Was Plan 9 from Outer Space the world’s worst movie? Well, I guess you could definitely make a case for it. It’s certainly far from great, but I would not put it on my world’s worst list. For me, the worst movies are the ones that are blatantly derivative, completely bereft of personality and fail to bring a new angle to an old tale. All one can do these days is bring a fresh new angle to an oft-told story and somehow make it one’s own, something Ed Wood, no matter how inept a director he was, managed to do.
Speaking of which, John Johnson of Darkstone Entertainment is planning on doing exactly that by remaking Ed Wood’s immortal camp-fest Plan 9 from Outer Space. You had to know this was an inevitability given today’s market, right?
Do we really need this? Probably not, but Johnson seems hellbent on doing it one way or the other; however, for his take Johnson plans on taking the subject matter seriously?!
What the hell for? The appeal of Ed Wood’s beyond-silly original is just how funny it is – unintentional or not. Say what you want to about Ed Wood as a filmmaker, but one thing he was not was boring and unoriginal. Lousy movie or not Wood definitely had a certain point of view on things and that, for me, is what made his films so appealing regardless of how poorly crafted they were.
Myself, I’m not too jazzed about seeing a movie taking the subject matter of aliens re-animating the dead for the purposes of wiping out humanity seriously…at least not without the right budget. The concept is ripe for a grand-scale remake, but I suspect Darkstone Entertainment won’t be able to secure a budget fat enough to do just that.
Tim Burton, are you reading this? Where are you, man?!
Anyway, Johnson says Darkstone is planning on releasing the new Plan 9 from Outer Space on September 9, 2009 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Wood’s original.
In the meantime, stay tuned for further developments.