Plan 9 from Outer Space (originally titled as Grave Robbers from Outer Space) is a 1959 science fiction/horror film written, and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi. The film bills Bela Lugosi posthumously as a star, although footage of the actor was shot by Wood for another film just before Lugosi's death in 1956.
The plot of the film is focused on extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect Earth's dead as zombies to get the planet's attention, causing chaos.
For years, the film played on television in relative obscurity, until 1980, when author Michael Medved dubbed Plan 9 from Outer Space the "worst movie ever made". It has also earned Wood a posthumous Golden Turkey Award (an award of Medved's creation) as the worst director ever. Various critics since have concurred with this opinion.
Synopsis
Poor special effects are a common criticism of the film.
Airline pilot Jeff Trent and his co-pilot Danny encounter a flying saucer. Meanwhile, two gravediggers are filling the grave of a deceased woman. Suddenly, they hear a strange noise, and decide to leave the cemetery. As they turn to leave, a resurrected female corpse attacks them.
Absorbed in his grief over his wife's death, an old man walks out of his house and into the path of an oncoming automobile. At his funeral, two mourners discover the bodies of the attacked gravediggers. Inspector Daniel Clay, along with several police officers, comes to the cemetery to investigate. Clay encounters the female zombie, who is now joined by the corpse of the old man. Clay is killed by the zombies.
Trent is watching the cemetery with his wife, Paula, and tells her about his flying saucer encounter, stating that the Army has sworn him to secrecy about what he saw. He suspects that whatever is happening in the cemetery is related to his UFO encounter. Suddenly, a powerful wind knocks everyone to the ground. A spaceship lands nearby.
In the weeks that follow, newspaper headlines report other flying saucer sightings. The military, under the command of Colonel Thomas Edwards, finally attacks the alien spaceships which flee Earth. Edwards reveals that the government has been covering up the flying saucer visits to Earth, and he wonders if the alien visits are connected to other Earth disasters.
The aliens return to Space Station 7 for regeneration. Their commander, Eros, informs the Ruler that he has attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact the governments of Earth. He tells the Ruler that to force the people of Earth to acknowledge his people's existence, he is implementing Plan 9, which involves resurrecting people who have recently died by stimulating their pituitary and pineal glands. The three alien ships return to Earth.
Trent is about to leave home again for another flight. Concerned for Paula's safety, he urges her to stay with her mother while he's gone, but she insists on staying home. That night, the corpse of the old man rises from his crypt and sneaks into their house. Joined by the corpse of his wife and the newly resurrected Daniel Clay, he chases Paula through the cemetery. Paula collapses and is found by a passing motorist, who drives away with her limp body. All three zombies return to Eros' ship, which lifts off.
Eros is nearly killed by the corpse of Inspector Clay.
At the Pentagon, Roberts informs Edwards that the government has been receiving messages from the aliens. Roberts plays the last message, which has been translated into English by a recently invented "language computer." The general sends Edwards to San Fernando, California, where most of the aliens' activities have occurred.
In California, the police interview the Trents about their experiences with the aliens. Unbeknownst to them, the alien saucer has returned to the graveyard. While waiting by the police car, officer Kelton encounters the old man. The old man chases the officer to the Trents' house, where they attempt to shoot him, with no effect. The nearby aliens strike the old man with a "decomposite ray", causing his body to decompose, leaving only his skeleton. Not knowing what to make of this, the Trents and the police decide to drive to the cemetery.
Pilot Jeff Trent confronts the aliens.
On board the ship, Eros and Tanna send Clay to kidnap Paula in order to lure the other three to their spaceship, which he does. Meanwhile, seeing a glow in the distance, the other three head toward the ship.
Eros allows them to enter, and they board with their guns drawn. Once inside, Eros tells the humans that his people first came to Earth to talk and to ask for their aid, but the humans wouldn't listen to their messages. According to Eros, the humans will eventually discover the solarbonite, a bomb that has the effect of exploding "sunlight molecules". Eros explains that a solarbonite explosion would destroy everything the sunlight touches, causing a chain reaction that would eventually destroy the entire universe.
Outside the ship, Clay arrives with Paula. Eros threatens to have her killed if they try to force him to go with them. The two police officers arrive and spot Clay with Paula. They realize that their guns are useless, and decide to approach Clay from behind with a stick. Eros sees this, and shuts off the ray controlling Clay, allowing Paula to go free. A fight ensues inside between Eros and Jeff, during which a fire inexplicably starts. The humans leave the ship, and it takes off in flames. Eros and Tanna are trapped as the ship explodes in space. As a consequence of the explosion, Clay and the female zombie turn into skeletons.
