Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) User Reviews

Yes it's bad but also quite funny and enjoyable

[bellino-angelo2014 · 5/10 · 11 February 2019]

I agree with many that this movie has many shortcomings, but I don't consider it ''the worst movie of all time''. Yes, it is poorly made, it was cheaply made, but I think that there are many movies that are MUCH worse than this one (MANOS THE HANDS OF FATE and THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS are much more amateurish and poorly made than this) and there are much worse directors than Ed Wood (Harold P. Warren and Coleman Francis for example). And I consider PLAN 9 one of the greatest bad movies.

The many flaws of this movie are: the acting, full of corny dialogue and overacting (especially by Tor Johnson and Vampira); the sets and the special effects may be poor and cheap (I laughed a lot when I saw the pie plates used as UFOs); and lots and lots of stock footage. But I find this movie entertaining for the dialogue and also for Bela Lugosi's final performance (here billed ''Almost starring Bela Lugosi'' since he died before the movie was released). And Ed Wood directs nicely, and except at half-way the movie is very fast-paced.

All in all, a nice and funny time passer and among the cults of bad movies! Not to be missed.

It's a plan all right; - a plan for perfect entertainment!!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 27 February 2004]

What are all these people moaning about? I've rarely had more fun while watching a movie as I had with Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space. Besides, most criticism goes out to the lousy scenery and the goofy decors. Well excuse Mr. Wood for not disposing over a huge budget or funds! He did what he could and sure, the jet cockpit looks amateurish and the Pentagon-offices have the image of being build by a kindergarten-crew but so what? I have a lot more respect and sympathy for this film than for those over-budgeted, uninspired blockbusters! Like in ALL of his films, Ed Wood proves that he's full of good intentions, creativity and a strong will to proceed and purchase his dreams. The only thing you can reproach him here, is the silly and pointless screenplay. Aliens are desperately seeking contact with humanity and in their ninth attempt to achieve this, they even resurrect the dead. Why?!? To make humans aware of their existence and to figure as prophets with a message. This is where the silliness comes in. But it all remains pure fun, all the time! What also makes this film legendary is the fact that it contains the last on-screen appearance by Bela Lugosi. Lugosi died during filming and another guy in a Dracula outfit who constantly hides his face behind a cape (!) replaces him. Am I the only one who thinks this subtle cast-change is absolutely charming and nicely tried? Vampiria and Tor Johnson are credited as main performances but all the have to do is stumble around and look ghoulishnot a difficult thing to do if you have the posture of Tor Johnson. Overall, Plan 9 from Outer Space remains the absolute top-recommendation to watch with a group of people when there's beer and snacks.

Yes, It's Terrible, But Not As Bad As I Had Hoped!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 2 January 2008]

Well, at least I finally this "famous" movie. It took me a long time but so many people have said "it was so bad that it was good" I finally gave it a shot. Previously, I settled for enjoying the Tim Burton "Ed Wood" film, which is very good and tells the story of the making of this movie.

Well, I agree "Plan 9" is bad and, yes, perhaps, "the worst movie of all time" as many label it, but I'm sure there are worse ones out there. Really! I've seen worse (usually the "B" sci-fi movies of the '50s, too!)

I loved the first third of this film. I laughed many times at the hokey flying saucers, the walking "dead" and the corny dialog. I thought, "Wow, this was a bad (meaning good) as advertised," but then I found the film starting to lag at the 35-40-minute mark and recovered a little bit in the end, but not enough to make me want to watch this again. It got too talking and too preachy. Holy cow, this movie is nothing but preaching for everyone to take "flying saucers" seriously. Then we got more preaching at the end about the usual how- violent-mankind-is" blah, blah, blah. The writers here obviously took themselves too seriously. They should have just kept it as sci-fi/horror flick without all the heavy-handed preaching.

Highlights included Tor Johnson's face, the many lines of ridiculous dialog, Vampira's zombie walk with her outstretched hand, and Criswell's incredible speeches and the beginning and end of the movie! All of the above made me laugh almost every time!

Deaf Person's Review

[DeeJayPip · 19 February 2003]

OK, I'm Deaf. There are no subtitles in this movie. Usually, I would turn it off after five minutes because there was too much talking.

But this was different... it was hillarious even without dialogue. The hearing person I was watching it with told me that I could make up my own dialogue and it would be better. Now, I don't know how true that is, but any movie that I can watch without subtitles is a 10 in my book.

Hillarious. :)

Aspiring film makers take note

[jew_59 · 2/10 · 19 February 2004]

For anyone that wants to make movies, Plan 9 is a must see. Not for it's lush style, great dialogue, fabulous production design, nor for the compelling performances given by the players. It doesn't have any of that. What it does have though, is poor production design, continuity gaps you can drive a space shuttle through, and writing that's so bad, it's amazing anyone had the nerve to show it. That is what makes it a must see.

Ed Wood, Jr. was not talented, but he was determined. He did something that many extremely talented people have not done. He got it released. He wrote it, produced it and directed it. When his star, Bela Lugosi, died during filming, he still finished it. Not just this one either, he put out several films, and not one of them is any good.

So for all of you aspiring Scorseses or Spielbergs, when the world gets you down, and you just don't know how you can get it done, when you feel like you've lost it, pop in "Plan 9". I bet you'll feel better.

The Worst Movie of All Time? Maybe, maybe not...

[ryan_kuhn · 1/10 · 13 February 2005]

Often considered the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outer Space does boast tombstones that are made of cardboard and tip over during the movie, it does feature one shot of Bella Legosi that is reused over and over and over, it does show a cop scratching an itch on his head with his gun, and stars a Swedish wrestler as a California cop, but it is not the worst movie of all time because the story is not that awful. The first 8 plans by aliens from some planet that doesn't really matter fail, so they employ their ninth plan for taking over Earth. At least I think they are taking over Earth, they say they are taking over Earth to save the Earthlings. All I know about the aliens is that they are dedicated to their cause, you would have thought they would have given up taking over Earth after 6 tries. You will have a good chuckle during the movie with the cheesy special effects and the silly acting and cheap props, but the entertainment value does make it better than some movies out there. Maybe 2 or 3 movies, at least. For more on the background to this movie and why it turned out the way it did, check out the 1994 film Ed Wood, and you will appreciate this film, at least a little more.

What A Hoot!

[Lechuguilla · 1/10 · 28 December 2004]

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.

Totally Inept In Every Way!

[ReelCheese · 3/10 · 21 October 2006]

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.

Bad? Horrible? I don't think so...

[Gislef · 3/10 · 19 March 1999]

Compared to the garbage that fills the theaters and direct-to-video tapes of today, Plan 9 is actually pretty good by today's (much lowered) standards. Sure, it's done on a cheap budget, the script is horrible, the dialogue achingly bad, and the actors untalented. But heck, that just means Plan 9 would go direct to video today, and Cinemax would be hyping it as their Friday Premiere two months later. At least Woods seems to be _doing_ something, and trying to convey some kind of message. Go down to the video store and pick out a few direct-to-videos, and see if most modern-day auteurs can claim as much.

Terrible but amusing

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 20 July 2004]

OK--this film is terrible (I give it a 1) BUT I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed it--for laughs! Lousy acting, TERRIBLE sets (LOVE the cockpit of the plane and the obvious plastic tombstones) and the hilarious "special" effects (the flying saucers were painted pie tins--and it shows). The script is beyond belief! Seriously, did ANYONE think this was written by someone in the right frame of mind? The dialogue was just dreadful. Also the actors were directed all wrong--if they in fact WERE directed. Notice how the police inspector uses his gun to scratch his face, push up his hat, wave in a general direction...and everybody acts as this is perfectly normal.

And Ed Wood...he was no director and had zero talent. I love how shots go from night to day to night again for no apparent reason. And poor Bela Lugosi! He was reduced to doing THIS? He has no dialogue and (before filming was completed) he died. So they got a guy ONE FOOT TALLER than Lugosi to play him by holding a cloak over his face! The other actors are (to put mildly) terrible.

