To be honest, I cannot believe that somebody had the balls to remake Plan 9 From Out Of Space since this was voted the worst film ever made and boasted the worst dialogue and scenes ever put on celluloid. Even though it flopped it later gained a classic status for its wrongness. I have to say I have a warm place in my heart for it.
So when I caught the trailer for Plan 9 I knew I had to give it at least one viewing.
The major trouble with the movie is the writer and director John Johnson. When you take on a project such as this one you have to decide what to keep, what to change, what to eradicate, and what to add and it's here where all his problems arise. The original is loved because it is so bad on so many fronts so you have to keep some of these bad issues in the movie as well as add some, though you have to make it humorous to keep your audience. In some of the other reviews, it's been noted about all the fourth wall shout-outs to other films. I believe this to be intentional and in the "bad" mode, though he may have taken it too far. Also, there are lots of similarities to Romero's Night Of The Living Dead and other Zombie films. I believe Johnson took Plan 9 down the zombie road to pay homage to the movie and send up the sub-genre (it's also not a bad thing as there's a lot of Z-lovers out there, so it gives him a ready-made audience - which is what Edward D Wood Jr did). Though he does keep enough science fiction elements to keep it in this genre. For me the Z's took second place, it wasn't about them it was about the annihilation of mankind so we could all be used as cheap fuel.
As for the acting, most of it is average, though on Mr Lobo's part I believe this was intentional, and he does gloriously over-act at times. Whereas, Brian Krause is back on form as the male lead role Jeff Trent. Though it's James Rolfe as the policeman that gets some of the better, and funnier, lines and scenes. I found Sara Eshleman as Lucy Grimm a little wooden though again this could have been intentional in homage to the original. If this is the case then she's a good actress as she does wooden well. However, it does make for enjoying the movie a little difficult as it's a great excuse for anything which didn't work too well... it was a homage!
It would have been nice for Johnson not to pay homage to the film by trying to add elements to his remake but to make a straight forward sci- fi flick based on the original story. He proved he can add tension and an atmosphere of dread as is shown with the arrival of the aliens themselves. They were a nice twist as they came to the town members as human, they clearly weren't. Johnson even did an okay job with the action when the heroes go after the aliens. If the same mood and quality had been used throughout we might have had a decent film and not this strange homage.
On the whole, the movie works and is nicely filmed. I would gladly recommend it as it is a decent "leave your brain at the door" waste of time. It definitely isn't the worst movie out there... that's the original... Though this is at least worth one viewing on a cold and wet night when there's nothing better to do. However, I do believe this film to be of the "Marmite" Syndrome - you'll either like it or loathe it. It made me smile and laugh more than grimace and frown, so I love it.