Cast
Credited
Uncredited
- Donald A. Davis as Drunk
- Johnny Duncan
- Karl Johnson as Farmer Calder
- Tom Mason as Ghoul Man with Cape Over Face
- J. Edward Reynolds as Gravedigger
- Hugh Thomas Jr. as Gravedigger
- Edward D. Wood Jr. as Man Holding Newspaper
History and development
Shortly before Bela Lugosi's death in 1956, the actor had been working with Wood on a horror film titled Tomb of the Vampire.[1] When Lugosi died, he had only completed a few minutes of footage, and Wood shelved the project.[1]
Shortly thereafter, Wood developed the story and screenplay for Grave Robbers from Outer Space, planning to release it as Lugosi's final film. Wood hired his wife's chiropractor, Tom Mason, as a stand-in for Lugosi, even though Mason bore no resemblance whatsoever to Lugosi.[1]
Grave Robbers from Outer Space was shot in 1956, and finished by the following year, when it had its preview in March at the Carlton Theatre in Los Angeles. It would be another year before DCA (Distributors Corp. of America) picked the film up and copyrighted it, intending to distribute it during the Spring of 1958, but the company folded and it was not released until July 1959 through Valiant Pictures, the receiver of DCA. By then the film had been retitled as Plan 9 from Outer Space. The original title is referenced at the end of Criswell's opening narration, when he asks the audience, "Can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?" Like many independent films of the period, Plan 9 was distributed under a states rights basis. Not long thereafter, the picture was distributed through a television package.
Mistakes
Tanna and Eros leave Space Station 7, casting an obvious shadow as they go
Plan 9 From Outer Space first gained notoriety through the Medved book because of its multiple continuity problems.[2][3]
Critics cite the absurdity of the film is found in the dialog rather than on-screen action. Criswell's opening narration redundantly informs the viewer how "future events such as these will affect you in the future", all the while referring to us as "my friends" four times in the same minute.[2][3] Other examples of misleading lines include when Trent describes the saucers as having a cigar shape, even though the craft seen in the film is of saucer form.
String is clearly visible from the top of the wobbly saucer to the top of the screen. These same flying saucers cast obvious shadows on the mothership in the "space" backdrop.[2][3]
The first characters attacked, the grave diggers, have seemingly just finished burying the character that attacks them: The old man's beloved wife.
Several exterior sets on sound-stages are interspersed with second unit footage shot outdoors (for example, the old man's corpse chases Paula Trent through the cemetery). Among a number of these scenes, the outdoor footage was intended to be shot day-for-night, but this is not apparent in video transfers of the film, making these scenes contrast harshly against the on-set footage. Similarly, one (obviously cardboard) porthole on the alien spaceship shows a cloudy day outside (during a scene set at night), while the others show only devoid blackness.[2][3]
In addition, Mason's attempts to hide the fact that he is not Lugosi are in vain.[2][3] As an early version of Leonard Maltin's movie guidebook puts it, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows." At one point, as his character is being riddled with bullet blanks, Mason's Dracula cape unintentionally starts to slip off his shoulders, so he quickly pulls it back into place while simultaneously attacking a cop, thus rendering the scene anti-climactic.[2][3]
A visible shadow of the boom microphone in a cockpit scene.
During a scene in the airplane cockpit, (which suggests the plane's width to be a cozy four feet in diameter), the actress playing the flight attendant engages in combat with the curtain several times while trying to get on stage, and the pilot on the left actually holds up his script and reads from it, perhaps in the hopes that the audience would believe it is some sort of flight routing. Also in the scene, a flash of light from a flying saucer reveals the shadow of the boom microphone as the two pilots "fly" their plane without touching the indescribable objects placed in front of them where control yokes would usually be. [2][3] The boom mic and non-existent controls, however, are not prevalent in a wide-screen presentation of the film in its intended ratio of 1.85:1 and were not seen in theaters upon the film's original release.[4] These mistakes are noticeable only because of the film's open matte transfer on video.
In the numerous graveyard scenes shot on the sound-stage, as characters brush against the prop tombstones, the stones wobble and, in one extreme case, fall over, such as the flimsy cross at the right side of the screen in an early scene where a saucer flies overhead.[2][3] In the scene where Inspector Daniel Clay's body struggles to rise out of the ground, the "grave" and headstone are clearly out of proportion with the leaves on the ground.[2][3] When Tor Johnson drops Mrs. Trent in the cemetery, a pillow is visible beneath her.[2][3]
During the U.S. Army attack on the UFOs, the rockets used are actually ground-to-ground mortar type rockets that in reality cannot even fly at the required altitude to harm "aircraft", which may be why only a few of the weapons launched actually hit the ship as the camera watched the "explosions". Also, the majority of the weapons used in the scene were never actually used in combat, and never made it to mass production.[2][3] In the same scene, Colonel Tom Edwards clearly casts a shadow on the grayish inscrutable "horizon" behind him. Edwards is also missing most of his rank identification items, while the Captain beside him has none at all.[2][3] In scenes set in the Pentagon, an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway map of the United States is hung in the General's office, with the railway's logo conspicuously visible in several shots (while other times being covered up with tape).
