Ed Wood’s film “Plan 9 from Outer Space” may be the worst film ever made according to dozens of move resources, but having finally seen it I can set your mind at ease: it is far from the worst film ever made. The film has attained an almost mythical position in cinema history, and I can see how multiple viewings can provide great pleasures. Viewed with some critical perspective, “Plan 9”’s campiness is appealing in the way the “Thing from Oozing Swamp Beach” might be, and it is enjoyed, even valued, as a product of its time and master. To be sure, “Plan 9” is no “Citizen Kane” (Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” features a delightful scene between Wood (Johnny Depp) and Orson Welles (Angus McFadyen) but its badness has been grossly exaggerated. Put this film next to “The Hottie and the Nottie”, or “Freddie Got Fingered”, or most Meg Ryan films and “Plan 9” still looks like the film with the most potential. In 20 years, “Plan 9” will still be part of the collective cinema consciousness, where all the others mentioned above… won’t.
“Plan 9” is about grave robbers from outer space, trouble with the sun, a dead husband and wife, actual war footage spliced between staged scenes, using Bela Lugosi’s unused footage for the film (Lugosi, a horror cinema legend, passed away before filming commenced), hubcaps to present flying saucers and dialogue so inept and so badly delivered that you cannot but help remember parts of it:
“Aliens attacked a town. Sure, it’s a small town, but one with people. People now dead!” (paraphrased).
May “Glen or Glenda” soon cross my path.
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