Film #3 — 2/2 Bela Lugosi Films; 3/9 Decades
By C. Ramsay
“God help us in the future.”
Widely, though unfairly, considered to be the worst movie ever made, Ed Wood’s indie sci-fi horror project was pieced together in full sincerity around a multitude of obstacles, resulting in an unintentionally campy feature-length work which has since gained the reputation of being one of the ultimate cult classic titles. Opening with a talking head of The Amazing Criswell—a popular but wildly inaccurate American psychic active in the mid-20th century—who also provides ongoing melodramatic narration throughout the film, Plan 9 indicates its atmosphere from the moment it begins, regardless of this atmosphere being inadvertent.
Financed with the help of a Baptist organization under the conditions that the cast and crew be baptized if not already, that the title be changed from Grave Robbers from Outer Space, and that the organization maintain some degree of creative veto power over other elements found to be blasphemous, Wood’s team completed the film on a measly budget. With an amusingly outlandish score, flat line delivery from many of the actors, and the use of existing military stock footage for some of the more elaborate shots, which stick out compared to the quality of the rest of the film, the low production value is obvious but not without charm. Production faced difficulties that included an overall lack of time, the plot still being written as filming was taking place, and attempting to center pre-existing, unrelated silent footage that Wood had shot of Bela Lugosi before the latter’s death into the story to be able to market Plan 9 as Lugosi’s final film. This footage was limited and its use had to be stretched, as did the military stock footage, which led to multiple shots being used more than once. The film is a little slow-paced for its runtime and may have unfolded a bit more smoothly if duplicate shots were removed or some of the walking shots weren’t left to run for quite as long, though in the case of Lugosi’s footage this would have resulted in a much lesser part or even simply the inability to use it. Possibly due to the rushed writing, characters sometimes narrate every internal thought they have as if doing so is a regular form of conversation, adding a sort of stream-of-consciousness flow to the movie that contributes to keeping it lighthearted. On the whole, the film is stitched together and choppy to an extent that can’t go unacknowledged, yet the earnestness that went into finalizing the project and getting it to work as cohesively as it does is what stands out the most.
(more…)