Plan 9 from Outer Space was released on 22 July 1959.
People love to mock it as “the worst film ever made!” But in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, there is no mention of the film — or even Ed Wood. The Golden Turkey Awards (the follow-up) named it worst ever — but only based on a ballot of readers for the first book.
Regardless, I can’t take such complaints seriously. I have met relatively few people who have seen the film. Most people have simply heard that it is terrible. Or they’ve just seen Ed Wood.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a great film. But it has far more creativity than a lot of films people think highly of. As I wrote a few years back, “It’s still better than any sequel to Iron Man.”
I love that Wood does a great job of making the space aliens sympathetic. Their cause is just! But he still ends the film in a traditional way but with the understanding that the universe is on the verge of annihilation because the aliens could only manage to reanimate 3 corpses over the course of 80 minutes!
The film also renders some very effective moments. Vampira, in particular, is great every time she’s on the screen even though she never talks. And all the reveals of the corpses after the aliens remove the “long-distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary glands” work great.
You owe it to yourself to watch Plan 9 from Outer Space on its 66th birthday. That’s especially true if you haven’t seen it before. Go ahead and laugh at the tombstones. Roll your eyes at Criswell’s portentous narration. Titter at the irrelevant action and dialogue. But pay attention! Because Ed is in a hurry and will not explain twice. For example. Bela Lugosi dies offscreen with only sound effects and you get about two seconds to notice it.
With this in mind, enjoy this excellent print of the film from Archive:
Plan 9 From Outer Space poster is in the public domain.