This is not the worst film ever made ("Salo" gets that dubious honor) but it's definitely down there. It should be seen with an audience--it's actually funnier that way.

Among the amusing lines: "You're all stupid stupid STUPID! Don't you see? Don't you see?" "We are all interested in the future for that's where you and I will spend the rest of our lives." "He's dead...murdered and someone's reasponsible!"

Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood, the final curtain

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 8 May 2021]

The infamous "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was initially conceived as "Grave Robbers from Outer Space" until writer-editor-producer-director Ed Wood found financing for his masterpiece from Baptist minister J. Edward Reynolds (it took a meat packing executive to help him complete "Bride of the Monster"). Wearing his Dracula cape for what was intended for "The Vampire's Tomb," the late Bela Lugosi is shown emerging from the woods in three different shots, then skulking about someone's back door, while we first see him mourning at the funeral of his late wife before leaving his home one last time (this was actually the residence of Tor Johnson). If this was all the footage in the can that Wood had filmed for other projects, 3 silent minutes of a shattered Lugosi performance, then he must be congratulated for making certain the public would see it, billed above John Breckinridge and Lyle Talbot as 'Special Guest Stars.' Local television celebrities Vampira (as Vampire Girl) and would be prognosticator Criswell make their presence felt early on, the latter narrating off screen when necessary, while the former horror hostess appears very much in costume playing Lugosi's deceased wife, the first corpse to rise from the dead through alien means, Plan 9 to be exact (no light is shed on how the previous 8 fared). This may have been the first occasion when extraterrestrials brought back the living dead, two years before John Carradine's "Invisible Invaders," and over a decade before radiation was suggested in George Romero's Pittsburgh classic "Night of the Living Dead." Wood's story holds together as well as "Bride of the Monster," Gregory Walcott a headstrong pilot, former Western star Tom Keene assigned by Lyle Talbot's General to investigate flying saucers over Los Angeles, Duke Moore's Lieutenant in charge with the demise of Tor Johnson's Inspector Clay. The cemetery next to Walcott's home is a hive of activity, Dudley Manlove as Eros and Joanna Lee as Tanna the concerned invaders fearing the worst from mankind's acquisition of greater power in the wake of the hydrogen bomb. Far too entertaining to be erroneously labeled 'worst movie ever made,' plenty of quotable lines since exhausted from overuse, and Wood's all too real sincerity in the face of nuclear annihilation, younger viewers such as Joe Dante may have scoffed at its dirt cheap production values but no other director could have achieved so much with so little.

A classic of the bad sci-fi genre

[rtim12 · 10/10 · 25 May 2005]

This is one of the best of the worst films of all time. When viewed with the right mindset it never fails to entertain. Poor production values, terrible acting, worse directing, and dialog that has to be heard to be believed, combine to create a cinematic gem.

When speaking of bad movies, it is important to understand what is meant by "bad". There is good bad, and there is bad bad. Bad bad is a movie that combines all the elements listed above--bad acting, bad directing, etc.--to produce something that bores. Good bad combines the same elements in such a way that a highly entertaining movie is made, although not in the way the movie makers hope.

"Plan 9" is not just good bad, it is brilliant bad. It is unintentionally hilarious, and that's as funny as it gets. This is a movie that has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Everything about it is bad. When George Romero made "Night of the Living Dead" he did it on the cheap, but still produced a film that was intense, scary, and had a point. "Plan 9" is nothing but bad, albeit in a wonderful way.

As an example of bad production values, there is a scene where a police car is speeding away from headquarters. As the action begins it is broad daylight. The next scene is the car racing across the city. Now, however, it is night! Next is the car arriving at its destination, a cemetery, and again it is daylight. That is either one huge city, or somebody on the Plan 9 crew was asleep at the switch.

"Plan 9" is so full of great badness that to detail all the goofs, flubs, and cheesiness would require remaking the entire movie. The cemetery is a weed-infested lot; an airline cockpit set is a shower curtain, some plywood and a couple chairs; a cop scratches his head with the business end of a gun barrel; the outside of the space ship has a ladder that goes nowhere; the plan itself, that is, plan number 9, makes no sense at all. And on and on and on...

