Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Directed by

Ed Wood

Genre

action film, horror film, science fiction film, Z movie, speculative fiction film, zombie film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 19m

Rated

NR

Rating

4.2 of 10 from 609 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Aliens try to stop humans from building a weapon that could destroy the universe. They raise the dead to carry out their plan. The film follows the confusion of military and civilians who encounter the resurrected corpses.

campylow-budgetdisjointedearnestawkwardcheesysincerebizarre

What happens

Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a preview screening on March 15, 1957, at the Carlton Theatre in Los Angeles under the title Grave Robbers from Outer Space. Retitled Plan 9 from Outer Space, it played in 1957 as a double feature with the British thriller Time Lock, and went into general release in July 1958 in Virginia, Texas, and several other Southern states, before being sold to television in 1961. In Texas, it played on a double bill with the re-released Devil Girl from Mars (1954). The film stars Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, and "Vampira" (Maila Nurmi), and is narrated by Criswell. It also posthumously bills Bela Lugosi (before Lugosi's death in August 1956, Wood had shot silent footage of Lugosi for another, unfinished film, which was inserted into Plan 9). Other guest stars are Hollywood veterans Lyle Talbot, who said he never refused an acting job, and former cowboy star Tom Keene. The film's storyline concerns extraterrestrials who seek to stop humanity from creating a doomsday weapon that could destroy the universe. The aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect the Earth's dead. By causing chaos, the aliens hope the crisis will force humanity to listen to them; otherwise, the aliens will destroy mankind with armies of the undead. Plan 9 from Outer Space played on television in relative obscurity from 1961 until 1980, when authors Harry Medved and Michael Medved dubbed it the "worst film ever made" in their book The Golden Turkey Awards. Wood and his film were posthumously given two Golden Turkey Awards for Worst Director Ever and Worst Film Ever. It has since been called "the epitome of so-bad-it's-good cinema" and gained a large cult following. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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