Cheap Plan 9 from Outer Space (DVD) (Gregory Walcott, Tom Keene) (Edward D. Wood Jr.) Price

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Customer Reviews of Plan 9 from Outer Space

None of this is important, though. What is fun in the inane dialogue, some examples of which are, "We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives.", "You see? Your stupid minds!", and "Inspector Clay is dead! Murdered! And someone's responsible!". In addition, supposedly contiguous scenes are filmed half in the daytime, half at night; you can see strings on the flying saucers (descibed as "cigar shaped" in the dialogue); styrofoam gravestones wobble; etc. The star of the film, Bela Lugosi, passed away before the movie started production - most of his part is played by another actor with a cape over his face.

Thus, there is enough here to keep anyone amused, if not laughing out loud, through most of the film. It is highly recommended.

The rest of my comments will centre on the DVD edition. The video is remarkably clear and crisp. The audio track does not fare as well, but it's okay. There are some extras, including some trailers for both this film and other Wood offerings - very entertaining. Finally, there are some interviews. Unfortunately, some are inane, dealing solely with the Tim Burton Movie "Ed Wood", which, while interesting, are not really appropriate here. The more personal interviews are better - one of Wood's actresses and ex-girlfriends, a neighbour of Tor Johnson's, and Lugosi's son. An okay set of extras for a movie that's 40 years old. But why, OH WHY??, did the company that produced the movie insist on putting its semitransparent logo in the corner (like the little TV network logos) through the entire movie? Argh!! This feature alone robs the movie of its fifth star.

GET THE CORRECT VERSION OF THIS DVD!
After reading many of the other Amazon.com reviews of the "Plan 9 From Outer Space" DVD, the consumer MUST be aware there are two different companies that are distributing this movie on DVD. The first is PASSPORT which, from all the other reviews seem to say, should be avoided. Apparently the company has their logo visible on screen the ENTIRE movie and featurette which follows. And they also don't even include a chapter index. The other company which distributes this movie is IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT. This is the version I have and THIS is the DVD to get of "Plan 9". (The cover of my version is the one Amazon.com has displayed in the picture above.) The picture quality is near perfect and the Dolby Digital Mono sound is excellent. And. . . .no annoying logo in the bottom corner of your screen. While the (seemingly) inferior PASSPORT version supposedly has a few interviews cobbled together from Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" press junket, the IMAGE version includes a 111 minute documentary which includes some of the stars of Plan 9 (including Vampira) as well as cult horror directors Sam Raimi and Joe Dante! It's two movies for the price of one! So unless you're a die-hard Johnny Depp fan and NEED to have a couple of clips of him speaking, the IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT DVD is the absolute one to purchase. I believe Amazon.com offers both so just beware. And if you're thinking of buying one from an on-line auction make sure you ask the person selling which version they have. I hope this helps.

Well it ain't the worst
In fact besides I'd go as far as to say this is perhaps the most competent Ed Wood movie around. Sure there are glaring errors such as Bela running back and forth to the grave in broad daylight ( when it's supposed to be night-time ) and his replacement is obvious ( come on, he's at least 4 inches taller I reckon ). And indeed the last 20 minutes descended into a farce that unfortunately sunk the film. Yes, it shows a degree of ineptitude on Ed's part but for most of the film there was an almost professional air to how the actors acted.

Ed thought that he'll be remembered for this film. This was his big one and he's right, it's the one we remember him most for. However I don't think he would have liked the tag it's been given but if you want to be remembered he certainly went about the right way in doing it ( even if the results were all wrong )

But if we start at the start with Bela's last real scene where he mourns his lover's death - that was a really touching scene. The emotion in that looks too real that it can't be described as fake or cardboard cut out. If anything that was the most poignant scene Ed ever captured on film. He may have been an inept film-maker but that was a stroke of genius - no kidding!

I get the feeling Ed cast Vampira as Lugosi's wife mainly because if you've seen the Tim Burton movie you'll know that Lugosi thought she was " a honey " and it was certainly a nice gesture to Bela to do that. Vampira doesn't have to do much in this film. Just walk really slowly and look ominous whenever the camera is on her. Looks beautiful while doing so I have to admit. I'm almost certain that she inspired George Romero to make Night of The Living Dead by her walking alone.

Criswell makes his appearance in this film and you have to say, him, along with Vampira and Tor, got almost uncanny lookalikes in Tim Burton's biopic that it seems almost spooky.

Hats off to whoever had the idea of using saucer lids for um the use of flying saucers. Really neat and easily identified even if it was black and white. Still not too bad a job. Oh and who could forget Saturn as a ballbearing - Top Class!

The last 20 minutes are a farce as I've said before mainly because it's supposed to be a showdown between the humans and the aliens....or to be more precise 3 men with guns and a man and a woman in funny clothing that are supposed to be aliens. The acting here is horrifically poor and despite it all being passionately acted it just seems.....well a bit silly. And whatever niggling doubts you had about the film leading up to the last 20 minutes, will no doubt be exposed by the end. A shame because the film showed Ed at his most coherent. And that sadly was the pinnacle of Ed's career.

So all in all it's not the worst movie of all time and certainly not the worst you'll ever see ( unless you're a connoisseur of good taste and in that case what the hell are you reading this for ). Definitely his most enjoyable film. Now if someone could only just tell Criswell to shut up ( I wish Ed had tried, honestly try to do that ).

But for Ed, this would be his shot at greatness and while it backfired, it was about as good as he could make it. Perhaps if he were making these now and not 40 years ago he might have gotten away with it. And I'm sure Ben Affleck would have been great as the dumb pilot if it were made now. Think about it

Here's to Ed though - he may not have been the greatest but he sure knew how to entertain us