This movie is often recognised as the worst film ever made. In fact several film authorities, including Golden Turkey Awards, named it as the worst movie of all time. Like Manos, the level of incompetence is just unreal. Wood was undoubtably passionate about the films he made, but the fact is, they were of such bad quality and stitched together so sloppily that all that ever resulted was a horrible and illogical mess. So let's finish off this special month by having a butchers at this timeless train wreck.
Released in 1959 and starring Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Vampira, Plan 9 revolves around an alien attempt to prevent mankind from creating an explosive device that would threaten the entire universe. It also marks the final on-screen appearance of Bela Lugosi, but a LOT more on that later.
Since this film's plot is so fragmented and uncohesive, it's difficult to summarise it here, but I'll give it my best shot. The film opens with 2 grave diggers being killed by the resurrected corpse of a recently deceased woman (Vampira). Meanwhile, Pilot Jeff Trent (Walcott) encounters a flying saucer in the skies above California. He describes it to his wife as being 'shaped like a huge cigar' (even though we clearly see it is round, like a SAUCER). Inspector Clay (Johnson) investigates the graveyard, and is also killed by the undead woman, and is himself brought back as a zombie.
We soon discover that the aliens have initiated 'Plan 9' which involves reanimating the bodies of the recently dead and marching them on the Earth's capital cities. Why? So the people of Earth will finally acknowledge the existence of extra-terrestrials. Yeah, because when I see Zombies, I think Aliens.
As far as the plot goes, that's all you need to know. The aliens want humans to believe they are real, so they take control of an army of Zombies (3 in total) and decide to set them loose on Earth's capital cities. But, in what may be the biggest disappointment in movie history, they never even make it out of the graveyard, let alone out of California. Tor and Vampira just wander around about 10 feet from their graves with expressionless faces. But despite this, everyone seems threatened by them. If any of the characters had the good sense to just stay away from the cemetery, almost all of the films problems would be solved.
There are so many things to say about the films I have literally no idea where to start. I hinted earlier about the dubious nature of Bela Lugosi's turn in the film, so I guess I'll start with that. Wood loved Lugosi, and was keen to have him in this flick. Unfortunately, Lugosi died shortly after filming began. Instead of doing what any sensible Director would do and just write him out of the movie, Wood decided to keep him in. He used the very limited footage he already had, as well as recycled footage of Lugosi from the abandoned film 'Tomb Of The Vampire', which, by the way, is repeated about 6 times for no reason whatsoever. With Lugosi gone, Wood hired a replacement, his current wife's chiropractor, a man who in no way resembled Bela. In order to 'disguise' this fact, he held his cape over the lower half of his face. As if this wasn't funny enough, DVD distributors would later release the movie with the words 'Almost Starring Bela Lugosi' on the cover.
On top of that, the special effects are beyond terrible. The UFOs are kids toys suspended by fishing lines, and stock footage is rife throughout the movie. Some scenes were shot with backgound lighting and others without, but sometimes these are put together, making it seem like the time of day is changing repeatedly during a single scene.
But many claim that its the dialogue is where the movie really falls flat. It's bizarre, disjointed, and at times inconsistent. The opening narration highlights this within 60 seconds. The narrator uses phrases such as 'future events such as these' and 'what happened on that fateful day', describing future events in past tense. He also refers to the audience as 'my friends' 4 times in the space of a minute.
And finally we have the issue that Ed Wood became synonymous with, continuity. There's no doubt the man was passionate about movies, he was famous for it. He was also famous for using the first take. This leads to boom mike shadows, characters knocking over props, items changing/appearing/disappearing between shots, characters missing cues, the list is quite simply endless.
Many would say that Plan 9 is the epitome of Wood's enthusiastic ineptitude, and while this may be true, many people, including myself, would say that the film is far too amusing to be deemed 'bad'. In fact, this movie is side-splittingly funny. Absolutely nothing is done well, or even half-well. Direction, editing, dialogue, effects, acting ad infinitum. I couldn't possibly list all the ways this movie makes an idiot of itself, I have other reviews to write. But the truth is, I laughed at this movie more than I've laughed at a lot of comedies, intentionally funny movies. Plan 9 From Outer Space is a catastrophe, a bottomless pit of cinematic shame. But as a piece of art that we can enjoy, it gets me every time.
Verdict: So Bad It's Good? Yes
So I hope you enjoyed 'So Bad It's Good September'. Normal service will be resumed next week.
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