Edward D. Wood Jr. lives! 1. In the soul of underground filmmaker Andre Perkowski; and 2. On this DVD release of Devil Girls, Perkowski’s adaptation of one of Wood’s lurid paperback novels. The film is now available for purchase on Amazon.

While Wood is mostly known for directing low budget — and low quality — sci-fi and horror films, like the classic Plan 9 From Outer Space and Bride of the Monster, he turned to churning out sleazy exploitation paperbacks after his filmmaking career never took off. Writing these books is how he primarily made his living from the early 1960s until his death in 1978.

In the mid-’90s, Perkowski planned to make a trilogy of films based on three different Wood books, but only finished two before “realizing this would be a silly way of starting a career.” It would be close to another 10 years before Perkowski would start to send out and drum up interest in these films. The Underground Film Journal was one of the lucky sites chosen to receive an advance screener of Devil Girls, which I watched and went crazy for, so I’m thrilled that the entire world now has a chance to see this truly demented work.

Nobody can say for sure, but Wood would probably be thrilled with this inventive adaptation of his novel. Consummate badass Lila (Sandra Delgado) is released from prison and needs to wrestle control of her girl gang back from Dee (Jody-Ann Martin) and win back the love of scumbag drug dealer Lark (Mike Cooney). And when Lark arranges for a big drug deal, can he and the girls pull it off under the nose of the local sheriff?

The film is done in true Wood fashion, with lots of cheap sets and overacting, but with a title like Devil Girls, the actual girls starring in the film had better deliver. And they do! From the original Underground Film Journal review:

Lilah looks maniacal with her big, piercing eyes and garishly applied lipstick; Dee is wildly psycho with her wavy blonde mane; while Rhoda — Lilah’s younger sister — talks tough and sexy, but her babyface betrays her inner good girl nature that must eventually bubble up to the surface.

Devil Girls is a fun, Wood-ian romp filled with loads of great campy goodness.

Buy the film on Amazon.

Watch the trailer: