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Directed/Written/Produced by: Ed Wood. Starring: Bela Lugosi, Tom Mason, Vampira, Tor Johnson, Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore, Tom Keene.


A terrible idea followed up with an even worse execution - that pretty much sums up this film. Many have labelled Plan 9 from Outer Space the worst film ever made and I certainly have no objection to jumping right on the band wagon. I have seen a lot of shit films but never have I been more perplexed as to what the hell was going on during a film than when I sat down to watch this.
 
Aliens have come to Earth and have begun to bring the dead back to life. This is Plan 9 and comes after eight unsuccessful plans hatched by the aliens to try to communicate their presence to humankind. Quite how bringing three dead people (Lugosi/Mason, Vampira and Johnson) back to life was ever going to help their cause is beyond me and is never really explained. Anyway, that’s what they do, as the days/weeks go by (time is difficult to gauge) people begin to see the flying saucers that the aliens are travelling in. One such person is pilot Jeff Trent (Walcott). Jeff is brought into the fold of an investigation being carried out by police officers who are seeking answers about the strange deaths/corpse reanimation/U.F.O sightings. Somehow this investigation leads the team of inept earthlings to the main saucer for a head-on confrontation.
 
Having lambasted Plan 9 from Outer Space, it’s actually kinda endearing in some ways. From the stock footage and bad acting to the hand-made sets and the multitude of continuity errors, the whole thing is rather like seeing a children’s school play; there’s not much going on but gosh darn it they gave it a go. The period in which the film was made also gives it a bit of old-world charm. To get the most out of Plan 9 from Outer Space, watch it when you are in a silly mood; if you try to take it seriously you’ll just get angry.