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Top 5 Reviews

Plan 9 From Space (1958, 1959)

Grave Robbers From Outer Space
Vampire's Tomb


Cast:

Lyle Talbot
Bela "Dracula" Lugosi is the Old Man
Tor "IT's the Beast of Yucca Flats" Johnson is Inspector Daniel Clay
Vampira is Creepy Dead Woman....


What the box says:

Cult Director Ed Wood's "cinematic masterpiece" - and also regaurded as one of the worst movies ever made! Plan Nine is so bad it's good. Alien invaders use their dreaded "Plan Nine" to re-animate dead earthlings. They wreak havoc and unleash a host of things bizarre, macabrer, horrific, and just plain horrible.

Using footage from a Bela Lugusi movie he was unable to finish (due to Lugosi's untimely death), Wood proved again he would and could make a film under any circumstances. Hubcaps on wires doubling for flying saucers, stumbling living dead, concrete visisble beneath fake grass, and matresses visible for actors to fall on are just a few of the unbelievable gaffes and goofs you'll see. The result is a comical and campy spoof of science ficition movies themselves. The cast includes TV horror queen Vampira, a host of zombies, military bufffoons, and Lugusi in his last performance. Plan Nine has taken on a legendary status of its own and is a MUST for any serious cult film fan.


Plot:

Criswell, psychic, talks about the future and about this true story based on actual testimony of eyewitnesses.

A dark and stormy night, see title credits on gravestones. This movie has special guest stars. Ed Wood directed, wrote, and produced. Friends, quality must ensue.

At a funeral, Criswell is giving a narration concerning death. Bela Lugosi is distraught over the death of his wife. The mourners leave as the grave diggers fill the grave.

Plane is about to land, the pilot Jeff Trent spots a strange light. It’s a flying saucer. He contacts the radio tower and is told to keep it from the plane’s passengers.

UFO continues flying before landing at the cemetery at night. The grave diggers are working obviously during the day. They hear a noise and leave. Vampira glides out. This is one scary looking woman: a pale woman with a 17-inch waist and 6 inch fingernails. She could teach the white-faced-witch-like woman with killer-claws from Evil Brain From Outer Space a lot. We hear screaming as the scene ends abruptly.

The next day, Bela leaves his house. Criswell pontificates on Bela’s grief. Bela picks a flower and walks off screen. We hear a scream and screeching tires. An ambulance races along.

At the cemetery, people leave Bela’s mausoleum. It looks like it was designed by the clown car people. There is no way that many people could fit inside it. Maybe, it’s like Dr. Who’s TARDIS. Vampira watches from a distance, ever silently. A couple leaves the mausoleum, and the wife sees the dead grave diggers…

Cops race to the graveyard. Inspector Daniel Clay is in charge. I’m not going to call him clay again. It’s Tor Johnson, 400 pound Swedish wrestler! He looks alone for clues. The cops investigate the area around the bodies until the morgue wagon arrives.

Jeff Trent, the pilot, is at home with his wife, Paula. He’s moody about the whole UFO deal and tells her about it. The military doesn’t want him telling anyone. But, Jeff knows what he saw. A strange light flashes past them. And, the couple is knocked to their feet.

At the cemetery, the cops are stunned by the same light. They get back to their feet. Tor sees the UFO land and passes by Bela’s mausoleum. The mausoleum door opens, and the cape wearing fake Bela Lugosi appears. NOTE: This guy is 6 inches taller than Bela, wears the cape to hide his face. Actually, fake Bela is the producer’s wife’s chiropractor.

Fake Bela follows Tor. Tor spots him and opens fire. Bullets are useless. The cops rush to where they hear the shots. The cops find Tor, dead. Cops are unsure whether the saucer they saw had anything to do with Tor’s death. But, they’ll find the killer.

The police attend the funeral of Inspector Tor, while Vampira watches from afar.

Saucers fly overhead and are spotted. We get the spinning newspaper montage sequence. The saucers fly over Hollywood, montage, too. They’re seen over Washington D.C. Troops are activated.


Don't mind us, just want to destroy your world...

The army led by Colonel Edwards readies to attack. Stock footage of army loading howitzers, etc….The saucers are shot at to no avail. They fly away, but not home. The army is unable to track them on radar. Edwards tells of how we tried communicating with the saucers to no avail. They attacked a town, granted a small town… The higher-ups covered up the massacre of that small town. Stock footage of fighter jets hunting for the saucers.

