Way back when I was just a young high school student, I attended film school, which covered a wide variety of different talents and filmmakers who’ve all left their mark in the history books of cinema. One name that stood out to me was writer and director Edward D. Wood Jr., who was branded as an anti-genius of sorts. He made some of the so-called worst movies ever, and yet has inspired generations of viewers to follow their dreams, and pursue their passions to make movies. Despite working in Hollywood, Ed Wood never had the money or resources to match the high ambitions of his movie ideas.
As such, even though his films weren’t of high quality, he proved anyone with a passion and goal can still make a movie. His most famous picture is the 1959 Sci-Fi Horror classic titled “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, which is often described as the figurative “Citizen Kane” of bad movies. The film really peaked in popularity during the mid-80’s and early 90’s, largely thanks to the 1980 novel “The Golden Turkey Awards”, in which it was labeled as the worst movie of all time. Yet, even though it’s technically not a good movie, it’s never the less influenced young filmmakers, just like “Citizen Kane” did before. It’s actually kind of fascinating how often I read articles, in which fans place this among their favorite movies. While I personally can’t call this one of my favorites, I do find it a fascinating piece of film history, and one worth looking back on.
Ed Wood was clearly inspired by the great Sci-Fi’s of the early 1950’s when making “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, with the most obvious being Robert Wises 1951 classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Just like in that movie, the plot for “Plan 9 From Outer Space” revolves around human looking aliens who fear man-kinds atomic weaponry, and aim to invade our planet to prevent further wars. However, their methods are staggeringly inept, as simply flying their saucers through cities doesn’t accomplish anything. So, they enact another plan to raise two corpses from a single grave sight … which is apparently all they need to concur the planet.
One of many details that always puzzled me was that the two resurrected bodies come back as vampires instead of zombies. We do eventually get a single zombie when the two vampires take out a privet detective. Together, they make a trio of ghouls who will enact the Martians intentions, and in the off chance they fail, they’re also working on a death ray that will wipe out humanity. Meanwhile, a group of locals band together to fight off both the alien invaders, and the resurrected ghouls. When describing this plot, it’s clear that Ed Wood wanted to create individual scenes inspired by either classic horror movies of the 30’s or alien invasion movies of the 50’s, and then the plot was created in an effort to weave these scenes together. The one consistent thing ties all these scenes together is an awkward narrator played by a TV psychic called The Amazing Criswell, who delivers hilarious dialog, with a flat delivery.
I first saw this movie when I was a youthful teenager, and I was actually disappointed that the movie wasn’t as funny as I was hoping it would be. Now there is admittedly a “so-bad-it’s-good” quality to the picture, but I don’t find it consistently entertaining either, in fact, there are some scenes that I find to be downright boring. However, it certainly has its moments, and they’re amusing details all throughout that are fun to point out.
My favorite thing about this whole movie by far are the Martians themselves, as their sequences are so awkwardly staged I can’t help but be engaged. One of the Martian actors cares so little about his role that he doesn’t even bother hiding the scrip. There’s a moment when a gun malfunctions, and when the commander yells at his operatives to get the weapon under control, he looks directly down at a table, and is clearly following his lines off the script. The actress playing a female Martian always has this look of confusion, like she has no idea what’s going on or how to carry herself while on film. Then there’s the Martian commander who abruptly switches between passionate speeches, to acting like a juvenile kid. Of course, the flying saucers themselves are a thing of beauty to behold, as they resemble hubcaps held up by fishing wire. Supposedly they came from a hobby shop, they cast shadows on the backdrops, and the wires are visible more often than not. This movie also features what might just be the most ridiculous spaceship battle ever put to film, as it keeps cutting from stock-footage of military ships firing at the sky, to the unconvincing saucers dangling in front of a flat backdrop.
Slightly less fun for me however are all the horror related scenes with the three ghouls, even though there are still some amusing flubs, like the zombie get stuck rising from its grave, and a vampire adjusting his cape after getting shot. Still, these scenes are played more straight-faced, and when the ghouls actually appear on screen, they walk-about at a snail’s pace. The big zombie played by Tor Johnson has a very amusing face (which became a Halloween mask), and his presence makes this one of the very first Zombie movies … even predating “Night of the Living Dead”. The female vampire was played by TV horror host Des Vampira (Maila Nurmi), who’s look and appearance in the film has become somewhat iconic, and supposedly inspired the design of Morticia Adams from “The Adams Family”. She certainly looks cool, and I wish she was in a more serious horror movie, because I could easily see her as a classic Horror villain. She also has the most unexplained departure of any character in the film, as we never see what becomes of her, and there’s only a passing mention from one of the characters that she won’t be bothering them again.
Of course, the most famous thing about this movie is that it’s labeled as the final appearance of horror movie legend Bela Lugosi, who achieved fame by playing “Dracula” in the 1931 original. During the 50’s, he and Ed Wood became close friends, and the ambitious director gave the struggling actor something to do in his final years. He filmed a number of shots of Lugosi in his Dracula attire, which was meant for another movie, but the actor sadly passed away. During the filming of Plan 9, he inserted all two minuets of Lugosi’s silent shots into the picture, gave him top billing, and had a stand-in during the remainder of the scenes who kept his face covered with a cape. The footage of the two actors don’t match at all, but what I find the most hilarious is the back story behind how Bela Lugosi’s character dies in the film. Apparently, he just casually walked away from his house one day, was run over by a car off-screen, and was then resurrected by the aliens as a vampire-zombie … it’s crazy. The cemetery setting has likewise become one of the most famous ever put to film, but for all the wrong reasons. We have gravestones that tip-over, and a mortuary that looks like it was made from construction paper. Day and night also switch drastically, and there’s just one amusing technical glitch after another.
All in all, this a movie that’s going to impact viewers differently … some can be inspired by a man following his passion to make a movie, even if it turned out a mess. Others can watch this in the mind-set of “so-bad-it’s-good”, and a have a healthy laugh. Or if you’re a genera fan, you may want to view it just see this curious piece of film history. It’s not often when a bad movies is celebrated, but this film has a legacy, and a growing fan base all these years later. It’s even been colorized, which makes the flat backdrops stand out even more, as well as the different day and night shots that don’t match. For me, I take more inspiration from Tim Burton’s 1994 picture “Ed Wood” starring Johnny Depp, and told the story of what happened behind the creation of his movies, including Plan 9. Still, it’s cool that Ed Woods original turkey has both inspired and brought joy to so many viewers, and in the end … I think that’s what I like about it the most. There are other bad movies I enjoy more for their “so-bad-there-good” merits, but this one is still special in its unique way.
Thanks for
reading my review of the 1959 Sci-Fi/Horror “Plan 9 From Outer Space” … and
continue to enjoy whatever movies you Love!
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