Documenting the film
The movie is the subject of a documentary entitled Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion, which is notable for being 30 minutes longer than the movie itself. The documentary is included on Image Entertainment's DVD edition of Plan 9. The documentary visits many locations related to the film, including the building with Ed Wood's former office at 4477 Hollywood Boulevard and what was left of the small sound stage used for the film's interiors which is down a small alley next to the Harvey Apartments at 5640 Santa Monica Boulevard.
Rudolph Grey's book Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr. contains anecdotes regarding the making of this film. Grey notes that participants in the original events sometimes contradict one another, but he relates each person's information for posterity regardless.
In 1994, Tim Burton directed a fictionalized biopic, Ed Wood, which climaxes with the making and release of Plan 9. Ed Wood starred Johnny Depp in the title role, Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, and Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge (who played the alien "Ruler" in Plan 9). Ed Wood also featured frequent Wood cohorts Conrad Brooks and Gregory Walcott, both of whom appeared in Plan 9. The gala premiere depicted in the film never took place; Wood's films were always released quietly and on a limited basis.
In 2007, a documentary by Kevin Sean Michaels entitled Vampira: The Movie, was produced chronicling Maila Nurmi's work with Wood and her role as television's first horror host.
Legacy
As an ode to
Plan 9 being famously known as "the worst film of all time," pre-release copies of the colorized DVD release included this limited edition
air freshener.
Plan 9 from Outer Space was often cited by critics as the worst film ever made, and is referenced often in popular culture. However, when as many reviews as possible were collected on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, the report was that 62% of critics gave the film positive reviews. Many of them stated that the film is simply too amusing to be considered the worst film ever made, claiming that its ineptitude added to its charm. There were also claims that the director managed to convey some interesting ideas in the film.
When the film Battlefield Earth was reviewed by The New York Times, film critic Elvis Mitchell referred to it as being "Plan Nine From Outer Space for a new generation."[5] The Bell Labs successor to the Unix operating system was named Plan 9 from Bell Labs in honor of the film.[6]
Stage versions
A stage adaptation of Plan 9 was staged in the 2006 Toronto Fringe Festival. Plan LIVE from Outer Space! was written by James Gordon Taylor (based entirely on Wood's script) and featured well-known Canadian comedians (most of them Second City alumni) such as Lisa Brooke, Aurora Browne, Brandon Firla, Chris Gibbs, Sandy Jobin-Bevans and Ron Sparks.[7] The play won a Canadian Comedy Award in 2007, and a bootleg video of it was released in the same year.
In 1997, David G. Smith wrote and composed the music for Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Musical. It received better reviews than the original film.[8] Eternity Comics released a miniseries in the 1990s entitled Plan 9 from Outer Space: Thirty Years Later! which served as an unofficial sequel to the film.[9]
Video game
An adventure game of the same name was made in which the player must recover the film from Lugosi's double, who has stolen it.[10] The movie was packaged with the game as a VHS tape.
Legend Films release
In 2006, Legend Films released a colorized version of Plan 9 from Outer Space on DVD.[11] Though the colorization process was largely done straight, unlike the campy bright colors used in the studio's release of Reefer Madness, there were a few alterations. Legend had auctioned off the opportunity to insert new material into the film through two auctions on eBay. The first allowed the auction winner to provide a photograph that is digitally inserted into part of the scene between the Ghoul Man and Paula Trent. The second allowed the winner to have his or her name placed on a gravestone during a scene with Wood regular Tor Johnson. The third alteration is at a point where Eros is punched and briefly turns green from head to toe.[11]
The Legend Films colorized Plan 9 from Outer Space was screened in Atlanta, Georgia at the Plaza Theatre on September 9, 2006, and was hosted live by Elvira impersonator Patterson Lundquist with a live running commentary. As a part of the promotion sets of the autographed Michael J. Nelson DVD were given away as prizes. The event was featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and served as the grand re-opening of the theatre which had fallen on hard times under previous ownership.
Autographed pre-release copies of the DVD were made available in 2005, and the colorized version was also given special theatrical screenings at various theaters throughout the United States, including the Castro Theatre.[12][13] The DVD featured an audio commentary track by comedian Michael J. Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, in which he heckles, or "riffs" the film in a style similar to an episode of the series, a restored black and white version of Plan 9, a home video of Wood in drag performing a striptease (Wood, in real life, was a transvestite) and a comedic feature narrated by Nelson detailing the "lost" Plans 1-8. The autographed edition also came with a limited edition air freshener.[13] Nelson's commentary is also available through his company RiffTrax, where it can be downloaded as either an MP3 audio file or a DivX video file with the commentary embedded into the colorized version of the film.[14][15].
