Reynolds Pictures [1959] 79′
country: United States
director: EDWARD D. WOOD JR.
cast: GREGORY WALCOTT, MONA MCKINNON,
cast: DUKE MOORE, TOR JOHNSON, VAMPIRA,
cast: TOM KEENE, CARL ANTHONY, PAUL MARCO
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The narrative of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE should already be familiar to those reading this page, and I’ll not waste time reprising it at length. The premise involves visitors from another world invading our own through the revivification of the recently departed so as to prevent our primitive species from developing a Universe-destroying weapon known as ‘solarbanite’ [or 'solaranite', depending on who's speaking]. Thrown into the mix are a handful of civilians [an airplane pilot, his wife, a police lieutenant, and several officers] and military men, whose frequent encounters with the alien invaders provide the bulk of the film’s dramatic substance. Bookends by The Amazing Criswell lend it a bit of nonsensical doom-and-gloom.
Thanks largely to brothers Michael and Harry Medved, co-authors of the 1980 film criticism effort ‘The Golden Turkey Awards’, PLAN 9′s reputation precedes it, with many many rallying behind that book’s declaration of it as the worst movie ever made. The 1980′s saw a resurgence in the PLAN 9′s popularity – spurred on by home video releases and references in the likes of IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD, the film became a bona fide cult sensation.
