Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)

Evil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.

Director:

Edward D. Wood Jr.

Writer:

Edward D. Wood Jr.

Stars:

Gregory Walcott, Tom Keene, Mona McKinnon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregory Walcott	...	Jeff Trent
Mona McKinnon	...	Paula Trent
Duke Moore	...	Lieutenant Harper
Tom Keene	...	Colonel Edwards
Carl Anthony	...	Patrolman Larry
Paul Marco	...	Patrolman Kelton
Tor Johnson	...	Inspector Clay
Dudley Manlove	...	Eros
Joanna Lee	...	Tanna
John Breckinridge	...	Ruler
Lyle Talbot	...	General Roberts
David De Mering	...	Danny
Norma McCarty	...	Edith
Bill Ash	...	Captain
Lynn Lemon	...	Reverend (as Reverend Lynn Lemon)

Storyline

In California, an old man (Bela Lugosi) grieves the loss of his wife (Vampira) and on the next day he also dies. However, the space soldier Eros and his mate Tanna use an electric device to resurrect them both and the strong Inspector Clay who was murdered by the couple. Their intention is not to conquer Earth but to stop mankind from developing the powerful bomb "Solaranite" that would threaten the universe. When the population of Hollywood and Washington DC sees flying saucers in the sky, a colonel, a police lieutenant, a commercial pilot, his wife and a policeman try to stop the aliens.

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Plot Keywords:

camp | bad acting | unintentionally funny | stock footage | wobbly sets | 

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Taglines:

Aliens Resurrecting The Dead! Flying Saucers Over Hollywood!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

As early as 1961, the film was already playing on TV.

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Goofs

The pilot sitting on the left in the cockpit scenes calls the air traffic control tower using an Army T-26 chest-mounted microphone. This would not be used on an airliner. A handheld mike would have been used.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Criswell: Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony ...

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Alternate Versions

One more 'addition' to the Legend Films 'colorized' release is an added color visual effect where the alien Commanders face turns green in reaction to being hit soon after saying the line: "See? Your stupid minds, Stupid, Stupid!" He goes green as soon as he is hit then it fades to colorized normal skin tone after 30 seconds or so. There is no way he could have turned a different color like this in the B/W version as its luminance is as bright as the colorized skin. It would read as the same level gray.

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Connections

Referenced in Little Lost Sea Serpent (1995)

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Soundtracks

Uneasy Sleep
(uncredited)
Music by Wolf Droysen (pseudonym of Wolfram Röhrig

User Reviews

Yes it's bad but also quite funny and enjoyable

I agree with many that this movie has many shortcomings, but I don't consider it ''the worst movie of all time''. Yes, it is poorly made, it was cheaply made, but I think that there are many movies that are MUCH worse than this one (MANOS THE HANDS OF FATE and THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS are much more amateurish and poorly made than this) and there are much worse directors than Ed Wood (Harold P. Warren and Coleman Francis for example). And I consider PLAN 9 one of the greatest bad movies.

The many flaws of this movie are: the acting, full of corny dialogue and overacting (especially by Tor Johnson and Vampira); the sets and the special effects may be poor and cheap (I laughed a lot when I saw the pie plates used as UFOs); and lots and lots of stock footage. But I find this movie entertaining for the dialogue and also for Bela Lugosi's final performance (here billed ''Almost starring Bela Lugosi'' since he died before the movie was released). And Ed Wood directs nicely, and except at half-way the movie is very fast-paced.

All in all, a nice and funny time passer and among the cults of bad movies! Not to be missed.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 July 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Grave Robbers from Outer Space

Filming Locations:

15129 Lakeside Street, Sylmar, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reynolds Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1