Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) United States
Plan 9 has been panned for the misrepresentation of Bela Lugosi. Critic John Wirt has dubbed the film "The ultimate cult flick".
Ed Wood's Plan 9 was labeled the "Worst Film Ever" by The Golden Turkey Awards. This movie marked the final appearance of Bela Lugosi. Wood shot only a small amount of test footage featuring his idol Lugosi before the actor's death. This footage, repeated several times, was included in the final movie. Following Lugosi's death, the character was played by Tom Mason, the chiropractor of Wood's wife at the time, who played his scenes holding the character's cape in front of his face. Wood was apparently undeterred by the numerous physical differences – such as height, build and the fact that Mason was nearly bald while Lugosi retained a full head of hair until his death – that distinguished Mason from Lugosi. Years later video distributors such as Avenue One DVD began to make light of this, adding such blurbs as "Almost Starring Bela Lugosi" to the cover art. Numerous critics also pointed out the cheap, hardly believable special effects and kitschy dialogue.
Shot in 1956, the film was not released until 1959 due to difficulty in finding a distributor. It has played at the New Orleans Worst Film Festival. In 1994, Tim Burton directed Ed Wood, which includes some material about the trials and tribulations of making Plan 9. On the popular film review site Rotten Tomatoes, Phil Hall calls it, "Far too entertaining to be considered as the very worst film ever made." Likewise John Wirt goes as far as to call it "The ultimate cult flick", and Videohound's Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics states that, "In fact, the film has become so famous for its own badness that it's now beyond criticism." Ian Berriman of SFX commented about the unintentional comedy, "Some things are best watched at 3am, wrapped in the warm glow of drunkenness... Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of them". Plan 9 was also voted 23rd worst movie ever by RiffTrax in 2012.
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