MST3k
The film was never featured in the comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, which mocked B-movies. It has been reported that the reasons for this were the problem of running the commentary format of the series over the film's narrator as well as the fact that the film was already very well-known, and the show's crew preferred more obscure films.[16] However, the film was included in live performances at the SF Sketchfest by The Film Crew, composed of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast members Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. A commentary based on these performances was released for RiffTrax, advertised as a "Three Riffer Edition", due to the fact that Nelson's solo commentary for the film's colorized DVD release had already been sold as an audio file on the website. Many of the jokes from Nelson's solo commentary carried over to the new commentary.[17] On August 20, 2009, the RiffTrax trio broadcast a live commentary of the film to theatres across the United States from Nashville, Tennessee. A repeat showing is scheduled for October 8, 2009.
Remakes
As of September 2009, there are two proposed remakes.
Grave Robbers From Outer Space was written and directed by Christopher Kahler for Drunkenflesh Films.[18])
The remake being produced by Darkstone Entertainment is being written and directed by John Johnson. The teaser trailer was released on the movie's official website on September 9, 2009.[19]
References
- ^ a b c Peary, Danny (1981). Cult Movies. New York: Delacorte Press. pp. pages 266-270. ISBN 0-440-01626-6.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Plan 9 from Outer Space mistakes, goofs and bloopers". Movie Mistakes. http://www.moviemistakes.com/film2839. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Goofs for Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052077/goofs. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ BoxOffice Barometer. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" February 29, 1960. Pages 117, 130.
- ^ Mitchell, Elvis. "`Battlefield Earth': Earth Capitulates in 9 Minutes to Mean Entrepreneurs From Space". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/051200earth-film-review.html. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- ^ Raymond, Eric. "The Art of Unix Programming". http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/plan9.html#ftn.id3015199. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
- ^ IMDb entry for Plan Live from Outer Space
- ^ "Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Musical". http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/archive/plan9fromouterspace1996.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ "Plan 9 From Outer Space: Thirty Years Later". Atomic Avenue. http://www.atomicavenue.com/atomic/TitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=7548. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- ^ "Amiga Reviews: Plan 9 From Outer Space". http://amigareviews.classicgaming.gamespy.com/plan9fro.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ a b "Alternate versions for Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052077/alternateversions. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ Hartlaub, Peter (March 10, 2006). "What makes a bad movie? For starters, take a look at Plan 9 From Outer Space". San Francisco Chronicle. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/10/DDGIKHG4IH23.DTL. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ a b McMillan, Dennis (March 16, 2006). "Ed Wood Festival Comes To The Castro". San Francisco Bay Times. http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=4781. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
- ^ "Plan 9 from Outer Space". RiffTrax. http://shop.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/plan-9-outer-space. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ "Plan 9 from Outer Space VOD". RiffTrax. http://shop.rifftrax.com/ondemand/plan-9-outer-space-vod. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ "Mystery Science Theater 3000 FAQ: Subtleties, Obscurities, Odds and Ends". MST3K Info. http://www.mst3kinfo.com/mstfaq/subtle.html. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- ^ "Plan 9 From Outer Space — Three Riffer Edition!". RiffTrax. January 22, 2008. http://shop.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/plan-9-outer-space-three-riffer-edition. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
- ^ "New Stills From Grave Robbers From Outer Space.". July 1, 2009. http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-stills-from-grave-robbers-from.html. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- ^ "Plan 9's teaser trailer.". September 9, 2009. http://www.plan9movie.com/trailer.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
Further reading
- Sloan, Will. (April 2005). "Can Your Heart Stand the Shocking Facts About Kelton the Cop A/K/A Paul Marco?" Filmfax, p.88-89
External links
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Edward D. Wood, Jr. |
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| Feature films directed |
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| Short films directed |
Trick Shooting with Kenne Duncan (1953) • Final Curtain (1957) • The Night the Banshee Cried (1957) •
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| Television films directed |
The Sun Was Setting (1951) • Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tucson Kid' (1953) • Boots (1953)
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| Films written, not directed |
The Violent Years (1956) • The Bride and the Beast (1958) • Anatomy of a Psycho (1961) • Shotgun Wedding (1963) • Orgy of the Dead (1965) • One Million AC/DC (1969) • The Love Feast (1969) • The Venus Flytrap (1971) • The Undergraduate (1972) • Drop-Out Wife (1972) • Class Reunion (1972) • The Snow Bunnies (1972) • The Cocktail Hostesses (1973) • Five Loose Women (1974) • The Beach Bunnies (1976) • Hot Ice (1978)
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| Posthumous films |
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| Related articles |
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