Plan 9 from Outer Space

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959): Starring- Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore, Tom Keene, Tor Johnson, Paul Marco, Dudley Manlove (no, I'm not making that name up), Johanna Lee, John Breckinridge, Lyle Talbot, Conrad Brooks, Vampira (I'm not making that name up, either), Criswell, Tom Mason, and Bela Lugosi.

Directed by- Ed Wood.

Ah, Ed Wood, you magnificent, brilliant, insane bastard. Who else could have given us the movies you gave us?


For those of you who don't know him, Ed Wood is almost universally hailed and beloved as the worst director of all time. He brought us some of the worst, cheesiest, most insane and hilariously awful films of their time. And many movie fans, myself included, happen to love his movies for this very reason. In fact, I'm not ashamed to admit, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE happens to be a Halloween tradition for me.


So, without further ado, let's get on with the review!





The movie begins with a brief prologue, entitled "Criswell Predicts", in which popular "psychic" Criswell gives us a prediction for the future. FYI, this is Criswell:

Criswell has some wonderful advice to give us, such as: "My friends, you are interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives!" or "Future events, such as these, will affect you in the future!" Anyway, he attempts to make the claim that this movie was based on a true story (it wasn't) and we get on with the plot.

The film begins with the funeral of a young woman (played by former late-night TV hostess, Vampira). At the exact same moment, flying saucers are spotted in the sky, hovering over the graveyard. The young woman then rises from the grave and kills two gravediggers by raising her arms.

The next morning, the woman's husband (played by stock footage of Bela Lugosi) is distracted by his grief over her death, and is killed offscreen in a car accident. The man is also resurrected (now played by an obvious double).

Soon after, the gravediggers' bodies are discovered, and the police are called in, led by Inspector Clay (Tor Johnson, whose dialog is completely incomprehensible.) The old man and his wife make short work of Clay, and he is later resurrected as well.

The zombies (all three of them) and the flying saucers continue to terrorize the small town, and Earth is left with pilot Jeff Trent (Walcott) as it's only hero. We're doomed.

It so happens that a race of aliens is responsible for bringning back the dead as zombies in the hopes that this will stop humanity from creating a grand weapon that would destroy all life on Earth. So, their solution to the destruction of humanity is to destroy humanity? Makes sense, I guess...

I could write an essay on all the mistakes in this movie. There are numerous gravestones that are knocked over accidentally by the actors, the special effects are bad (and I don't mean 1950's bad, I mean hilariously bad), the dialog is stilted and silly, and most of the acting is downright awful.

Take, for instance, the flying saucers. I could describe them, but instead I've included a picture of them:

I think that photo speaks for itself.

How about the zombies? These are supposed to be terrifying, frightening creatures that will make humanity change its ways. And what do they look like, you may ask? Well, this:

Or, they look like this:

Not too intimidating, are they?

But, by far my favorite part of this of this movie has got to be the Lugosi character. You see, Ed Wood was a good friend of Lugosi towards the end of his life, and Lugosi starred in two of Wood's previous films. Unfortunately, the actor died shortly before filming of PLAN 9 began. However, Wood had leftover footage of Lugosi, and decided to splice it into the movie and market it as being Lugosi's last film. But Lugosi's character is rather central to the plot. So, half the time, we see stock footage of Lugosi, and half the time we see a double who looks nothing like Lugosi. Allow me to illustrate.

This is what the real Lugosi looked like at the time:

And this is what the double looks like:

Having trouble seeing the double's face? Well, too bad, because he does that "cape over the face" move every time he's on screen.

You know, I really should give this a negative review. I really should. There's absolutely nothing good about it, but it's just so damned entertaining. I can't bring myself to hate it. This movie is the very definition of the phrase "So bad it's good." It's really a lot of fun.

Does that mean that I'm recommending PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE? Well, let's put it this way: As a movie, it's terrible. But as a bad movie, it's a grade-A masterpiece! Besides, there are many worse ways to spend 70 minutes.

My rating: Rating this film is a somewhat difficult task, so I've decided to give it two ratings.

