Plan 9 aus dem Weltall

Für Plan 9 aus dem Weltall braucht man viel Geduld. Ich habe mich amüsiert, aber nicht so, wie ich erwartet habe. Der Film war eher langweilig. Tim Burton ist entweder ein zu großer Idealist oder ich habe nach seinem Wunder Ed Wood zu viel erwartet. Den Fans von Filmen, die durch und durch schlecht sind, empfehle ich eher die C-Movie-Perle Robot Monster. Sie ist noch naiver, dummer und vor allem unterhaltsamer. (12.04.2002)

5 stars. Some of you might think I’ve had a stroke, but there are two ways you can judge a film like this, rationally or with your heart. Rationally, it’s rubbish obviously, because you just don't see something so cinematically awful every day. But with my heart it’s a clear five stars, because I had so much fun! Aside from three boring and long dialogue scenes, it's one blunder after another. The most memorable highlight for me is the scene where the vampire chases the pilot's wife through the cemetery. Thanks to the unearthly awful editing, day and night, light and twilight, Bela Lugosi in a static shot and his body double with his face obscured so that you can't tell it's not Lugosi (which is, of course, very funny), alternate in the same moment. This sequence instantly became one of my top 10 favorite movie scenes of all time. Reason defies belief that this was not Ed Wood's intention. The interior of the alien spaceship is also amazing, consisting of two tables, one stool, a couple of receivers and one ladder (!!!). But the crown on top is the army commander who in one scene orders the army the open fire. It is supposed to look like he is standing somewhere outside, but behind his back you can see a studio wall with folds on which the actor is casting a shadow. And there are countless similar gems. The whole thing is so horribly bad and yet so entertaining that it's beyond normal rating categories. That's why I say let's love Ed Wood, the world of cinema would be more boring without him. (24.08.2003)

Aliens breeding zombies, and the whole world is in danger. Wood has zero directorial inventiveness. But to be so bad that it becomes brilliant? Perhaps in every scene, there is something that negatively impacts the film. Cheap studio interiors that are supposed to represent a graveyard or a spaceship. Awkwardly delivered dialogues by an atrociously overacting ensemble, poorly timed editing, and shaky camera work - the list could go on forever, and the screenplay, although it does have a (!) concept, is at the bottom of it all. Certainly, its rough presentation is laughable, but it does have something to offer. Plan 9 from Outer Space is bad (perhaps worse synonyms could be used), but it is "only" bad. At times it is properly boring and compared to Tucker's Robot Monster it is also much less "fun." Even so, it can still be presented to a movie audience as an example of "how things should really not be done." (15.10.2005)

Plan 9 from Outer Space is the best known film of Wood’s “holy trinity”. Shockingly charming in that blindly naive and utterly disarming way, yet it lacks something to be perfect, apart from quality of course. Probably buffalo herds, angora sweaters and green dragons. (25.02.2008)

The line between dullness and sweet naivety can sometimes be very thin. It's hard to say how I would have reacted if I hadn't seen Burton's Ed Wood, but watching Plan 9 from Outer Space like this, I had to almost be moved. The final flight of the burning saucer is unbelievable and gives a new meaning to the phrase "I haven't seen that yet". (06.06.2006)

Früher haben wir versucht, sie über das Funkgerät zu erreichen, aber sie haben nicht reagiert. Thema oder Dialoge? Schwer zu sagen, was dümmer ist. Auf jeden Fall trägt er zu Recht das Etikett eines der legendärsten Schummel. Der Film spielt im Wesentlichen nur auf ein paar Quadratmetern: entweder im "Wald" mit einem Baum und drei Büschen oder auf dem "Friedhof" mit ein paar Grabsteinen und einem Loch, um das die Schauspieler etwa zwanzigmal gehen. Dann ist da noch diese "supermoderne" Weltraumscheibe, deren Äußeres aus einer Tür mit Leiter besteht und deren Innenraum ein halbleerer Raum einnimmt... und wieder diese Leiter! Einfach lustig, wenn auch nur an einigen Stellen, da Wood gegen Ende seine künstlerische Sensibilität ausgeht. Mit den Worten einer Figur: "Ich habe genug davon, Larry!" Das geht mir genauso, Larry, das geht mir genauso. (09.04.2014)

The rumours about the worst film of all time are only partially confirmed – to reach such a fateful verdict, one must subjectively answer the very objective question of whether the most boring film imaginable must also be the worst. Legendary bungler Ed Wood is himself synonymous with overwhelming guilty pleasure, and his Plan 9 from Outer Space is undoubtedly his most ambitious, most beloved and most "crushing" project, where his unprecedented creative verve or admiration for Bela Lugosi's acting is at an all-time high. But it's a genre film of utterly terrifying (anti)qualities, and one that is all the more painful to watch because we automatically feel a little of that guilty sympathy for this filmmaker. I'd really like to have an honest conversation about the effects from the realm of supersensory genius, the incredibly sophisticated dialogue or the heartfelt performances, but alas..... I haven't seen something so horrible and sad in a long time. Only Tor Johnson, with his imposing figure, stands out so much that I could imagine him in a silent villainous role in one of the early James Bond movies. :D 0% (14.10.2015)