If you love movies, and want to consider yourself conversant in all genres of film, seeing at least one bad sci-fi movie is a must. "Plan 9" is the Hamlet of that genre. See it with a couple people who get it, and have a great time.

Bumbling Aliens first 8 plans fail, will plan 9 succeed? I think not

[roland-sinn · 6/10 · 19 August 2003]

Ed Wood must have been a fascinating man. He had a burning drive and ambition to succeed in the film industry, yet his creative and directorial talents were infantile.

Plan 9 is his most famous film and has become a cult favourite. The film is an example of extreme amateurism which creates an assortment of unintentionally funny scenes. It's truly amazing this film managed to be funded and released to the public (then again, The Swarm was too …).

Within Plan 9's ridiculous and convoluted story are a number of silly subplots due to the fact that Ed had such a variety of interesting an un-related footage which he really, really wanted to use in the one film. One needs to pay close attention to understand everything that's going on in this mess (although, when you do understand everything that's going on, you may wish you'd have remained ignorant!)

Plan 9 has heaps of priceless quirks: hub-cap flying saucers, idiotic dialogue, the last gasp of the great Bella Lugosi, and the luscious Vampira (who apparently would have breached an existing contract if she uttered a word in Plan 9).

One of the most interesting aspects of Plan 9 is the great variation in performance techniques by the actors. Some speak their lines like they know the script is idiotic while some speak their lines like they don't understand them (which is possible because some of the dialogue uttered by the bumbling aliens doesn't make any sense). But my favourite character is the airline captain played by Gregory Walcott.

Greg's a real trooper and attempts to take his role very, very seriously despite the constant lunacy around him. How did he remain so professional? Did he imagine his role in Plan 9 would lead to greater things?

Although Ed Wood has been voted by the US film industry as the worst director in history, he lives on as a kind of cult anti-hero. As a director then, he has achieved a level of lasting success.

6/10 – For fun value.

Miserably memorable.

[filipemanuelneto · 1/10 · 19 September 2022]

This is one of those movies that, without a doubt, is bad. More than just being bad, it is an object of study for any apprentice filmmaker, because almost everything that could go wrong actually went wrong.

The problems begin with Ed Wood's utterly incompetent direction. My cat is the best movie director. Inattentive, careless and incapable, Wood simply lets everyone else do their jobs at their own risk. Wood doesn't seem to be concerned with any question of continuity (days and nights seem to happen at random, props appear and disappear several times), he allows us to calmly see the filming material (cameras, microphones, light equipment, etc.) until the cardboard headstones in his cemetery fall, so obviously fake it's incredible they were used in a movie. And I'd rather not mention the flying saucers, which are obviously children's toys hanging from transparent threads, probably maneuvered by fishing rods!

The script is, of course, another problem, giving us one of the most fanciful and clearly false stories that science fiction has ever seen: unpleasantly mixing vampires, undead and aliens, we feel that we just need to find Tarzan, Donald Duck, two or three cowboys and a family from Minnesota on vacation, having a barbecue in the cemetery. The imagination is the limit! And the dialogue? The film is an unstoppable source of jokes and memorable phrases, the result of the childish and idiotic way in which everything was written.

The cast brings together a series of names well known to most of the public, not because they are good actors, but because they have played important and notable roles at certain moments. This is the case of Maila Nurmi, the eternal Vampira, who doesn't say a single word and does little more than stare at us and the other characters. Even without opening his mouth to utter a sound, this is undoubtedly one of the most iconic films of this actress, in one of the most remarkable "personas" of her career. The friendly Tor Johnson is also here, with his unmistakable look that made him a striking figure in the cheap horror movies of this era. Bela Lugosi had his last film appearance in this film. Invariably wrapped in his aristocratic vampire cape, which immortalized him and in which he would later be buried, he died during filming, having been very skillfully replaced by another man, who hides his face with the cape so that it is not so evident that they are two different people.

