Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Director:

Edward D. Wood Jr.

Writer:

Edward D. Wood Jr. (written by)

Release Date:

2 June 1995 (Sweden)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Unspeakable Horrors From Outer Space Paralyze The Living And Resurrect The Dead!

Plot:

Aliens resurrect dead humans as zombies and vampires to stop human kind from creating the Solaranite (a sort of sun-driven bomb).

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Plan | Cemetery | Outer Space | Pilot

Cast

Gregory Walcott	...	Jeff Trent
Mona McKinnon	...	Paula Trent
Duke Moore	...	Lieutenant Harper
Tom Keene	...	Colonel Edwards
Carl Anthony	...	Patrolman Larry
Paul Marco	...	Patrolman Kelton
Tor Johnson	...	Inspector Clay
Dudley Manlove	...	Eros
Joanna Lee	...	Tanna
John Breckinridge	...	Ruler
Lyle Talbot	...	General
David De Mering	...	Danny
Norma McCarty	...	Edith
Bill Ash	...	Captain
Lynn Lemon	...	Reverend (as Reverend Lynn Lemon)

Also Known As:

Grave Robbers from Outer Space (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18451) | Australia:PG | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | Spain:T | Italy:T | West Germany:16 | Argentina:13 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Quality Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Reynolds Pictures

Trivia:

Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death, but with no script in mind. Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery and outside Tor Johnson's house in the new production. Lugosi was doubled by Tom Mason, Wood's wife's chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi, and played the part with a cape covering his face.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The inside door of the small saucer is the same as the outside door (there is the same ladder on the left hand side of the hatch). Obviously the exterior walls of the saucer were inverted to provide the interior set. The hatch itself is the same as the hatch on the airplane cockpit, and in the interplanetary headquarters.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Criswell: Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Night of the Creeps (1986)

Soundtrack:

Lynch Fever

What A Hoot!

When I need an amusing diversion, nothing helps quite like watching one of those dreadful 50's sci-fi flicks: "Teenagers From Outer Space", "The Brain From Planet Arous", or my personal favorite: "The Giant Claw". Ed Wood's infamous "Plan 9 ..." is a good choice too. Criswell, in his sing-song voice, cracks me up every time I hear him intone: "Future events such as these will affect you in the future."

I can forgive "Plan 9..." for some of its, let us say ... "imperfections": anthropomorphic aliens who speak English; women aliens who wear lipstick; the hammy, sophomoric acting; the dime store special effects ... But there's really no excuse for a mickey mouse script. You get the feeling that the film was put together by a quarrelsome committee of third graders, and aimed at an audience of chimpanzees.

Criswell drones on: " ... the secret testimony of the miserable souls who survived ...". And later, a VO intones: "The ever beautiful flower she had planted with her own hands became nothing more than the lost roses of her cheeks." Evidently, Wood saw no need to hire a script editor.

And yet, specifically because of its technical crudeness, "Plan 9 ..." is fun to watch. We may not want to admit it, but the film gives us viewers a chance to feel superior to Ed Wood; we get to conjecture that even we could make a film that has more credibility than ... that.