Plan 9

Director - John Johnson (Shadowhunters)
Starring - Brian Krause (Charmed), Mister Lobo (The Taint), and James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie)
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror/Comedy/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "It's their planet now"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     There is very few films that have left a mark on independent film like the 1959 Ed Wood film, Plan 9 from Outer Space.  The film is known the world over for being bad.  I first heard of this film when I was younger when Tim Burton released the film Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp.  I grew up in the 90s so this was my first exposure to Wood.  I soon found the film on VHS and bought it where I never watched it.  To this day I still have the VHS sitting at home but I have never seen the film.  A few weeks back Johnny Sullivan reached out to me to review the 2015 remake Plan 9.  He sought me out after I reviewed the 2010 zombie film They Walk in which he was involved.  I knew of this film for some time and wanted to check it out anyway so I jumped at the chance.  Thanks Johnny for reaching out to me!

    The film takes place in the small town of Nilbog.  A pilot is flying a personal craft when he passes a meteorite crashing to earth.  He lands and informs the police who pass it off.  In the town is a brilliant scientist secretly running experiments in her lab.  Her experiments has attracted aliens who fear her experiments have went too far and resurrect the dead to kill all the living inhabitants in town before they descend to town themselves to kill those that are fighting for their lives.  It is now up to a small band of survivors to put the dead back in the ground and send the aliens back into space.

     As I stated before, I had never seen the original Plan 9 From Outer Space but I had seen several clips and heard others talk about the film.  The film is notorious for it's flaws and loved among horror fans for being cheesy and horrible.  I was curious how a film like that could be remade.  Would they make it purposely bad to keep the charm of the original film or would they keep the story intact and deliver a more polished take on it?  It looks like they went the second route.  The acting in this one is not the best I have seen in an indie flick but far from the worst.  The cast is on point but they have a hard time judging if the scene is calling for humor or a serious tone.  Some characters are goofy and funny while others are way too serious which makes some of the scenes feel unbalanced.  I won't fully blame the cast for this because they could be acting the way their character was written.  It was also cool to see some big names in the horror and indie horror scene.  The film's lead, Brian Krause,  is known for his role as Leo on Charmed.  The film also has small roles from James Rolfe who most of you may know as The Nerd from Angry Video Game Nerd and his indie films and shows on Cinemassacre.  Horror legend Mike Christopher has a small role in the film as well.  Christopher is known for playing a zombie in Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead, as well as, his amazing performance in the indie vampire flick Joe Vampire.  Also a small, almost unnoticeable role, from author, make-up artist, and actress Angela Pritchett can be seen.  The story for this one is so fucking fun.  I can not tell you how close to the original it runs but this story was great.  I loved the story and how it combines the cliches of horror and sci-fi films that was popular in the 50s.  Most films now are too streamlined and do not have the depth that this one does.  We get the modern mad scientist angle, the zombies, and the aliens.  This only works because this is a remake of the 1959 film.  If it was an original film with a similar story, fans would not respond to this as well as they do with the remake.  They want blood, guts, and gore and not a bat-shit story that offers laughs and entertainment.  Finally, the film has several on screen kills.  Nothing that really stands out but the practical effects are fun which pushes some of these over the top.  Some of the zombies look great as well with a lot of time put into the way they look.  My favorite is the autopsy zombie.  Sadly, some of the zombies look silly with just some grey and black paint on their face.  It is known that not all zombies were created equal.  I get that sometimes the zombies are in different stages of decomposition but some are just covered in grey paint.  Overall, Plan 9 was a fantastic film.  It had one hell of a story and a solid mixture of blood and laughs.  I recommend checking this one out as soon as possible.  Every minute of the film's running time is worth it!