Plan 9 From Outer Space – How Bad Could It Be?

Plan 9 From Outer Space – How Bad Could It Be?

Plan 9 From Outer Space is a film about aliens in flying saucers who resurrect corpses. This film is widely regarded as the worst film of all time, but just how bad is it?

Where to begin?

How about the writing? In the opening of Plan 9 From Outer Space, Criswell, the film’s narrator, says, “We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.” This is one of my favorite lines from the movie. It’s such an utterly pointless line, yet it’s said with so much seriousness. The whole movie is chocked full with lines like this.

The sets are of such poor quality that they make even the sets of a Saturday Night Live sketch look like a James Cameron film. Even the lighting is off, and by off I mean that it makes no sense. Here is what I mean: Early in the film, two grave diggers see the resurrected corpse of a woman. In the shots with the gravediggers, there is still light out, but the shots showing the resurrected woman look like the dead of night. This is a completely unforgivable error.

To call the acting wooden would be an insult to the billions of trees across the globe.  The action in the fight scenes are pathetic. The story is unbelievably stupid. I could go on and on…

Plan 9 is a blatantly bad film, but is it really the worst film of all time? I’ve seen plenty of other flawed films, such as: Manos: The Hands of Fate, Teenagers From Outer Space, and The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy. Plan 9 might not actually be the worst film ever made, but of the appallingly cut-rate films I have seen, Plan 9 is probably the most fun; its shoddiness is consistent and ridiculous enough to keep one laughing from beginning to end.