Film review - Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

The best known of Edward Wood Jr's surreal attempts at writing, producing, directing and even editing film - and yes, there were more than a few - Plan 9 From Outer Space was an obscure B-pic for it's first twenty years, before achieving infamy in being outed at one of cinema's worst-ever movies.

Immortalised in Tim Burton's 1994 big-screen biopic 'Ed Wood', the eponymous film maker was basically Tommy Wiseau 45 years before Tommy Wiseau.  His body of work comprised of Glen or Glenda (1953), Jail Bait (1954) and Bride Of The Monster (1955); quickly giving future film performing arts students how not to make movies, via low budgets and illogical dialogue.

As the narrative goes for "Plan 9", spaceships spotted above the west coast skyline arrive on Earth, resurrecting a recently deceased elderly civilian and police inspector - the latter of whom takes a zombie form - with the local force enlisting military help from the Pentagon to stop their attempted takeover on humanity.  These California bobbies don't seem the brightest though, with one detective coming to the conclusion that one man's passing was a murder .... and that someone was behind it!!

The central plot isn't so much an issue as the overall execution.  Some scenes feel like they were captured in single takes, then appearing as such on screen.  The acting doesn't feel natural, leading one to believe the atmosphere off screen wasn't good or the actors couldn't believe what they were saying.  A lot of pivotal moments - not least the deaths of two key characters - happen to occur away from the cameras, leading to viewer dissatisfaction.

Footage clearly re-used and looked through, e.g. Bela Lugosi in his Dracula cape. After he died he was humorously replaced by an actor who we assume looks nothing like him, as his face is covered by his cape-welding arm. A later colourised version shows details that might have been missed in the original black and white version, if by chance you nodded off during the more boring moments when not monitoring the funny moments.

At around 80 minutes, the film is not very long but that's probably for the best. Why did Wood have his finger in so many pies?  Evidently his need for control over the details, which could've been easily delegated to other film crew members, obscured the final output - surely a cautionary creative moral in itself.  Still, it has to been at least once to be believed!