Cinematic Disasters - Plan 9 from Outer Space

Okay, original I wasn't going to schedule a review but come on, when will I ever get the chance to review something that's actually on Halloween?



Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 independent science fiction horror movie. The movie was produced by Reynolds Pictures Inc. and distributed by Valiant Pictures. Plan 9 from Outer Space was written and directed by Ed Wood.





The story is aliens have resurrected the dead in order to take over the world. The aliens are hoping this crisis while have mankind listen to them and if they don't the aliens will use their army of the living dead to destroy humanity.

My Thoughts




So I'll just say this is the opening to the movie.

"Future events such as these will affect you in the future". Well that's not redundant. Also take a shot everytime Criswell refers to the viewers as "my friends". But watching just this opening alone you can tell you're in for a ride.

Then we're introduced to the oh so glorious cockpit set. I mean just look at this. This is clearly the greatest set ever.

This set is just hilarious. I mean the actors are clearly sitting on just plain ordainary chairs, they have no steering wheels, the background is just a blank wall, the curtain looks like it came from a shower, and of course whenever I light flashes we can see the mic. It's quite possibly the cheapest set I've ever seen from a movie.

We later go to Vampria (who was a popular show host of the 1950s. Funny thing she only agreed to be in this movie if she didn't have any lines) who I guess killed two grave diggers? I say guess because she walks towards them but the moment they scream the scene fades to black.

Then we cut to Bela Lugosi's characters funeral (his character name is just Old Man so I might as well say it was Bela's funeral) and we get another cheap set! Ladies and gentlemen I introduce you to the graveyard and crypt set.

Look at that crypt! It looks like something from a school play than a movie. What made it even better is we see four maybe five people walk out of it. There is no way a crypt that small can hold a dead body (or multiple dead bodies) and then four or five guests. And the graveyard isn't any better. It looks like Halloween props. What's even funnier is the crosses and tombstones fall over when the actors and actresses brush up against them. Yeah not bump into them but brush.

We also have a scene with the pilot earlier named Jeff Trent and his wife. During this conversation he talks about the flying saucer he saw at the beginning of the movie and he describes it and I can't believe it was said but he describes it as a huge cigar. People look at the flying saucers in the movie...do they look anything like cigars! Also during this scene I couldn't help but look at their fence. Seriously it's all warped and misshaped. It's very distracting.

So after that bit of hilarity we get Inspector Dan Clay's (played by Tor Johnson) death. But before he dies we get some awkward dialogue. I mean Clay says and this is an actual line "I'll get flashlight from patrol car". Then we get the infamous "Fake Bela Lugosi". Now the story of Fake Bela Lugosi is after the real Bela Lugosi sadly passed away while the movie was still being made Ed Wood decided his replacement should be played by his chiropractor, Tom Mason. Mason was clearly NOT the right guy to replace Bela. He is notably taller and LOOKS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE BELA! But let's move on from that, so Dan Clay sees both Vampria and Fake Bela Lugosi and shoots them. Then he's killed by them and just like the two grave diggers it's scream then cut to black. I kept asking why do they always do that? Were the original kills just to graphic? Or maybe they just didn't have the budget either way it's just an odd thing that kept happening.

After Inspector Dan Clay is killed, three other police officers (named Lt. Harper, Larry, and Kelton) see his dead body and throughout this whole Lt. Harper is just waving his revolver around. He waves it around, uses it to scratch his neck, push his hat up, and then points it at both Kelton and Larry while instructing them on what to do. Dude, that's not what you're suppose to do with a firearm and what's even better is he does it throughout the movie. He just waves that thing around like it's a toy. Also during this Clay is dead scene, Lt. Harper delivers some amazing dialogue and the line goes exactly just like this, "Inspector Clay is dead...murdered...and someone's responsible!" Yes Harper. That's kind of how murder works. This movie is amazing.

Then we have our saucers flying over cities and stuff. And not only are the flying saucers terrible special effects but we also have a very confusing part during this. At one point we see a newspaper with the headline "Saucers Over Hollywood", what makes the scene confusing is how is it in newspapers when this event is still happening. And you know what also comes with this scene...ARMY STOCK FOOTAGE! Yeah using stock footage was an Ed Wood trait...whether it worked or not. What's even funnier is while the stock footage is in a field Colonel Tom Edwards is standing in what looks like a plain looking sheet. Yeah just a plain sheet...there's no trees, dirt, or anything...it's just a sheet. So after the saucers fly away Colonel Edwards talks to a random soldier about how they've been trying to communicate with saucers for years. Um...that sounds like something that should be kept a secret, but nope Edwards just tells this soldier everything.

