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Memorable, crazy movie

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Plan 9 is a tribute film to the original. It is NOT a remake, nor is it about them filming a remake...which happens to be how the film starts. In the anachronistic town of Nilbog, Virginia (Goblin spelled backwards) a meteor strikes creating reanimation of the recently dead. The film includes characters that look like they were in the original film. The "zombies" become smarter as the town's scientist Lucy Grimm (Sara Eshleman) must figure out how to deal with them. She was my favorite character with the best lines. They needed more of her.Most of the film was entertaining. There was an odd grocery store scene that was awkward which ended up with a major nude scene, and to be honest I had no idea what that was about. I think a better tribute would have included two different people playing the Bela character as well as indifference to day and night shots. Guide: F-Words, sex, nudity

To be honest, I cannot believe that somebody had the balls to remake Plan 9 From Out Of Space since this was voted the worst film ever made and boasted the worst dialogue and scenes ever put on celluloid. Even though it flopped it later gained a classic status for its wrongness. I have to say I have a warm place in my heart for it.So when I caught the trailer for Plan 9 I knew I had to give it at least one viewing.The major trouble with the movie is the writer and director John Johnson. When you take on a project such as this one you have to decide what to keep, what to change, what to eradicate, and what to add and it's here where all his problems arise. The original is loved because it is so bad on so many fronts so you have to keep some of these bad issues in the movie as well as add some, though you have to make it humorous to keep your audience. In some of the other reviews, it's been noted about all the fourth wall shout-outs to other films. I believe this to be intentional and in the "bad" mode, though he may have taken it too far. Also, there are lots of similarities to Romero's Night Of The Living Dead and other Zombie films. I believe Johnson took Plan 9 down the zombie road to pay homage to the movie and send up the sub-genre (it's also not a bad thing as there's a lot of Z-lovers out there, so it gives him a ready-made audience - which is what Edward D Wood Jr did). Though he does keep enough science fiction elements to keep it in this genre. For me the Z's took second place, it wasn't about them it was about the annihilation of mankind so we could all be used as cheap fuel.As for the acting, most of it is average, though on Mr Lobo's part I believe this was intentional, and he does gloriously over-act at times. Whereas, Brian Krause is back on form as the male lead role Jeff Trent. Though it's James Rolfe as the policeman that gets some of the better, and funnier, lines and scenes. I found Sara Eshleman as Lucy Grimm a little wooden though again this could have been intentional in homage to the original. If this is the case then she's a good actress as she does wooden well. However, it does make for enjoying the movie a little difficult as it's a great excuse for anything which didn't work too well... it was a homage!It would have been nice for Johnson not to pay homage to the film by trying to add elements to his remake but to make a straight forward sci- fi flick based on the original story. He proved he can add tension and an atmosphere of dread as is shown with the arrival of the aliens themselves. They were a nice twist as they came to the town members as human, they clearly weren't. Johnson even did an okay job with the action when the heroes go after the aliens. If the same mood and quality had been used throughout we might have had a decent film and not this strange homage.On the whole, the movie works and is nicely filmed. I would gladly recommend it as it is a decent "leave your brain at the door" waste of time. It definitely isn't the worst movie out there... that's the original... Though this is at least worth one viewing on a cold and wet night when there's nothing better to do. However, I do believe this film to be of the "Marmite" Syndrome - you'll either like it or loathe it. It made me smile and laugh more than grimace and frown, so I love it.

Plan 9 is set in Nilbog, a town invaded by aliens. It begins with Mister Lobo playing Criswell, the kiss-curled real-life American psychic (1907-1982), whose mental powers are completely ignored here. Equally, the actor couldn't look less like Crisswell. What we get is the kind of OTT performance that lets you know exactly the style the makers of this remake of 'Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)' (often labelled the worst film ever made) are embracing. There are some pleasing nods to the original of course. The bereaved gentleman played by Bela Lugosi hangs himself whilst wearing a Halloween Dracula cape, Lucy (Sarah Eshleman) playfully dangles a light-shade over a miniature town model, echoing the hub-cap spaceships in Ed Wood's project.'Night of the Living Dead (1968)' and 'The Fog (1980)' are also referenced, as are scenes from other well-known horror films.For me, 'Plan 9' is guilty of the same thing as the film that inspired it: it is a little boring. Not so bad it is good, not so bad it is bad, it just continues long past the point the audience cares. A cheap, campy film with often (deliberately?) cardboard performances and lacklustre monsters, encompassed in a pulpy sci-fi concept, is only entertaining for a limited time before the audience want something more 'solid' to invest in. Taken as it is, it might well be best watched with friends, over pizza and other occasional distractions.

Well, I might as well say that before I start, I must say that whatever you're going to read below still means what I'm saying here in that this is probably the best thing you could have done with remaking Plan 9 From Outer Space. If you want a half-homage half-mock then this for the most part feels unbalanced at best.I'm not even going to say anything about the plot because I assume you know the Ed Wood movie. Aliens attack and they use the recently dead to attack the living in a zombie outbreak. There are some funny parts like the parody of the opening and other tiny stuff like this taking place in Nilbog but really, they don't take as many advantages as I thought they would, an example is that if they wanted to do all-out satire then the Bela Lugosi character is just a zombie - no homages to the fact that in the movie he switches between being 2 foot taller then the real Bela.Which in all honesty does make this movie seem confused. If they want to over-exaggerate elements within the film as a satire... Hey, I've seen that done with Reefer Madness, it could be funny here too. If you want to do a remake by thinking Ed Wood had some basics of making a horror/sci-fi which could work in the hands of a good director, okay. But this tries to balance both out, a more difficult thing to do then either (which I respect them taking that risk) but the end result is a metaphorical pendulum swinging between both of them while making something... serviceable. What I mean by that is that as a comedy, you can't beat the cheesiness and warped mind of Ed Wood and what he was turning out. As something straight up, it does fine - but my point is, I don't feel it did all it could do to achieve either.How are the technical elements? Boy is that a million dollar question. I say this because while it does fine in some places and not so fine in others, often times I'm unclear on whether it's being deliberate or a legit mistake. Sorry, for this - I'm at a loss.While I said this movie didn't feel it did all it could do to achieve what it was doing? Despite this - personally, I think it's worth seeing. The idea of remaking bad movies engraved into pop culture like this and to some extent Reefer Madness The Musical, while it won't exactly be as successful as the original it's an idea that I hope gets practiced more in the future then the usual mentality remakes go by with making a quick buck on something that will be for the most part - completely forgotten by the masses. I'll give this credit in saying that it's probably one of the better remakes out there, even if it's for the particularly strange idea to even do it in the first place.