Vampiros del espacio

Somewhere, in the great and mysterious beyond, Ed Wood looks down (up?) and laughs maniacally. Why? Because we're stupid! Stupid! Fools! The Maestro's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is his zenith / nadir in one! It is a cultural phenomenon!

From Criswell's crackpot intro / narration, to Dudley Manlove's (Never, has there been a better name for any actor, male or female! Never!) scolding of all mankind, P9FOS hypnotizes with it's eerie, cardboard brilliance! Wood's use of Vampira as... well, Vampira, is a masterstroke of casting! Tor Johnson's take on the world's largest police chief is sheer genius!

The sets, assembled in mere seconds, rival those in BEN HUR! The FX, while certainly not computer generated, were powered by the latest D batteries of the time! Other, lesser films by the thousands, get no attention at all, while this towering giant of cinematic immensity is universally known!

HA! HA! HA!

It is inescapable! Vampira and Tor are revered! Bela Lugosi lives forever, immortalized by an enigmatic chiropractor from some other world (Burbank perhaps)! Indeed, PLAN 9 is, at this very moment, conquering this puny planet! All hail Ed Wood! Amen...

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.

First things first - anyone who calls 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' "the worst movie ever made" needs to watch more movies! To me "the worst" would be one that was dull and has no entertainment value whatsoever. 'Plan 9' is the complete opposite of dull, and is it entertaining? You bet! It's still one of the greatest beer'n'pizza and have a bunch of your pals over movies ever made. Hell, it isn't even the most inept and bizarre movie Ed Wood ever made, that would still have to be 'Glen Or Glenda', which for some strange reason still doesn't have a tenth of the cult following 'Plan 9' does. Speaking of cult, in some ways 'Plan 9' is almost THE definitive cult movie if you consider that it virtually vanished without a trace when it was first released and it still lives on because it was subsequently rediscovered by thousands of enthusiastic movie nuts, collectors, journalists, cartoonists, rock musicians (e.g. The Damned), and other film makers (Joe Dante, Sam Raimi, Tim Burton). I think 'Glen Or Glenda' is Wood's most amazing achievement myself, but I still love 'Plan 9'. I've lost track of how many times I've seen it over the years. I wouldn't go so far as to say I have it memorized or anything, but it's always in the back of my mind. It's like part of the collective pop culture unconscious that I carry around with me at all times. As much as I love Bela Lugosi I think the three main reasons this movie is truly unforgettable (apart from the obvious - silly aliens, laughably bad dialogue and "those" flying saucers,etc.etc.) are Criswell, Vampira, and especially Tor Johnson. Any three of those people being involved would have made this something special, but all three! Man! This is trash heaven! It's hard to believe there's anyone left alive who hasn't already seen this movie, but if by some strange twist of fate you are one of the uninitiated, you MUST, I repeat MUST watch 'Plan 9' as soon as possible! And remember, my friends, future events such as these will effect YOU in the future!

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. :)

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.