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Plan 9 from Outer Space (film)

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“ Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid! ”
- Eros


Plan 9 from Outer Space is a sci-fi/horror film written and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. It is widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made.

Plot[]

Alien beings attempt to conquer the Earth by re-animating the recently deceased, starting in the Los Angeles area. This plan is thwarted by a daring pilot, a military officer, and some local police.

Cast[]

Notes[]

  • Production of the film was dramatized in the 1994 movie Ed Wood. Some of the actors from Plan 9 appear in small roles in Ed Wood, including Gregory Walcott as a potential investor and Conrad Brooks as a bartender.
  • The film's "Worst Movie" reputation came to prominence in The Golden Turkey Awards. At the end of their previous volume The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, the Medved Brothers asked readers to send in their votes for what they thought was the worst movie. Plan 9 took the #1 spot, with Exorcist II: The Heretic placing second. This was notable because Plan 9 was considerably older than most of the other movies that got votes (the rest of the Top Ten were all from the 1970s with the oldest being Airport 1975).
  • Plan 9 from Outer Space was also referred to in the 1991 episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Chinese Restaurant", in which Jerry referred to it as "the worst movie ever made".
  • The few exterior locations from the film include San Fernando Pioneer Memorial Cemetery, the home of Tor Johnson (which doubled as the home of the Old Man and the Trents), and a San Fernando Valley police station that has since been converted to a VFW building. These locations are featured in an episode of the PBS TV series Locationland starring Harry Medved, with guest Dana Gould (who often performs staged readings of the Plan 9 script with his colleagues from the comedy community).
    • Interior scenes were primarily filmed at Quality Studios in Los Angeles, which is now a recording studio called Gold-Diggers Sound.
  • Tor Johnson's adult son Karl Johnson makes a brief appearance as the motorist who discovers the unconscious Mrs. Trent near the cemetery.
  • Actor Johnny Duncan appears as the 2nd Stretcher Bearer. Duncan had previously played Robin the Boy Wonder in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin, which later became a RiffTrax presentation. After Plan 9, he had a small role in the 1960 film Spartacus, then retired from acting. He passed away in 2016.
  • Gloria Dea appears in a small role as a mourner. She had previously been a successful stage magician and dancer in Las Vegas. She was the only surviving member of the film's cast when she passed away in March of 2023 at the age of 100.
  • Like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and The Atomic Brain, Plan 9 from Outer Space has been adapted into a stage musical.
  • In November of 2023, Joel Hodgson announced that Plan 9 from Outer Space was one of the films planned to be used in Season 14. The crowd-funding campaign was not successful, so it remains to be seen if Plan 9 will be used in any future MST3K projects.

Riffed Versions[]

MST3K Connections[]

Critical Responses[]

  • Leonard Maltin wrote: "BOMB [...] Hailed as the worst movie ever made; certainly one of the funniest. [...] So mesmerizingly awful it actually improves (so to speak) with each viewing."[4]
  • Michael Weldon stated in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, "The merits of this incredible film have not been exaggerated. It's not actually the worst film ever made, but it's the most entertaining bad one you'll find. [...] Audiences stare in disbelief at the studio floor under the moving grass in the cemetery, flying saucers made of paper plates, night constantly changing to day and back again, and a jet-cockpit set that elementary school kids could have designed for a play. [...] Worth watching nine times."

References[]

  1. ↑ Dana Gould facebook post
  2. ↑ Ticket listing for Plan 9 from Outer Space
  3. ↑ "Q&A With Mystery Science Theater’s Frank Conniff", Portland Monthly
  4. ↑ Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, 2015 Edition
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