There’s a huge problem when it comes to sitting through “Plan 9.” It’s essentially a remake of the infamous but hilarious Ed Wood disasterpiece “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” While Ed Wood never intended his film to be considered a comedy it ended up being accidentally one of the funniest movies of all time due to the ineptitude of its production. So how does a filmmaker with arguably more resources approach a remake of “Plan 9”? Basically director John Johnson tries to have his cake and eat it too, giving us a movie that’s literally all over the place. Sometimes “Plan 9” is a straight faced zombie movie with real stakes. Sometimes it’s a meta-remake with dark comedy. And other times it’s a pseudo-remake tha acknowledges the original film from Ed Wood exists in this universe. The latter idea makes no real sense when you consider the ideas presented in “Plan 9.”
Which is not to say that “Plan 9” is a bad movie. In fact as a decent diversion, it works with some ace zombie action, some fun gore, and some genuinely creepy moments of carnage. I just could never put my finger on what exactly the director was trying to come across with his remake. The prologue of the film is set on actor Mister Lobo who is playing Criswell in an apparent remake of “Plan 9.” From there, John Johnson’s film practices roughly the same narrative and general ideas. With inconsistencies and nonsensical dialogue aside, “Plan 9” focuses on a meteor crash in a local public school which is sending out pulses within the vicinity of the town of Nilbog. The pulses are re-animating the recently deceased, all of whom are wreaking havoc by murdering and eating living humans. As the pulses increase, the dead become smarter, and a local scientist Lucy Grimm realizes the pulses are being sent by an alien source.
Now two groups of survivors are traveling to the source of the pulses to end the terror before it spreads across the world. The dead look like every zombie member of the horror sub-genre, all running around and rampaging on warm flesh. When Johnson looks like he isn’t done, he hands us a prologue of zombie carnage that rips directly from “Zombieland” while also trying to add logical explanations to some of the more baffling moments in the original movie. Who knows why Bela Lugosi wore his infamous cape in the original. In here Johnson and co take time out to properly explain and it becomes a part of the character’s zombie shtick. As I mentioned “Plan 9” has no idea where to go with its tone, so sometimes it’s shlocky and funny, and other times it seems to reach for genuine drama and horror. One moment actor Mister Lobo is putting up a fit in a liquor shop for not being sold alcohol, and halfway through we watch a mother poison her daughter to keep her from laying witness to the horror outside their doors.
I was just never sure where my emotions were supposed to lie when the film seemed to try to schlock but also reached for genuine humanity as well. If the inexplicable moments are purposely written, then why posit your film as something more coherent than Wood’s original science fiction entry? For a film also trying to realize Ed Wood’s ideas, Johnson’s final product still leaves a lot to be desired. There’s never a real reason what the aliens are trying to accomplish with reviving the dead, and even with a lot of characters offering informed speculation, much of it is still left up in the air. As for the editing, it tends to bog down the movie greatly, with rough scene transitions and poor concealing of stunt performers and the like. I still prefer Wood’s original film, but in the end “Plan 9” is a solid and entertaining movie with enough strong direction and realization of Wood’s ideas to act as a serviceable zombie movie.