Leofwine_draca PLAN 9 is an affectionate indie spoof of the Ed Wood camp classic PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, made as a modern-day version of the same story. Former Hollywood actor Brian Krause appears and the original film's star Conrad Brooks has a tiny role. Sadly, this turns out to be as mindless and generic as any other indie sci fi horror, with cliched scenes of zombie attacks and gratuitous showering. Fakeness abounds everywhere you look, but the worst thing about it is the sheer level of overacting on display. A so-bad-it's-good classic it really isn't.

charliesonnyray I think the best visual representation of this film is the last time we see Lt. John Harper. He looks exactly like he does from the original-goofy trench coat, silly fedora, waves his gun around like an idiot. Sadly he only lasts less than a minute as he is quickly devoured by a very modern zombie probably getting all of his insides ripped out in excessive gore.This Plan 9 has a very different plot to the point where if it weren't for the name I wouldn't connect them at all. The small town of Nilbog (GET IT!!) gets hit by a meteor and all of a sudden, the dead start rising from the grave. Because of this, the quirky citizens of this town have to band together in order to survive as well as find out what is causing this epidemic.While many of the same characters are here, they have added tons more and the story resembles Night of the Living Dead or most other zombies movies than the original Plan 9. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it is an odd choice. In fact remaking Plan 9 from Outer Space is an odd idea altogether. The point of a remake is to take a film that has promise but was held back by it's problems or the technology of the time and make it better. But everybody loves Plan 9 BECAUSE of it's problems and mistakes so why remake it? The characters are just boring stock characters like the original. The editing and cinematography is good say for a few spots here and there. The acting and direction though is pretty lackluster. Most everyone seems to have a straight face during the whole ordeal and taking this whole zombie thing really well-too well! Others though act pretty realistic. Its a mixed bag for sure. The writing feels about the same. It has some good moments and good pieces of dialogue in there-both funny and dramatic-but for the most part, it just feels flat and boring. The worst part is also when something really tragic and dark has just happened so of course moments later, they make a stupid joke or a sarcastic statement. They spend most of the film just running around but because we don't really know all that much about these people, I couldn't care less what happens to them.The thing that annoys me the most is all of the references. Seriously, they mention Predator, Monster Squad, The Fog, Psycho, Troll 2, The Shining, etc. The fourth wall jokes are pretty annoying too. Normally I like that kind of stuff but it's all about context. The movie isn't a comedy, you are supposed to take it seriously or at least semi-seriously, so those type of jokes feel out of place. It seems like a desperate plea for you to like their movie. The only really new thing it brings to the table is the zombie lore. Apparently the alien menace is sending out these waves of energy that keep bringing the dead back to life. If you get bitten by a zombie, you don't become one but the next wave of energy will turn you into one. The other interesting idea is that each new batch of zombies gets smarter than the last one. It's pretty cool but everything else is pretty standard. And that's exactly the problem with remaking Plan 9. They actually do make major improvements to the film but because of that, it's no longer that likable. The original Plan 9 from Outer Space could have been much better if put into more skilled hands but in the end, it would have been standard 1950's sci-fi fare. But because a man with little talent, experience or money handled the project, it turned into a gloriously fun mess of a movie. This Plan 9 suffers from not being handled by a modern Ed Wood and instead winds up being on about the same level as those awful Syfy channel movies. Not the worst I have ever seen (heck the original Plan 9 is a thousand times worse) but it doesn't do anything really that fun or interesting with itself. If you want to see a modern version of a 50's sci-fi flick go see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera. That one is actually funny and isn't afraid to embrace it's roots.

Michael_Elliott Plan 9 (2015)** (out of 4)A UFO is seen coming into a small town and later that night there is some sort of strange light that causes the dead to come back to life. A group of survivors try to fight off the zombies and make it until morning.As the title and opening scenes clearly suggest, this here is a remake of Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s 1959 film PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE but it actually could have been another remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Those looking for a director remake of the Wood might feel cheated as there are some obvious nods to that film but once all the zombie action starts it's your typical George Romero type setting with people trying to stay in doors while zombies are on the outside.With that said, director John Johnson has actually made a good looking movie that at least looks professional unlike so many other low-budget movies out there. I was a little worried that we were going to be getting some poorly made film but that wasn't the case at all. Visually the film was quite good and at least you could tell that there was talent behind the camera in many jobs. I thought the editing was quite good and several of the performances were better than you'd expect.The film also had some nice gore shots. I'm not going to say the work is on the same level of Tom Savini but it's much better than you typically see in these types of movies. There was even some nudity thrown in, which as all horror fans know is pretty hard to find these days. PLAN 9 certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's mildly entertaining. The biggest problem I had with the film is that at 106 minutes it's way too long. The film really could have lost fifteen to twenty minutes.

WakenPayne Well, I might as well say that before I start, I must say that whatever you're going to read below still means what I'm saying here in that this is probably the best thing you could have done with remaking Plan 9 From Outer Space. If you want a half-homage half-mock then this for the most part feels unbalanced at best.I'm not even going to say anything about the plot because I assume you know the Ed Wood movie. Aliens attack and they use the recently dead to attack the living in a zombie outbreak. There are some funny parts like the parody of the opening and other tiny stuff like this taking place in Nilbog but really, they don't take as many advantages as I thought they would, an example is that if they wanted to do all-out satire then the Bela Lugosi character is just a zombie - no homages to the fact that in the movie he switches between being 2 foot taller then the real Bela.Which in all honesty does make this movie seem confused. If they want to over-exaggerate elements within the film as a satire... Hey, I've seen that done with Reefer Madness, it could be funny here too. If you want to do a remake by thinking Ed Wood had some basics of making a horror/sci-fi which could work in the hands of a good director, okay. But this tries to balance both out, a more difficult thing to do then either (which I respect them taking that risk) but the end result is a metaphorical pendulum swinging between both of them while making something... serviceable. What I mean by that is that as a comedy, you can't beat the cheesiness and warped mind of Ed Wood and what he was turning out. As something straight up, it does fine - but my point is, I don't feel it did all it could do to achieve either.How are the technical elements? Boy is that a million dollar question. I say this because while it does fine in some places and not so fine in others, often times I'm unclear on whether it's being deliberate or a legit mistake. Sorry, for this - I'm at a loss.While I said this movie didn't feel it did all it could do to achieve what it was doing? Despite this - personally, I think it's worth seeing. The idea of remaking bad movies engraved into pop culture like this and to some extent Reefer Madness The Musical, while it won't exactly be as successful as the original it's an idea that I hope gets practiced more in the future then the usual mentality remakes go by with making a quick buck on something that will be for the most part - completely forgotten by the masses. I'll give this credit in saying that it's probably one of the better remakes out there, even if it's for the particularly strange idea to even do it in the first place.