Thoroughly Inept But Quite Watchable

[Snow Leopard · 20 June 2001]

While it thoroughly deserves its reputation as a film only worth seeing so that you can enjoy its remarkably amateurish production, on the other hand it seems a bit unfair to label "Plan 9 From Outer Space" as the worst film ever made. Most of it is quite watchable, it's not at all offensive, and the story - utterly ridiculous as it is - moves fairly quickly, and gives you some reasons to stick around to the end. Those qualities put it well ahead of a great many movies that cost a lot more to make and that involved many more recognizable names than you'll find in this cast.

To be sure, almost everything about it is of amazingly poor quality, from the incompetent directing and acting to the slipshod special effects to the dialogue that produces countless unintentional laughs. The story is goofy, and uses ideas and devices that lack credibility even by sci-fi standards. Everyone who watches it has their own list of favorite examples of this film's complete ineptitude.

If you have any interest in old movies, you should see this if you have the chance, as long as you can do so without paying for the privilege. It says something that so many viewers are still talking about it over 40 years after it was made, which is a lot more than will ever be said about most of the movies you could see in a theater today. Whether you will ever want to watch it again is an entirely different question, although there are those who have managed to enjoy watching this several times. Take a look for yourself and see what you think about this classic example of inept film-making.

Definitely NOT the worst movie of all times

[jamesjustice-92 · 4/10 · 1 February 2019]

When I first watched this motion picture seven years ago I quite enjoyed it. I knew that it was named "the worst movie" and I wanted to find out for myself how true it is. Since then a lot has changed, I've developed my own taste and became very picky about what I watch. And after rewatching it I can tell for sure that I would not be returning to this movie again. "Plan 9 from outer space" is a low-budget movie and the lack of finances feels in every way and in every scene: ragged editing, minimal set pieces, puppet flying saucers on the strings, non-professinal actors who just stand there and say the lines; there's also a narrator whose presence is absolutely unnecessary and who doesn't bring positively anything to the plot which is terrible anyway. I tried to see more in the story than laid on the surface but I couldn't - yes, there was a warning about bomb usage and how people could destroy the Earth by the flick of the switch but Mr Wood only tried to present it as something meaningful and failed miserably. Any movie, low budget or no budget, is supposed to be all about new ideas and getting people to think about something. During watching I thought only about when does this movie going to finally end. But not everything was that bad. Bela Lugosi in his final role was amazing, especially at the beginning and the fact that he died during filming is clearly visible because of a stand-in actor whose face was always half covered with the cape - another thing that could have been handled better. The score is the only thing I have nothing bad to say about: excellent music that creates the scary atmosphere and helps you get through to the end of the movie. So, is it that bad? Yes. But there are way worse pictures out there.

so its bad.... what did you expect?

[temmons-908-283115 · 5/10 · 7 May 2014]

Honestly, for all the hate this movie gets, and the title it has received as the "worst movie ever made" I can honestly say that I have seen worse. I mean give poor Ed Wood a break! Movies like the room and birdemic exist and you are still picking on a guy who made films decades ago? come on, there are definitely worse movies out there. Not that I am saying Plan 9 is particularly good but there is worse. Bela Lugosi is in it, that is a plus how bad can it really be if Bela is in it? Still pretty bad considering that the quote that opens the movie does not make an ounce of sense. The plot is like 5 plots all at once. There are grave robbing aliens, zombie vampires, horrible special effects, and lines that don't make any sense but that all makes this ultra campy and kind of fun to watch.

Worst Movie Ever? Supreme Fun Anyway

[listenbucko-08641 · 1/10 · 6 August 2022]

Some regard this as the worst movie of all time. Who knows? Maybe it is. But I love it, and watch it frequently. It never ceases to entertain me. Every aspect of it is inept, including some of the worst cinematography and "special effects" I've ever seen. I highly recommend seeing this movie to anyone. It's a laugh riot the whole way through.

