I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
| I Woke Up Early the Day I Died | |
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Theatrical film poster
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| Directed by | Aris Iliopulos |
| Produced by | Chris Hanley Billy Zane |
| Written by | Ed Wood |
| Starring | Billy Zane Ron Perlman Tippi Hedren Andrew McCarthy Will Patton Nicollette Sheridan |
| Music by | Larry Groupé |
| Cinematography | Michael F. Barrow |
| Edited by | Dody Dorn |
| Distributed by | Cinequanon Pictures International, Inc. |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died is 1998 American camp comedy film written by Edward D. Wood, Jr.. The film, directed by Aris Iliopulos, stars Billy Zane, Stephan K. Gunter, Tippi Hedren, Ron Perlman, and Christina Ricci, among many others. The film has no dialogue, only atmospheric sounds, alternating bursts of laughter, and screams.
Overcoming a nurse, and dressing in her clothes, a madman escapes from the Casa de la Loco Sanitarium. The Thief (Billy Zane) then goes on a crime spree that nets him a gun, a car, a fortune in stolen cash, and one dead loan office manager. As he escapes the murder scene, he comes upon a forbidden cemetery as a burial, replete with bagpipe music and a bizarre ceremony employing tuning forks and strange icons, is taking place. As the undertaker, the caretaker, and an odd assortment of mourners leave the service, The Thief peers into the coffin, thinking it is a good place to hide his briefcase of ill-gotten gains. As he strikes the tuning fork that is buried with the robe-draped skeleton, bagpipe music fills the air and throws him into convulsions. The coffin lid slams shut, locking his money inside, and The Thief is thrown into an open grave, knocking himself unconscious. When he awakens, he sets off to track down everyone present at the funeral in an attempt to find his cash, killing anyone who gets in his way.
The movie, produced two decades after Edward D. Wood Jr.'s death, was aimed at being a tribute to him. Wood was awarded a posthumous Golden Turkey Award for being The Worst Director Of All Time, and has since gained a cult following. The producers of this film used many techniques that Wood himself would use, such as including to save filming expenses. The cast was made up of a huge list of actors, including several who were previously associated with Wood's films.
The film received negative reactions by fans and critics alike, achieving a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many criticized Iliopulos's failure to recreate Wood's innocent ineptitude at film making, including Entertainment Weekly, which said the movie "never truly finds a way to evoke [Wood's] fractured hard-boiled syntax, his inimitable idiocy".
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