Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Bad movies come in all shapes and sizes. They’ve existed since the dawn of film. Anyone can set out to make a movie with the best of intentions, only for something to go wrong along the way. Quality takes a dip. The final product ends up being subpar. People don’t like it. Or they like it for the wrong reasons. But a few bad movies stand out above the rest. They end up becoming the pinnacle of everything wrong with bad movies. They’re the shining example of how bad a bad movie can be.

Plan 9 from Outer Space is one of those movies. It was a science fiction movie released in 1959. After pilot Jeff Trent (Gregory Walcott) spotted a UFO during a flight, dead bodies began rising to attack Los Angeles citizens. Lt. John Harper (Duke Moore) teamed up with Jeff Trent and Col. Tom Edwards (Tom Keene) to investigate alien activity in the San Fernando area, culminating in a battle against Eros (Dudley Manlove) and Tanna (Joanna Lee).

There were a few cast members of Plan 9 from Outer Space not mentioned in that synopsis. The most notable was Bela Lugosi. The famous horror actor had died of a heart attack three years before the release. At the time of his death, he had been working on a couple of films with Ed Wood, which would never see completion. Ed Wood took the footage he had filmed with the late actor and worked it into a new script, Plan 9 from Outer Space, as a way to use the footage and pay tribute to his dead friend.

The way that the footage was worked into the film was odd, to say the least. It was fake Shemping to the utmost degree. The small amount of Lugosi footage that Wood had was used in the film. There was some stuff of Lugosi going in and out of a house, and some footage of him dressed as a vampire. The rest of the footage for that undead character was created using Tom Mason, Ed Wood’s wife’s chiropractor. He would stand-in as Lugosi, with his face never being shown. All this tomfoolery was so that Ed Wood could feature Lugosi in one more film.

The other notable cast member who was in the role of an undead ghoul was Maila Nurmi. She was a Finnish-American actress who began her acting career in 1940. In the early 1950s, she came up with the character of Vampira. The character was partially inspired by Morticia Addams. She had pale skin and a tight black dress. The character caught the eye of a television producer who thought Vampira would be the perfect person to host horror movies on television. Maila Nurmi used the Vampira persona in Plan 9 from Outer Space as she stalked and attacked her unsuspecting victims.

Vampira was an instant success on television. Though her hosting duties only lasted a year or so, she was a big inspiration for others. She popped up on other television shows, such as The Red Skelton Show. One of the biggest off-shoots of the Vampira craze, however, became an even bigger hit than she was. In the early 1980s, there was a revival of Vampira’s show being prepared for television. Nurmi ended up leaving the show over creative differences. The character was retooled a little bit. Cassandra Peterson was cast in the role. Elvira was born. The character who was an actress in Plan 9 from Outer Space was one of the biggest horror hosts of the 1950s and helped inspire one of the biggest horror hosts of all time.

That’s not to say that Plan 9 from Outer Space was bad because of Vampira. It was her use that was bad. Ed Wood cast her solely because of her name recognition in the horror world. She had been a big horror host on television. People knew that. They also associated her look with horror. To have her play a monster character in the film would bring those horror expectations to the film as well. Yet, none of her television personality was used. It was the look, and that was all. Her performance was silent. There wasn’t even that much performance, either. It was just her stalking around two different parts of a graveyard. At one point, she stopped appearing and the main characters simply said, “She’s probably out there, but dead now” or something to that effect. It was a bunch of wasted potential.

Now it’s time to get to the truly strange and weird things about Plan 9 from Outer Space that weren’t simple casting choices. The first one of note would be the first one that happened as soon as the movie began. Criswell, a psychic of the time, came on screen to talk to the audience. He spoke vaguely of the strange things that were going to happen in the future of the film. It was like a preacher giving his sermon to a church full of people. He would return at the end to speak about what had happened in the past of the film. This bookend suggested that Criswell was telling the story to the audience. That wasn’t true, outside of the first few seconds when he was doing narration over some old Bela Lugosi footage. Other than that, it was a straightforward, non-narration film.

There were a few questionable production design details in Plan 9 from Outer Space that definitely left a desire for more effort. One of the major sets was a graveyard where all the gravestones were flimsy wood. When the backdraft of the spaceship knocked people over as it sped by, the vibrations of the bodies hitting the floor made the wooden gravestones wobble. It made the whole production look cheap, which, sure, it probably was. But the point is to be cheap but make the film look less cheap.

The other really cheap looking aspect of the production design was the UFO flying through the air. To be fair, that could have been an issue with the time in which the movie was made. It was difficult to make a realistic looking spaceship. Effects weren’t up to the level they are now. They looked sort of like silver, plastic tops that didn’t hover or float, but just moved through a still sky. Except for one shot in Hollywood where the sky moved but they didn’t. Honestly, not the worst spaceships that have been in a movie. They weren’t the best either. Kind of just middle of the road, cheap looking UFOs.

Plan 9 from Outer Space’s biggest issue, however, was the plan itself. A major part of the story was what the aliens were trying to do on Earth. They were implementing their ninth plan to try and make Earth more peaceful. There were eight other plans that were implemented prior, though the only one mentioned was an attempt to contact the Earth’s governments. The ninth plan was to raise the dead and send a zombie horde at the Earth’s capitals. That way, weapons development would never discover a new element that could destroy the universe. That was the plan. There’s no explanation of how zombies would get Earth to just stop their weapons development. If anything, it would cause the need for more development. But that was plan 9.

The last thing that should be brought up is the framing issues of Plan 9 from Outer Space. When Ed Wood made the movie in 1956, he was making it for a widescreen presentation. He framed everything with widescreen in mind. That was how it was released in 1959. Many of the later releases of the film had a different aspect ratio, which meant that things that were supposed to be out of frame now ended up in frame. Some of the set design looked worse because of things that weren’t supposed to be in the shot. Microphones and shadows began appearing. These were things that were never intended, and work was actually done to keep them from being in the film. But the later releases changed the aspect ratio, letting these details in, and these are the versions that people have come to know. It’s a last little dig at the film, unfair as it is.

Between the writing, production design, and strange casting and performances, Plan 9 from Outer Space ended up becoming one of the worst movies ever made. Since its release in 1959, the film has gained a massive cult following of people who want to bask in its inept storytelling. They want to laugh at it and have a good time watching it with their friends. They tout how horrible it is. But there’s one thing that stands Plan 9 from Outer Space over many of the other bad movies. It’s unforgettable.

Certain bad movies manage to make an impression upon the people who watch them. The way that the bad qualities come together brings something magical to the screen. These movies stand out above the rest of the bad movies. They become the famous ones that people tout as the worst of all time. Some people like them and some don’t. But they aren’t forgotten. And that’s what makes them special.

Now let’s get some notes in here:

• Have you seen Plan 9 from Outer Space? What did you think about it? Is it an entertaining bad or just plain terrible? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments.
• If you go to the comments or the Sunday “Bad” Movies Twitter, you can let me know about movies I should be checking out for future posts. I’m open to almost any suggestions.
• There’s an Instagram account for the Sunday “Bad” Movies. Check it out when you get the chance.
• Next week, I’ll be taking a look at a movie from another notorious bad movie director. This time, I’ll be once again visiting Neil Breen. I’ve seen Double Down (week 215) and I’ve seen Fateful Findings (week 147). Next up is I Am Here… Now, which should lead to some interesting writing. I’ll give you a post for it next week. See you then.