The saucer docks with the mother ship to receive repairs. The aliens have tried contacting Earth’s various governments, but they refused to reply. High Muckity-muckity Leader orders that Plan 9 be implemented. The plan is to raise the dead. So far, 2 corpses have been reanimated. No living Earthers have seen them. High Muckity orders Eros to continue with Plan 9 and, his saucer heads back to Earth.

Jeff is about to leave, afraid for Paula left alone near the cemetery where everything has been happening. Jeff thinks something strange is going on in the cemetery. With such a master of the obvious, the plane he flies must be very secure. He leaves. Later on, in mid-flight Jeff is distracted. By the cemetery and saucers…The stewardess convinces him to call someone to check on Paula.

Fake Bela Lugosi is walking around the cemetery in his cape. The phone rings and Paula answers it. Fake Bela sneaks into the house. The bedroom door opens. Paula beats feet to escape the Fake Bela who follows behind her slowly. Vampira watches Paula run through the cemetery. We see throbbing, your minds out of the gutter, throbbing earth erupt from a grave. Vampira chases Paula who spots the zombie 400 pound Tor rise from his grave.


I am Torrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

Tor slowly walks in a stumbling lurching gait, while Paula is running for her life. I know the budget is cheap. But, this is where I noticed the fake Bela walk past a grave stone that wobbles after he brushed past it. Paula runs along the road and is found by a neighbor. A few day for night shots ensue. Vampira and Tor are nearby. Paula and the neighbor are about to drive away. When wait for it…the car won’t start. As Fake Bela approaches, the car starts.

March of the zombies begins. Police head to the cemetery. Some more day and night shots are mixed. We see Vampira and Fake Bela trudge along in the day when the cops are searching the cemetery at night. Tor continues his ungainly gait and Vampire resumes gliding like she’s on a skateboard.

Aliens let Tor and Vampira aboard the saucer. Zombies see the aliens as prey. They cut the resurrecting ray which has them stand still. Fake Bela enters, too.

The police are unsure of what’s going on. The saucer takes off. The official feel in the police department is something funny is going on in the cemetery. The saucer was heard taking off. The police find an empty grave. They don’t know whose grave it was. They were just there yesterday for the funeral of Inspector Tor. But, Tor is gone.

Washington D.C. at the Pentagon, Colonel Edwards is questioned about flying saucers. Aliens have contacted the government. The military has built a language computer to translate the alien language into English. Edwards hears the messages. Although, the aliens are extremely advanced compared to Earth, their purpose isn’t conquest but to save Earth. And, if Earth won’t be friendly, the aliens can be hostile, too. Earth is on the verge of destroying the universe with explosives. More on this later. Edwards is sent to California where the saucer has been spotted around a cemetery. His mission is to investigate and contact the aliens.

On the mother ship, Muckity-Muck is briefed by Eros, who shows off the zombies. The plan has to be accelerated. They need live Earthlings for some reason. Tor is brought in and starts choking Eros Note: Eros is played by DUDLEY MANLOVE!! Tanna’s resurrection gun isn’t working. Tor is stopped at the last minute. Muckity is impressed by Tor. Leader alters the plan use the disintegrator beam on Fake Bela. Earth is close to endangering the universe. Armies of the dead will swarm the capitals of Earth. Eros and Tanna return to Earth.

Police car is in high speed and pulls off to the side of the road. We’ve seen this scene at least twice so far. Saucer lands in the cemetery. Colonel Edwards, Lieutenant Harper and Patrol Kelton arrive to meet with Jeff and Paula. She tells her story. Fake Bela is sent out. They hear a noise.

Fake Bela attacks Kelton as the rest watch in horror. Bullets have no effect on him. The beam hits Fake Bela and leaves only a skeleton in cape. Our heroes head to the cemetery. Edwards, Jeff, and Harper have guns and will search for the saucer. Kelton who recovers is to protect Paula. Our intrepid heroes check the empty grave of Tor. Vampire watches from afar. Tor’s grave looks broken out of not broken into.

At the saucer, Eros plans to capture the Earthlings. Tor is sent to catch Kelton and Paula.

Edwards, Jeff, and Harper, or our Intrepid Heroes, spot the glow in the distance of the saucer. Tor sneaks up on Kelton who is knocked out again in less than 10 minutes. The Intrepid Heroes find the saucer and the hatch opens. They head inside.

