Plan 9 From Outer Space

Plan 9 from Outer Space is a science fiction/horror film written, produced and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. in 1958, and released in 1959. The film stars Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila “Vampira” Nurmi. The film also claims to posthumously star Bela Lugosi through use of archive footage and a brief scene of the actor shot by Wood just before Lugosi’s death in 1956, although Lugosi’s character is primarily portrayed by chiropractor Tom Mason.

The plot of the film is focused on a race of extraterrestrial beings who are seeking to
stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon that would destroy the universe. In the course of doing so, the aliens implement “Plan 9”, a scheme to resurrect Earth’s dead as zombies to get the planet’s attention, causing chaos.

By merit of its writing, unconvincing special effects, and multiple production errors visible in the final version of the film, Plan 9 from Outer Space is sometimes regarded as a leading candidate for the title of “worst movie ever made”. It has also earned Edward D. Wood, Jr. a posthumous Golden Turkey Award as the worst director ever.

In 2006, Legend Films released a colorized version of Plan 9 from Outer Space on DVD. Though the colorization process was largely done straight, unlike the campy bright colors used in the studio’s release of Reefer Madness, there were a few alterations. Legend had auctioned off the opportunity to insert new material into the film through two auctions on eBay. The first allowed the auction winner to provide a photograph that is digitally inserted into part of the scene between the Ghoul Man and Paula Trent. The second allowed the winner to have his or her name placed on a gravestone during a scene with Wood regular Tor Johnson. The third alteration is at a point where Eros gets punched and his skin briefly turns green.