Plan 9 from Outer Space

Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1957 Ed Wood science fiction horror movie. Originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space, it was renamed because of its previous "sacrilegious" title (which was objected to by its religious-based funders), which did little to save it from being widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever made. The movie earned Wood a post-humous Golden Turkey Award.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

The plot involves aliens who come to Earth to stop humans whom they fear will develop the ultimate weapon—one that can explode the "particles" of sunlight and ultimately destroy the universe—and the aliens try to conquer Earth by resurrecting corpses from a cemetery. At the end of the movie the aliens are defeated, presumably leaving humanity free to develop the universe-destroying weapon.

Television psychic Criswell introduces and narrates the movie in a cliché style that neatly matches Wood's stilted dialogue.

Actors screw up their lines—Wood apparently did not believe in retakes—night turns to day and back in a single scene, and the movie's best-known guest-star is an actor who died early in the filming (Bela Lugosi), appearing in a few silent scenes in the beginning and middle of the movie. Later in the film, Lugosi's character is doubled by a taller, younger, blonde-haired man (Kathy Wood's chiropractor Dr. Tom Mason, who helped finance the film) holding a cape over his face.

Almost all of the movie takes place on small, unconvincing sets. The interior of the alien spaceship contains wooden tables and nondescript pieces of electronic equipment, as well as a Jacob's ladder similar to the one used in the 1931 Frankenstein and a warning flasher used by roadway crews. The cockpit of an airliner is represented by a small, featureless room with a curtained doorway.

The special effects consist of model UFOs purchased from a local hobby store (contrary to popular belief these were actual toy flying saucers and not hubcaps or pie dishes), and multitudinous stock footage.

The movie has a "campish" or cult film popularity among those who appreciate hilariously bad motion pictures. Such appeal is heightened by quotable lines such as, "Inspector Clay is dead — murdered — and somebody's responsible!", and "Visits... that whould indicate visitors!".

The movie is the subject of a documentary, included on the DVD release, entitled Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion, which is notable for being 30 minutes longer than the movie itself.

In 1994, Tim Burton directed a fictional biopic, Ed Wood, based on the making of this film, starring Johnny Depp in the title role and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi.

Links in popular culture

Because of the film's strong reputation, and a Bell Labs Research Division penchant for choosing names 'outside the usual range,' a successor to the Unix operating system was named Plan 9 in honor of this film.

Horror punk icons The Misfits continued to honor the film, first by naming one of their record labels "PLAN 9", then releasing a song, "Vampira", that honored the female lead, Vampira (Maila Nurmi).

Chiller Theatre in New Jersey hosts an annual horror convention, and the two movie characters they use are the two ghouls from Plan 9 (Maila Nurmi and Tor Johnson).

Conrad Brooks is the only actor who actually appeared in the original Plan 9 from Outer Space and in Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Brooks met Ed Wood early in his acting career and has gone on to appear in over one hundred films since his co-starring role in this film.

Cast

Gregory Walcott  ....  Jeff Trent
Mona McKinnon ....  Paula Trent
Duke Moore ....  Lt. John Harper
Tom Keene ....  Col. Tom Edwards
Carl Anthony ....  Patrolman Larry
Paul Marco ....  Patrolman Kelton
Tor Johnson ....  Insp. Dan Clay
Dudley Manlove ....  Eros
Joanna Lee ....  Tanna
John Breckinridge ....  The Ruler
Lyle Talbot ....  General Roberts
David De Mering ....  Danny
Norma McCarty ....  Edith
Bill Ash ....  Captain
Reverend Lynn Lemon ....  Minister at Insp. Clay's Funeral

Goofs & Mistakes

    * Shots filmed during the night and day are interchanged; for example, the scene where the men dig holes with shovels.
    * During a scene in an airplane cockpit, a flash of light from a flying saucer reveals the shadow of the boom mike.
    * In numerous graveyard scenes, as characters brush against tombstones, the stones, which are obviously made of cardboard, wobble and in at least one case, fall over.
    * Flying saucers wobble as they fly.
    * Flying saucers cast shadows against space backdrops.
    * Bela Lugosi's double hides his face with his cape to hide the fact that he is not Bela Lugosi.

External links

    * Plan 9 from Outer Space (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052077/) at the Internet Movie Database
    * Illustrated review of the film (http://www.badmovies.org/movies/plannine/)
    * Detailed list of the film's mistakes

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