Ever since I first saw it in college, Plan 9 From Outer Space has been one of my favorite movies. Most fans will say that it’s “so bad it’s good,” but that misses what I see as the point.
Director Edward D. Wood was a character in his own right. A life-long transvestite, he claimed that he stormed the beach at Tarawa in WWII wearing a bra and panties beneath his fatigues. After his discharge from the Army, he moved to Hollywood and started making films like Bride Of The Monster and Glen Or Glenda?, using a stock company of friends, actors and endearing weirdos that included the legendary pop psychic Criswell and Los Angeles TV personality Vampira.
In 1956, on a budget of $20,000 provided by a Baptist church, Wood filmed his masterpiece, Plan 9. The plot concerns a race of aliens who plan to take over the Earth by reanimating the dead. The script is laughable, the lines are delivered by actors that range from acceptable to hilarious, the effects consist of either painted paper plates or plastic models from the toy store (accounts vary) the tombstones in the graveyard are cardboard and a scene in the cockpit of an airliner features a shower curtain as a background. How could you not laugh?
Except as I laugh, I see a legacy of someone who wouldn’t let anything stand in his way-who had a vision and stuck to it-even if the results are not what Wood had in mind. He thought he was creating a sci-fi/ horror masterpiece, but instead wrote and directed a comedy classic.
On an even deeper level, Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of the most honest films ever made. In many ways, it’s more revealing than a documentary. Set pieces are knocked over, cardboard buildings sway when actors touch them, the flying saucers wiggle on strings like a bad UFO hoax and a zombie (played by retired wrestler Tor Johnson) can’t even lift himself out of a freshly dug grave without obvious problems. This is a perfect antidote to cinematic swill like Armageddon or even Signs.
I was worried when I heard that a biopic was in production, but Tim Burton’s Ed Wood portrayed the auteur in exactly the way I think of him-as a deeply flawed hero, but full of positive energy. Martin Landau won a well-deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi, whom Wood befriended in the last years of his life. Lugosi died before production on Plan 9 began, but that didn’t stop Wood from using test footage of him in the finished film, using a chiropractor who walked around with a cape in front of his face to stand in for Lugosi.
For these reasons, and many others, I use the opening narration and music from the film as the intro to my podcast. When Criswell intones: “You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable. That is why you are here” I always have a feeling of delight, and know Ed Wood was just as fascinated with UFOs and other unknowns as myself and the listeners.
If you can’t locate a copy, just mosey on over to youtube, where Plan 9 is posted in its gloriously bad entirety.
Lugosi is still in top form in a film I watched just last night, Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla, made only a few years before he died. It came out in ‘52, Lugosi died in ‘56 and Plan 9 came out in ‘59. The film stars the recently deceased Sammy Petrillo, whose resemblance to Jerry Lewis was uncanny. It falls into a “comfortably dumb” category, just a bit above Plan 9. I agree that these kinds of movies reflect a more important struggle than slick Hollywood successes. Fortunately, there are many such artifacts of popular paraculture.
Not my all-time favorite*, but an enduring
classic nonetheless. Strange to think that it owes at least some of its staying power
to the “Ridicule Factor” that we so often
bemoan. Really, how many of us would be familiar with it, or Ed Wood, if the Medved brothers hadn’t tagged it with their “Golden Turkey” award some thirty
years ago?
I remember reading an essay that pointed
up Dudley Manlove’s ranting soliliquey
at the end of the film as unexpectedly
deep, given the context.
* That dubious honr belongs to the better made, and far more coventional Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers
I didn’t want to post the entire history of Plan 9 and how it came to be so famous. I think the Medveds (one of whom has gone on to become an annoying conservative pundit) voted Plan 9 as the worst movie ever made. I don’t know if I’d agree with that assessment. Killers From Space or Red Zone Cuba would give it a run for its money.
Manlove’s summing up is preferable to me, since it’s a gem in a pile of crap, although I do like the Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers speech, as well as Michael Rennie’s from Day The Earth Stood Still.
As an interesting trivia, the Xbox videogame “Destroy All Humans” (to which I give 3.5 red pills out of five) has included a big chunk of ‘Plan 9′ as a bonus material —you get to watch it on a bona-fide 50s drive-in, as a cool interlude from all the burning town folks with your ray gun, or making their brains explode
Aug 28 2009 
August 28th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Lugosi is still in top form in a film I watched just last night, Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla, made only a few years before he died. It came out in ‘52, Lugosi died in ‘56 and Plan 9 came out in ‘59. The film stars the recently deceased Sammy Petrillo, whose resemblance to Jerry Lewis was uncanny. It falls into a “comfortably dumb” category, just a bit above Plan 9. I agree that these kinds of movies reflect a more important struggle than slick Hollywood successes. Fortunately, there are many such artifacts of popular paraculture.
August 28th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I used a torrent. Feel kinda bad about it, but Im impatient I guess.
Whenever I torrent something I usually try to pick it up and for realz when I see it in a bricks ‘n’ mortar. I’ll do the same with ‘Plan 9′.
Thanks for the write-up Greg. Really looking forward to watching the film now.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Not my all-time favorite*, but an enduring
classic nonetheless. Strange to think that it owes at least some of its staying power
to the “Ridicule Factor” that we so often
bemoan. Really, how many of us would be familiar with it, or Ed Wood, if the Medved brothers hadn’t tagged it with their “Golden Turkey” award some thirty
years ago?
I remember reading an essay that pointed
up Dudley Manlove’s ranting soliliquey
at the end of the film as unexpectedly
deep, given the context.
* That dubious honr belongs to the better made, and far more coventional
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers
August 29th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Kenn,
There is a tribute of sorts to Petrillo here.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Gareth,
No need to buy one. It’s public domain, so anyone who wants to make a buck off of it can do so. Don’t pay, and don’t feel guilty for downloading it!
August 29th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Craig,
I didn’t want to post the entire history of Plan 9 and how it came to be so famous. I think the Medveds (one of whom has gone on to become an annoying conservative pundit) voted Plan 9 as the worst movie ever made. I don’t know if I’d agree with that assessment. Killers From Space or Red Zone Cuba would give it a run for its money.
Manlove’s summing up is preferable to me, since it’s a gem in a pile of crap, although I do like the Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers speech, as well as Michael Rennie’s from Day The Earth Stood Still.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:45 am
As an interesting trivia, the Xbox videogame “Destroy All Humans” (to which I give 3.5 red pills out of five) has included a big chunk of ‘Plan 9′ as a bonus material —you get to watch it on a bona-fide 50s drive-in, as a cool interlude from all the burning town folks with your ray gun, or making their brains explode