Eros wants the men killed. The Intrepid Heroes find Eros and Tanna. They can talk or wait until Paula is brought to the saucer. On the magic screen, Tor is shown carrying Paula to the saucer.

We get another Eros anti-Earth monologue. Harper wants to take the aliens to the police station. Tor is outside and would kill if ordered by Eros.

Larry and Kelton spot the glowing and see Tor carrying Paula. They realize guns are useless. Larry will hit Tor in the back of the head with a limb. Tor falls over Eros watches and mentions Tor will get up when ordered to do so.

The cops head to the saucer while a fight breaks out inside. It’s Eros versus Jeff. Edwards tries getting the hatch open. Tanna tries to get the saucer off the ground.

Jeff and Eros are ripping consoles from the saucer. The hatch is opened. Somehow, the ship is on fire. Jeff rushes out. Eros and Tanna are left inside. Tanna tries reviving him to no effect inside the smoky saucer.

Earthers see the fiery saucer fly into the night sky. They believe more aliens will come.

Tor has turned into a skeleton. Vampira will skeletonify, too.

Tanna is crying and screaming as the saucer explodes.

Criswell tells how the preceding story is true, etc.. Earth is being watched from afar…


What I say:

Well, this is my 50th review. And, I know that this movie has been more frequently than any other movie I’ve reviewed. But, the end of the year has gotten me thinking, I needed a special year ending review. And what can be more special in the short bus definition of the word than Ed Wood’s masterpiece?

I have to start out by just saying this. The acting is horrible. The effects are terrible. Dialogue is loopy. There isn’t very much that can be said about this movie that is good. Plan 9 has been widely considered the worst movie ever made. Well, that is definitely untrue. Off the top of my head, Manos, Hands of Fate would be a lot worse. But, I’m not going to list every movie that I feel is worse.

Plan 9 was given the “worst movie ever” moniker unfairly. About everything that can go wrong has in this movie. But, somehow, it transcends its flaws. I think this a better description "not actually the worst film ever made, but it's the most entertaining bad one you'll find" (The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film). This movie had so many problems to overcome. How do you handle the fact of losing you star before filming? They'd rewrite the entire script except Bela died before the script was written. But, what to do with the Lugosi footage? Replace the deceased Bela Lugosi with the chiropractor of the producer’s wife. And he happens to look nothing like Lugosi and is 6 inches taller, too. How do we show the military responding to the saucers? Pepper various stock footage scenes throughout the movie.

Bela Lugosi was going to star in an Ed Wood movie Tomb of the Vampire. They had just gotten a couple of days of footage when Lugosi died in 1956. Later, Wood tried incorporating the Lugosi footage into Plan 9. It is sad to realize that one of the most famous horror actors of all time died and was used in such a fashion. It does in a way seem poetic for Bela to appear in a movie years after his death. But, how many movies were made after Boris Karloff died? 5 or 6.

Vampira, the creepy silent woman. It is never said anywhere in the movie that she was the dead wife of Bela. But, it is readily implied. She hated the dialogue that was written for her so badly she refused to say any of the lines. She definitely has the unearthly living dead vibe. A 17 inch waist and 6 inch fingernails. Well, years later, she sued Elvira for stealing her act. A blind mute could see the similarities. Well, Elvira seemed to be more chestically augmented, though.

Tor Johnson, the 400 pound Swedish wrestler. His few lines, you could hear how hard it was to understand him. A slight problem with his speaking role in this movie, Tor Johnson mangle his few lines so bad you couldn't understand what he was saying. But, Zombie Tor is a pretty frightening sight to behold.

The original title of the movie was Grave Robbers From Outer Space. But, Ed Wood got a funding from a Baptist church who objected to the title, hence Plan 9. More than that, the entire cast had to be baptized. The Baptist church thought the profits would enable them to make a series of Biblical movies. Too bad, no one told them about Ed Wood before they invested. Wait, it’s a good thing because we’d never have this movie otherwise. The thought of Tor Johnson chilling with Mother Theresa in Heaven has to bring a smile to your face.

The effects. How many pie plates and hubcaps were used as flying saucers? Special effects are easy when you have a lot of money on your budget. But, when you working on a small budget, you’ve got to be creative. Who in their right mind will try and compare the flying saucer from Plan 9 and Independence Day? Let me digress for a moment, Ed Wood would never have a scene that a Mac laptop would be able to hack into an alien computer system without any difficulties.

