Say what you will about it, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is not the worst movie ever made. It is, however, the most incompetent, with unbelievable ineptitude seeping from its every orifice. And that's what makes it fun.
The "plot" concerns aliens and their you-can-see-the-strings-attached flying saucers seeking (gasp!) domination of Earth. To help them in their evil quest, they borrow a page from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by raising the dead from their graves to serve as a zombified army. Now it's up to hapless earthlings - led by moronic police, clichéd army officials and feeble-minded airplane pilots - to stop them.
The storyline serves as little more than a front for the pure anti-genius of director Ed Wood to shine through. The most famous quirk is the employment of Bela Legosi as a star. Legosi, bless his heart, died three years before the film's release. No matter, said Wood, who sought to base his low-budget creation around a few scant minutes of unused silent footage of the horror icon. Wood is to be commended for his ambitious, if not inappropriate, attempt. What really makes the illusion crumble is Legosi's hilariously obvious stand-in, who, not blessed with much resemblance to the deceased actor, compensates by inexplicably covering most of his face with a cape.
The Legosi gimmick may get all of the attention, but the truth is PLAN 9 would have been just as horrendous without it. Take the dialog, which must be heard to be believed. When a laser ray suddenly morphs Legosi's zombie into a skeleton, a bystander is heard to note, "He wasn't like that a minute ago!" Very observant. Then there's the head alien henchman, smirkingly reminiscent of a '50s TV announcer, who tries hard but is about as convincing as Pauly Shore as Al Capone. "You're all stupid... stupid, stupid!" he tells the earthlings during an unimpressive temper tantrum. (Thankfully one of the good guys then proves how intelligent we really are... by punching the alien's lights out!).
Other absurdities abound. There are times when it appears Wood had to stop the camera so he could think of what to do or have the characters say next. A woman being chased by the zombies "trips" over nothing not once, but twice. Presumably sturdy tombstones fall over. After being brought back to life, burly Inspector Clay can't climb out of his grave. Policemen belittle a woman for not wanting to be alone with murderous creatures roaming the grounds. The same footage of Legosi walking out of the graveyard is used over and over again. No other film has given the viewer such little credit. Wood simply shrugged his shoulders at the glaring errors and must have thought, "Well, heck, who pays attention to these things?"
What really allows PLAN 9 to succeed (to some degree) despite itself is the fact that it's so damn innocent. It doesn't seem Wood was trying to be campy; he really thought he had a winner. To his eternal credit, he did create something truly memorable, just not in the way he intended.
The "plot" concerns aliens and their you-can-see-the-strings-attached flying saucers seeking (gasp!) domination of Earth. To help them in their evil quest, they borrow a page from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by raising the dead from their graves to serve as a zombified army. Now it's up to hapless earthlings - led by moronic police, clichéd army officials and feeble-minded airplane pilots - to stop them.
The storyline serves as little more than a front for the pure anti-genius of director Ed Wood to shine through. The most famous quirk is the employment of Bela Legosi as a star. Legosi, bless his heart, died three years before the film's release. No matter, said Wood, who sought to base his low-budget creation around a few scant minutes of unused silent footage of the horror icon. Wood is to be commended for his ambitious, if not inappropriate, attempt. What really makes the illusion crumble is Legosi's hilariously obvious stand-in, who, not blessed with much resemblance to the deceased actor, compensates by inexplicably covering most of his face with a cape.
The Legosi gimmick may get all of the attention, but the truth is PLAN 9 would have been just as horrendous without it. Take the dialog, which must be heard to be believed. When a laser ray suddenly morphs Legosi's zombie into a skeleton, a bystander is heard to note, "He wasn't like that a minute ago!" Very observant. Then there's the head alien henchman, smirkingly reminiscent of a '50s TV announcer, who tries hard but is about as convincing as Pauly Shore as Al Capone. "You're all stupid... stupid, stupid!" he tells the earthlings during an unimpressive temper tantrum. (Thankfully one of the good guys then proves how intelligent we really are... by punching the alien's lights out!).
Other absurdities abound. There are times when it appears Wood had to stop the camera so he could think of what to do or have the characters say next. A woman being chased by the zombies "trips" over nothing not once, but twice. Presumably sturdy tombstones fall over. After being brought back to life, burly Inspector Clay can't climb out of his grave. Policemen belittle a woman for not wanting to be alone with murderous creatures roaming the grounds. The same footage of Legosi walking out of the graveyard is used over and over again. No other film has given the viewer such little credit. Wood simply shrugged his shoulders at the glaring errors and must have thought, "Well, heck, who pays attention to these things?"
What really allows PLAN 9 to succeed (to some degree) despite itself is the fact that it's so damn innocent. It doesn't seem Wood was trying to be campy; he really thought he had a winner. To his eternal credit, he did create something truly memorable, just not in the way he intended.