Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) [Science Fiction] [Horror]

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“Plan 9 from Outer Space” (originally titled “Grave Robbers from Outer Space”) is a 1959 American science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila “Vampira” Nurmi. The film bills Bela Lugosi posthumously as a star, although silent footage of the actor had been shot by Wood for other, unfinished projects just before Lugosi’s death in 1956.

The plot of the film involves extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement “Plan 9”, a scheme to resurrect Earth’s dead as what modern audiences would consider zombies (called “ghouls” in the film itself) to get the planet’s attention, causing chaos. For years the film played on television in relative obscurity, until 1980, when authors Michael Medved and Harry Medved dubbed “Plan 9 from Outer Space” the “worst movie ever made”. Wood was posthumously awarded the Medveds’ “Golden Turkey Award” as the worst director ever.

In 1994 Tim Burton directed “Ed Wood”, which includes some material about the trials and tribulations of making Plan 9. In the television series “The X-Files”, Fox Mulder watches “Plan 9” whenever he needs to focus on a difficult problem, claiming that the film is so incredibly bad that it shuts down the logic centers of his brain, allowing him to make intuitive leaps of logic. He has seen the movie 42 times. In the 1996 edition of Cult Flicks and Trash Pics, the authors state that, “The film has become so famous for its own badness that it’s now beyond criticism.”

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Directed by Ed Wood, produced by J. Edward Reynolds and Ed Wood, written by Ed Wood, narrated by Criswell, starring Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tom Keene, Tor Johnson, Dudley Manlove, Joanna Lee, John Breckinridge, Vampira and Bela Lugosi.

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Source: “Plan 9 from Outer Space” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 20 June 2012. Web. 29 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Outer_Space.

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35 Replies to “Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) [Science Fiction] [Horror]”

  6. In a 1955 issue of Spaceway Science Fiction, Criswell predicted that Mae West would be elected U.S. President in 1960 on a pro-space travel platform and fly to the moon five years later with Criswell and friend George Liberace.* His predictions for "Plan 9" were equally accurate, but those predictions and his extended voiceover are the glue that binds Ed Wood's patchwork of disconnected scenes into a semi-coherent story. For connoisseurs of low-budget trash cinema, Ed Wood and Criswell were a match made in heaven.
    Somewhat related: If you can find it, watch the clip of Groucho Marx's "You Bet Your Life" that features Tor Johnson as a contestant. On the surface, Groucho's ribbing of big, dumb Tor is funny, and to his credit Tor plays along. If you think about why Tor signed up to be on the show in the first place, it's actually rather sad. According to those who knew him, Tor in everyday life was a very sweet and kind-hearted man.
    *via IMDB

  19. ‘The Lake Drain” by Performance Gallery Films, LLC.
    A Docufictional Take by Jerry Griffin
    Country & Western Science Fiction

    A crucial high-tech piece of CERN collides into the way of a retired and broken biker at his lake house in rural Alabama focusing covert recovery intelligence away from an actively targeted journalist. Unleashed is the high-tech Black Ops reconnaissance and recovery apparatus rushing to return the proton smashing missing element before “whatever is down there” gets it first.

    © All Rights Reserved.
    This Docufictional film contains a “Fair Use” Interview with Author and Investigator Richard Sauder, Ph.D. and it is contained herein for Educational Purposes.

    The Official Trailer
    https://vimeo.com/135905920

    Company Internet site
    http://performancegalleryfilms.com

    Film Website
    http://thelakedrainfilm.com

    IMDB
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4916030/

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  22. Any great director would tell you that the most important element in any film is structure. Ed Wood had a first rate talent for structure and pacing. Also his films held an innate decency and innocence to them so you didn't leave them feeling like you needed a shower, as in some (many) of today's films. . And it wasn't his fault that he was making his films on a ten dollar budget. It was just with his writing – scripts – where he failed and failed spectacularly.

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