmaker Ed Wood's last unproduced screenplay. Stock footage and old hygiene films are intercut with this near-silent story following a cross-dresser (Billy Zane), who escapes from the Casa de la Loco Sanitarium, manages to acquire some money, and then loses it at a funeral attended by eccentric mourners. He then seeks them out, killing them one by one. Some script instructions appear as titles. Bud Cort makes an uncredited appearance, and Wood aficionados can spot Kathy Wood (the filmmaker's daughter) in a walk-on, while Maila Nurmi re-creates her famed Vampira characterization. Larry Groupe's punk score alternates with standards by Nat "King" Cole and others. Shown at the Toronto Film Festival.