{"id":16611,"date":"2011-04-18T14:26:04","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T21:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16611"},"modified":"2020-12-10T21:45:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T04:45:50","slug":"plan-9-from-outer-spacegrave-robbers-from-outer-space-1959","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16611","title":{"rendered":"Plan 9 From Outer Space\/Grave Robbers From Outer Space (1959)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It&#8217;s because of men like you that all must be destroyed.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16612\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn advanced alien species attempts to prevent the Earth from destroying the universe with atomic weaponry by taking over the minds of three recently deceased corposes (Bela Lugosi, Vampira, and Tor Johnson).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Aliens<\/li>\n<li>Bela Lugosi Films<\/li>\n<li>Ed Wood Films<\/li>\n<li>Mind Control and Hypnosis<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<li>World Domination<\/li>\n<li>Zombies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn the opening of his review for this infamously awful film &#8212; voted the &#8220;World&#8217;s Worst Film&#8221; by readers of the Medved brothers&#8217; <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Golden_Turkey_Awards\"><em>Golden Turkey Awards<\/em><\/a> &#8212; Peary writes that in an &#8220;era when bad-film freaks have come out of the closet and really awful films are looked on with affection, Edward D. Wood&#8217;s berserk sci-fi film is revered by a large and growing cult who contend that it has moved beyond camp to legend status&#8221; (indeed, he analyzes it at length in his first <em>Cult Movies<\/em> book). Peary facetiously notes that if you &#8220;give a monkey a camera&#8230; it&#8217;ll make a better picture&#8221;, and will &#8220;certainly do a better job with the money&#8221; (neither of which is quite true), and notes that &#8220;every facet of this production, from acting, script, and direction to special effects, prop selection, and editing, is putrid&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;so putrid that the film is hilarious&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>The production history of this notoriously awful howler is so well-documented that I humbly refer you to any of the reviews referenced below (or to <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Plan_9_from_outer_space\">Wikipedia&#8217;s article<\/a>). In a nutshell, Wood appears to have cobbled his film together out of the very limited resources he had at hand &#8212; starting with two minutes of footage of his recently deceased friend, Bela Lugosi, whose character is thereafter played by his wife&#8217;s chiropractor, hiding his face behind a cape. The result is a film in which nearly every &#8220;bad movie&#8221; element one can think of shows up &#8212; and (as noted in Peary&#8217;s <em>Cult Movies<\/em> review), &#8220;except for about a hundred dull spots&#8221;, it&#8217;s actually &#8220;a lot of fun&#8221;. In his more extended review, Peary calls out the film&#8217;s many hilariously awful features, including the &#8220;terrible cheap sets&#8221;; the hideous interpolation of shots taking place in daytime and nighttime; the flying saucers (made out of paper plates) which &#8220;look like chinaware flung into the air&#8221;; the way that &#8220;everyone fails to respond while The Ghoul Man&#8230; strangles Officer Calvin in front of their eyes&#8221;; and, of course, the &#8220;incomparable dialogue&#8221; &#8212; all of which make for a surprisingly entertaining viewing experience, if you&#8217;re in the right mood. <\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, Peary argues that Wood made a film which is so &#8220;atrocious&#8221; that perhaps he hoped &#8220;censors wouldn&#8217;t bother with [the] <em>subversive<\/em> themes&#8221;. He suggests that in &#8220;this one God-awful, terribly made, poor excuse for a picture, Wood is more critical of America&#8217;s government (which conceals much from the public) and military strategy (that calls for an arms build-up and further nuclear testing) than any other director of the period dared to be.&#8221; That alone, as Peary writes, may be reason enough to relegate &#8220;another, less daring film to wear&#8221; this film&#8217;s dubious &#8220;World&#8217;s Worst film banner&#8221;; he quickly notes, however, that he&#8217;s &#8220;just kidding&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S.<\/strong> In his review, Peary mentions that &#8220;God [only] knows what the first eight &#8216;Plans&#8217; were&#8221; &#8212; but if you&#8217;d like to hear one band&#8217;s take on this hypothetical question, click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WtXulbqwLBo&#038;feature=related\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><strong>P.P.S.<\/strong> Since <em>Plan 9<\/em> is in the public domain, it&#8217;s available for free viewing at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.archive.org\/\">http:\/\/www.archive.org\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Laughably bad dialogue: &#8220;Future events such as these will affect us in the future.&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Dialogue.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Dialogue.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Dialogue.jpg 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Dialogue-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Dialogue-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Plenty of unintentional &#8220;bad movie&#8221; laughs throughout<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Laughably.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Laughably.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Laughably.jpg 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Laughably-128x85.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Laughably-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A surprisingly provocative and subversive &#8220;message&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nOf course &#8212; as the ultimate &#8220;bad movie&#8221; experience. Check out the second paragraph of <a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/sciencefiction\/plan-9-from-outer-space-1959.htm\">Richard Scheib&#8217;s review<\/a> for an illuminating overview of the various types of &#8220;bad&#8221; movies out there; he convincingly argues that the term &#8220;bad&#8221; is far too vague to fit the spectrum of ineptitude present in the world of cinema. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0052077\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.badmovies.org\/movies\/plannine\/\">BadMovies.org Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/classic-horror.com\/reviews\/plan_9_from_outer_space_1959\">Classic Horror Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/sciencefiction\/plan-9-from-outer-space-1959.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/plan-9-from-outer-space\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s because of men like you that all must be destroyed.&#8221; Synopsis: An advanced alien species attempts to prevent the Earth from destroying the universe with atomic weaponry by taking over the minds of three recently deceased corposes (Bela Lugosi, Vampira, and Tor Johnson). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Aliens Bela Lugosi Films Ed Wood Films Mind Control and Hypnosis Science Fiction World Domination Zombies Response to Peary\u2019s Review: In the opening of his review for this infamously awful film&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16611\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56988,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16611\/revisions\/56988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}