Plan 9 From Outer Space [PG]

The government has known about them for a while, but now that they’re re-animating the dead to conscript armies to take out the human race, the men in the chairs can no longer deny the existence of aliens. In the early stages of the aliens’ plan to annihilate humanity, a group of cops and a couple who lives nearby, begin to investigate the strange goings on at the cemetery. Can they stop the aliens in time? 

This is Edward D. Wood Jr.’s ultimate cult classic in all its natural glory. Between the bad script, the wooden acting, and the really lame special effects, this film is so bad that it has become cult. 

The government has known about them for a while, but now that they’re re-animating the freshly dead so that they can conscript an army to destroy the human race, the higher powers can no longer deny the existence of aliens. We have to face the truth that we are not alone in the universe. In the early stages of Plan 9: re-animating the dead, a group of cops and a couple that live nearby set out to investigate the strange goings on at the cemetery where a number of murders have been reported. Can they stop the aliens before it’s too late? 

From a critic’s point of view, this film was monumentally shite! The script was lousy, the performances were wooden and horrendously mediocre, the special effects were epically not-so-special, and just the general way it was filmed was terrible. But, from a tragic and film geek’s point of view, this film was so bad that is was incredibly funny. You cannot help but laugh at how monumentally crap the whole thing is. After all, as it says on the cover of Ed Wood: “When it came to making bad movies, Ed Wood was the best.” 

Admittedly I saw Ed Wood before I saw this, so I know the little stories behind this movie, but I do have to say that, even if I hadn’t seen Ed Wood, the change over from scenes with Bela Lugosi to the scenes with Bela’s so-called “double” who couldn’t show all his face were hugely obvious. It’s the hairline that gives everything away. I just found those jagged and awkward transitions hugely entertaining. 

Starring Gregory Wolcott, Vampira, Tor Johnson, Conrad Brooks, Paul Marco, Norma McCarthy Wood, and almost starring Bela Lugosi, Plan 9 From Outer Space is a fantastically funny and epically crap film filled with badly overdramatized narration, wooden performances, really dodgy special effects, and heavy reliance on the somewhat dramatic music. It’s a film that I’m glad I watched, but there is no need to watch it again.