Regular movie scale: * out of * * * *

Trash movie scale: * * * * out of * * * *

The Bride of Frankenstein

Dear sweet lord... Nearly two months. How in the hell did that happen?! Well, with October around again and horror on my mind, I've decided to find my way back to my little blog. After all, it's the one-year anniversary of this place. Well, technically, that was a few days ago, but I didn't notice that little oversight until it was too late. So now, it's time for some Halloween reviews!






With that said, let's begin. If you'll recall, my very first review back in last October was of James Whales' seminal classic, FRANKENSTEIN (1931). Taking the logical step from there, Tonight I'm reviewing his even-more-seminal (in my opinion at least) sequel, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935).

THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935): Starring- Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Una O'Connor, E.E. Clive, Dwight Frye, O.P. Heggie, and Elsa Lanchester.

Directed by- James Whale.

My review of the original FRANKENSTEIN was little more than a short blurb calling the movie an absolute classic. I hope I can go a little more in-depth this time, especially since I believe that this movie is even better than the first.

While it is very rare to find a sequel that is better than the original, I think this one can certainly make that claim. While the original is a brilliant and innovative horror movie, it did have its faults. This film has barely any, and improves upon the original in almost every way.

The film begins where the first one left off. Well, sort of. There is a brief prologue featuring Mary Shelley (Lanchester) explaining that she did not tell the entire story in her famous novel. (A bit unnecessary, considering that FRANKENSTEIN barely resembled Shelley's novel.)

Anyway, after that the film picks up where the original left off. Dr. Frankenstein (Clive) is being taken home to recover from his injuries while The Monster (Karloff, giving yet another fantastic performance in this role) burns alive at the hands of the angry villagers. However, The Monster isn't as dead as he seems. After killing two villagers and terrifying a few others, he is on the prowl throughout the countryside again. But, unlike the first movie, this time around The Monster is angry and on the warpath.

Meanwhile, Frankenstein is visited by an old friend and teacher, Dr. Septimus Pretorious (Thesiger). Pretorious shows Frankenstein that he has had similar ideas and created life himself. Unfortunately, Pretorious' creations were grown naturally instead of sewn togehter. Therefore, these creatures are only a few inches tall. Pretorious decides to blackmail Frankenstein into building a life-sized mate for The Monster. Frankenstein, however is unwilling to continue his work.

After meeting an old blind man in the woods, The Monster is taught to speak, and begins to desire a companion. He runs into Pretorious, who begins to use the creature as a pawn in his devilish plot. Knowing what The Monster is capable of, Frankenstein reluctantly agrees and the two scientists begin work on The Bride (Lachester, again...).

As I said before, I think this film surpasses the original in almost every way. The performances, the direction, the set design, and the cinematography are all perfect with very few exceptions. This movie is the ultimate product of Universal's horror cycle in the '30's and '40's, and I think it may be the best horror movie of the 1930's.

The performances are fantastic, especially Boris Karloff as The Monster. He brings a quiet pathos and sadness to the role, as he did in the first film. This time around, The Monster is allowed to speak, and Karloff has some brilliant lines ("I love dead.... hate living!") which he delivers perfectly . Also returning is Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, giving yet another panicked, jittery performance that suits the character so well. Valerie Hobson is somewhat stiff as Elizabeth Frankenstein, but I much prefer her to Mae Clark, who played the character in the original. Besides Karloff's, the best performance in the film is delivered by Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorious. He does everything in the film with such a devilish delight. This character is clearly entertained by just about everything around him, joking and laughing to his heart's content, and Thesiger delivers the dialogue with deliciously evil mirth. He also gives the most memorable line in the entire movie: "To a new world, of Gods and Monsters!" That is a true mad scientist, my friends.

Whale's direction is wonderful, and it's clear that this man knew how to make a movie. It's honestly a shame he didn't get more recognition as a director, but at least he got a biopic:

Anyway, the film looks fantastic, and was clearly a huge influence on many later horror films. This movie is responsible for just about everything we assosciate with old-fashioned horror these days. It has it all: Manic mad scientists, hulking monsters, damsels in distress, demented assitants, angry villagers, exploding buildings, a tragic ending, and best of all: the gigantic, elaborate laboratory sets (The exact props from this film were used in the original FRANKENSTEIN, this film, FRANKENSTEIN 1970 (1958), and many others, even YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974). Those are some durable sets.)

So, there you have it. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is an absolute classic, and required viewing around Halloween.

My rating: * * * * out of * * * *