Later on we see the alien's space station and just look at it.

Let's see...curtains to cover up the low-budget, random desk they probably borrowed from around the studio, and whatever those random items are...yep this set looks just a cheap as the rest of them. Good to know something was consistent in this movie. During this scene the aliens (named Tanna and Eros) say that their plan is to resurrect the dead one corpse at a time (wouldn't it just be easier just to resurrect an entire army?) and the zombies are either suppose to scary us, kill us, or make us submit to them, I don't know it's never really explained. But they only manage to resurrect three zombies, this is a terrible conquer the Earth plan. I mean they had eight other plans and you mean to tell me this was the best and quickest one? Jeez, I hate to know that the others were. Now apparently this is a stealth mission so maybe that's why things are going to slowly but if that's the case why did they fly their saucers in the middle of the day, in public, and around three major networks (those being NBC, CBS, and ABC)? This plan is making less sense as time goes on. And just make things even MORE confusing not only did Edwards and other humans try to communicate with the aliens but the aliens tried to contact us but also failed. Now the aliens want to remain hidden (even though they suck at it) but yet at the same time they want us to acknowledge them. So then what's the point of trying to be stealthy if you guys are trying to get our attention?!

After a conversation between Jeff and his wife, she's later attacked and much like everything else in this flick it's awesome. For so many reasons

1. We get both real and fake Bela Lugosi spliced together. Which still shows us why Tom Mason was a terrible choice as a stand-in for Lugosi.

2. She runs away from her house and in a snap she's at the graveyard! We don't know how far her house is from the cemetery but I refuse to believe she got there in less than a minute. Especially on foot of all things.

3. We cut to both her and Bela Lugosi but she's running during the night and he's chasing her in the daytime. This is a frequent thing in the movie. Despite the characters suppose to be in the same scene the lighting in the background says otherwise.

4. We are giving Tor Johnson's EPIC scene as zombie Dan Clay. The reason why it's great is because as he's rising from the grave at one point Tor loses his balance and it's so bad he has to grab hold of the dirt around him just to get his balance back.

So then things kind of go at a snail's pace. There's a conversation with the aliens and then there's a conversation between two army guys who's names a couple forgot. Yeah, despite how entertaining the movie can be things can get a bit slow in some places.

Later after all of the more boring stuff happens we get the zombies attacking the main characters and the way the zombies attack is so funny. Their main form of fighting is to lightly chop or touch on the shoulders. Yeah, no strangling, snapping necks, or anything just lightly touch the shoulders.

So now our human characters have had enough of this alien bullsh*t! It's time for them to take a stand put an end to this madness. Now before I tell you the alien's motivation for doing all of this, get a load of this

"Your Stupid Minds! Stupid! Stupid!" OH MY GOD! I love how over the top he sounds! It's so great! Now Eros explains we (the human characters) have found a way to make the sun's rays or something to that extent into a powerful weapon and somehow that'll lead us to destroying ourselves so that's why they attacked us. To warn us of this threat. What?!?! Dude if you wanted to warn us about this then why use zombies? YOU'RE ALIENS! That alone would have made us listen to you! In matter of fact 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still had a for the most part a similar concept but the alien in that movie didn't need to resurrect the dead to get his message out to humanity. Sure he had a giant robot but it was mainly him.

So that's Plan 9 from Outer Space AND IT IS AMAZING! Everything about this movie is wrong. The acting is wrong, the overall writing is wrong, the directing is wrong, and of course the set pieces are wrong. Wrong, wrong, WRONG! But that's what makes it so entertaining. It truly is one of the granddaddy's of movies that are so bad they're good.

My final rating is So Bad It's Good

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Nov 2nd for my review of Terminator: Dark Fate. Until then enjoy celebrating Halloween. Oh by the way if you truly want to watch this movie just look it up on YouTube both a black and white and colored version of the film are available.