The Worst Film of All TIme - Plan 9 From Outer Space

[arthur_tafero · 1/10 · 15 January 2022]

This film is so bad, that it is good. My son Joe and I have seldom laughed so often during a film; even the best comedies from Hollywood. There are so many unintentionally hilarious scenes, that one hardly knows where to begin. Let's start with Lugosi. Somehow, he does not look like your typical Long Island houseowner; his European cape is strangely not in sync with the rest of the community. The gravedigger scene is very funny as well. How cheap are the people in this community with their loved one's graves? A cheap wooden cross instead of a headstone? That is pretty cheap; but not as cheap as the sets in this film. Ed Wood, bless his soul, does a masterful job of ruining every scene with horrendous props. I love the curtains separating the pilots of an airliner from the passengers that we never see. Great security. Remind me not to travel on that airline. But this is not the only place with curtains. The pilot's home (even though he lives outside with his wife) has curtains outside the home. I have never seen this decor before. Even the spaceship has curtains. The people who made curtains as props for this film made a fortune.

I think that The Price is Right must have the director's favorite TV show. (What's behind curtain number two?). The cast had two major problems; very few of them knew how to drive a car. Two of them put the cars in reverse before driving. Two others leave the lights after leaving the car. Another problem area for both the police and the aliens are their weapons. They don't seem to work. The aliens are forced to flee when their microwave oven catches fire. This is perfectly understandable. There is also a very fat man who wanders around looking for food and a scantily-dressed woman who doesnt change her clothes for four days and can be smelled from over 100 yards away. This film is not half-baked; it not even in the oven. But it very funny to watch.

Weird and Fun

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 30 September 2015]

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

This is one of those "worst films of all time", though it is one of the least deserving of that title. Bad? Sure. It uses some crummy effects and archive footage to achieve its goals... the plot is silly.

But it is also really fun, and in some small way very much a precursor to great films like "Night of the Living Dead". And it was a nice showcase for Tor Johnson and Vampira. Heck, Tor is largely known only for this movie. I would also say Bela Lugosi, but he had really nothing to do with this.

A Riveting Study in Sheer Badness

[JimSpy · 1/10 · 22 October 1998]

When I first watched this movie, I thought it was a joke. I thought it HAD to be someone trying to spoof high school movie projects. Then I realized two things: one, it wasn't a joke, Ed Wood took himself seriously (I didn't realize HOW seriously until I saw the excellent Tim Burton film). Two, it would be an INSULT to high school movie projects.

Any serious film buff MUST see this movie. It is not just bad, it is WONDERFULLY bad. It is a paean to badness. It raises badness to a fine art. It literally WALLOWS in badness. If they gave Oscars for badness, Ed Wood would receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ten Thumbs Down. Highly Recommended.

If Kurosawa is an AWESOME Genius, Ed Wood is an Awful Genius.

[reyalvarez · 1/10 · 27 May 2006]

Ed Wood is a genius! During their peak Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini kept on creating cinematic images that can only be called stroke of genius. In this movie Ed Wood Jr. indeed showed his genius. However, his genius was totally opposite of Kurosawa, Fellini and Bergman. If the aforementioned three directors were really, really AWESOME, Ed Wood was really, really AWFUL. He showed a genius in making one of the most awful movie in cinematic history. Nobody else can make such a bad movie. If a mediocre, average person like I made a movie, I will just make a mediocre movie. I can never make a movie which is so bad. One needs a genius of Ed Wood's calibre to make such a bad movie. This is like taking an exam made up of one hundred multiple choice questions. An intelligent or genius student will get 90+ to 100% correct. Even though one has never studied the topic covered in the exam, one will, by statistical chance, get some of the questions correct. One needs a real effort and genius to get everything wrong. Ed Wood is such a genius. He got everything WRONG, WRONG, WRONG in this movie. One needs a tremendous talent to get everything so wrong.

His casting is incredibly bad. How can one choose Tor Johnson to be a movie actor? His dialog is so bad. Compared to Johnson, another muscle man turned actor, Arnold Schwarznegger, with his sometimes incomprehensible Teutonic English, sounds almost like a poetry reading by Sir Lawrence Olivier. And what is Vampira doing? Do you call that acting? Somebody said there are no bad actors. There are only bad directors. If that is true, Ed Wood is ba-a-a-a-d!! And who wrote this script? Even grade school kids can write better scripts.