Well, they used the same footage of a car driving then pulling off to the side of the road, at least 4 times, that I saw. The day and night shots are just a little too alternating. I know I mentioned how they’d have some characters in the night and others in daylight. Guess what? Ed Wood forgot which scenes needed to be day and night. So that’s why they change so interchangeably. I’m almost writing dialogue like Ed wood.

One of the big problems I had was deciding what quotes for the quotable dialogue section. Because, almost every line is quotable. “Your guess is as good as mine Larry. One thing's sure, Inspector Clay's dead, murdered, and somebody's responsible." I hope that sort of explains the Ed Wood dialogue. The Criswell narration is even loopier.

I hate describing this movie as "so bad it's good." It has no right being anywhere as entertaining as it is. But, can anyone really figure out what's going on next? I've discussed the What the Hell factor in various movies. CatMan in Boxer's Blow,CatMan in Lethal Track, Robo Vampire. These movies were pieced from various movies. But, Plan 9 was Ed Wood's complete idea. No one put in plot lines that didn't make since except for Ed himself. This was his baby. Hard to imagine anyone treating their kid like this but anyhow. Fantasy Mission Force might be the closest international relation to Plan 9. A lot of it makes little sense, but I think a lot of it would be more understandable to a early 80s Hong Kong audience.

But what can compare to Plan 9? A bad movie couldn't be this fun. I can call this a b-movie. It certainly is low budget, b-storyline. But, I don't like dubbing it bad. We can get a 1000 monkeys on keyboards designing webpages and have them done before everyone agrees on the definition of a B-Movie. End micro-mini rant. Where else will you see a fake Bela Lugosi running over a headstone that wobbles afterwards? That and the same footage of a car pulling over to the side of the road at least 3 times in 80 minutes.

What was in the air in 1958-59 to release corpse controlling alien movies. Well, there is Plan 9 as you better know by now. Invisible Invaders, concerns invisible aliens who control corpses and attack the living. It was played more a serious horror sci-fi movie. Well as serious as invisible aliens who destroyed all the life on the moon 20,000 years ago can be portrayed.

Ed Wood, a man no one would remember to this day except for the Tim Burton movie made about him. He just wanted to make movies. Somehow, he lived up to my motto. “Never let a lack of discernible talent keep you from attaining your goals.”

I can't seem to find an ending to this review. But, allow this sad attempt at rymery to be my conclusion.


Ode to Ed Wood

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

Others told you to quit making movies, yet you wouldn't be stopped
Violent Years, teen girls not on tape, they took rich guys whom they'd rape...
This kind of quality film-making couldn't be topped

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

Your movies are are widely mocked
With the title of worst movies of all they're frocked...
Truth be told, your detractors should be clocked....

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

Before filming Plan 9 From Outer Space, poor Bela Lugosi died
A foot taller chiropractor who looked nothing like Bela would fill his role
But, with his footage in your movie, you would be satisfied
This film became the masterpiece showcasing the depths of your soul

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

With cast containing Criswell, a pyschic beyond measure, beyond compare...
With a Swedish wrestler Tor, speaking English he'd mangle
With fair Vampira, not a word she speak, Wood couldn't from her lips rangle...

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

In your films, scenes repeated many times did ensue
Repetition of dialogue was a style that should be considered Ed Woodian-Fu...

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

You'd direct movies wearing pink angora sweaters to impress your Hollywood "betters"
You looked nothing like Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune turning letters
Hollywood laughed, laughed, and laughed for the day forgotten you'd be

Ed Wood, Ed Wood...Ed Wood...

Then Tim Burton released a movie based about your struggles and life
Irony is a movie nominated for an Oscar based on a director known for worst movies of all
If you were still alive in your pink angora sweater you wear proudly and tall..




4 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"Future events such as these will affect you in the future."
“Can your heart stand the shock about Grave Robbers from Outer Space?”
“He’s as messed up as those 2 back there.”
"Visits? That would indicate visitors."
"Ah yes, Plan 9 deals with the resurrection of the dead. Long distance electrodes shot into the pineal pituitary glands of recent dead."
“How can your race be so stupid?”
“Because, all you of Earth are idiots.”


Morals of the Story

UFOs will cure alcoholism.
400 pound Swedish zombies are truly scary.
Flying saucers have corners.
Military controls the dogs of war stock footage.