Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Plan 9 from Outer Space is aliens who come to earth to resurrect the dead and use them to kill all the humans to prevent them from creating the ultimate universe-ending bomb.

Known for casting Bela Lugosi and Duke Moore, Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote and directed the film. He uses a lot of stock footage and silly visual effects for the flying saucers. Also, the dialogue is quite goofy but I suppose it was fitting for the time it was released. He generally uses medium takes with stationary camera placement, which was typical of the time. This movie does have the first time I've heard the phrase "Shoot first ask questions later." in it. So that's something.

Bela Lugosi plays an undead monster again. He's not really a vampire but he does have his cape over his face in the impression that he is. He's probably one of the earliest examples of typecasting since he has been in tons of horror films as the villain, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Son of Frankenstein, and White Zombie. This is also Bela Lugosi's last film, he died just before the film was released. His part is oddly short and he's not even the main character, but his name appears first on the poster. Marketing...

I suppose you could say Gregory Walcott is the main character. I've never seen a movie with him in it. It's hard to judge his performance since the acting is all over the place in this film.

Vampira was also in the film. When reading the script she disliked any of her lines. Go figure. She then insisted to the director that her character is mute. I always found it weird that the original ghoul woman was Finnish.

This movie has all the things you want: sexist aliens, mute vampires, period piece idiot coppers, all-white cast, oh and funerals. The movie is so bad it's almost good. It has incompetent dialogue, but laughable performances and acting. It's no wonder with a movie this bad that Wood then went on to direct pornography.

Result: F (This movie pales in comparison, to other films from the decade, in both acting and dialogue.)

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