Does Ed Wood know what special effect is? I read that those flying saucers are paper plate spray-painted silver. They do look like paper plates spray-painted silver. Ed Woods' special effect makes some of the tackiest Godzilla movie look like masterpieces.

Ed Wood seems to have no sense of continuity. That tall actor--really Ed Wood's chiropractor--who is supposed to be a stand-in for the deceased Bela Lugosi doesn't even look like Bela Lugosi even with his face hidden. The chiropractor is much too tall to stand in for Bela Lugosi.

Even with all these amateurish film making, Ed Wood had the gall to release this movie. What a gutsy guy!!

After Ed Wood screws up everything, the result is something deliciously tacky and fascinating. Many film schools analyze and teach works by Kurosawa and Bergman. Film schools should teach Ed Wood's works. They are prime examples of what never to do!

The worst, and therefore one of the best, movies of all time

[spirit-of-1969 · 10/10 · 10 January 2005]

Poor poor Plan 9: So bad people just watch it to laugh about how bad it is, yet this fundamental flaw pushes it above bad movies, and so it's stuck in between the bottom 100, and well, no where near the top 250...

Anyway, back to the movie. It is as bad as you've no doubt heard. The scene changes from night to day to night, the spaceship is a hubcap (you can see the string it hangs from catch on fire at one point), I could do a better job acting, etc. ad nauseum. But it takes a hell of a lot to be almost universally considered the worst movie of all time, and here is Plan 9's true strength. There are many horrible of movies, but most of them are so bad because they are too bad to be truly bad, and therefore sink into mediocrity. Plan 9, however, has no redeeming quality's, and so it stands out. Few will recognise a movie such as "The Medallion," but every movie-goer knows Plan 9.

As I said before, it takes a hell of a lot to be the worst. Because of this, Plan 9 is some of the most fun you'll EVER have watching a movie. Almost every scene is so bad I broke out laughing. Few other movies achieve that kind of humor, whether intentional or not. For that I give it a very intentional 10/10.

poorly done but not boring!

[PaulyC · 6/10 · 3 September 2008]

Although this movie got famous for having the reputation of "the worst film ever made" I really do disagree. Sure there are many continuity mistakes including shots shifting between day and night in the same scene and the unrealistic dialog and silly looking sets but it all adds to the fun. The story revolves around UFO sightings happening in a Los Angeles town. The police and eventually the army step in to blast them out of the sky but can't hurt them. The martians who run the UFO'S look and sound like regular people but with silly uniforms. Their mission is to release "Plan 9" on the humans which is a plan involving bringing the dead to life to get everyones attention. The martians want to bring peace to earth by communicating with the humans but all the humans want to do is destroy the UFO'S making it hard for a peace talk. How this weird plan is supposed to work to bring peace is silly in itself. There are so many mistakes and silly scenes in the movie I would take up too much space writing it all. When Gregory Walcott, one of the lead actors, read the script, he told director Ed Wood it was the worst script he ever read but he needed the work. Bela Lugosi appears in some footage shot just before his death with no project in mind. Ed incorporated it in this movie so he can include him in the film. Lugosi was doubled by Tom Mason, Woods Wife's chiropractor, who was inches taller and played the part with a cape covering most of his face. The movie stars Wood regulars Paul Marco and Conrad Brooks. This movie reinforces my belief that the only bad film is a boring film!

Bad movie?? You're soaking in it!!

[garyb04 · 4/10 · 12 September 2008]

Yes,this movie is considered the worst movie of all time,but believe it or not,it is a lot better and far more entertaining than say,Red Zone Cuba or Beast of Yucca Flats made by Coleman Francis.Coleman Francis is a lot worse a director/filmmaker than Ed Wood ever was!! Anyway,the fun part of this movie for me is trying to count all of the mistakes.I don't know what it is about this movie that is so fun(a guilty pleasure,if there ever was one)to watch.Is it the double standing in for Bela Lugosi?? Is it the fake cemetery?? The dialog?? It's all of it actually.If you're looking for something fun to watch,then pop this in,you won't be sorry!