Two monochrome fever dreams that perfectly capture the B-Movie noir aesthetic of yesteryear
Being dubbed “The worst film of all time” is not usually an indicator of a great night out. However, Ed Wood is no usual director-writer-producer. His 1956 cult classic Plan 9 From Outer Space kicks off what the BFI states as the key title for their Trash! The Wildest Film You’ve Ever Seen season: an entertaining romp through retro B-movie madness, camp capers and the tell-tale sign of a wider societal parable being explored through schlocky sets and even worse acting. It is clear from the outset of the night’s double bill that Plan 9 is something special, though. Afforded an extended intro by not one but three guest speakers, we hear first from BFI curator William Fowler, followed by Head of Conservation, Kieron Webb and finally author Ken Hollings; each one discussing a unique element to their relationship with the fan favourite in an almost full house. A special 35mm edition of the film has been brought out for our viewing pleasure, as close as possible to the version original audiences would have experienced, including the splice in reel 1. It certainly feels as though we are about to witness cinematic history all over again.
For those less familiar with director Ed Wood’s masterpiece, Plan 9 is an eighty-minute wild ride about grave-robbing aliens who resurrect the recently dead to repopulate their alien race. Made on a budget of about £25, there is no doubt the script is atrocious and the acting as wooden as the cardboard props. Bela Lugosi (of vintage Dracula fame) is portrayed as the leading ghoul, his scenes shot aimlessly before there was a script. Iconic temptress Vampira portrays his recently deceased wife come back to kill. A mish-mash of hilariously inept police procedural, alien/zombie/vampire crossover and a genuine overarching message of anti-atomic bomb sentiment post WW2 and you get a vague sense of the piece. Beloved for a reason, there are a million quotable one-liners and unintentional visual gags (flimsy tombstones, a multipurpose cheap curtain and dinky plastic UFO saucers on wire). Plan 9 is an authentically chaotic but beloved B-movie classic that traverses the ratings parabola from good to bad and genuinely back to good again.
What better way to appreciate Ed Wood’s masterpiece than to follow it with a noir biopic about the man himself? In the BFI Screen 1, with its plush red velvet seating and golden velvet curtain, art deco proscenium arch and excellent technology, we are presented with Tim Burton’s 1994 love letter to one of his biggest influences. Filmed in beautifully lit greyscale- homage to Mr Wood’s own work- we are treated to a practically perfect depiction of his Sisyphean task to get his films made, distributed and celebrated. Johnny Depp portrays the Wood superbly, full of optimism, openness and vulnerability with his own lifestyle. We learn of his trials and tribulations to get Glen or Glenda made, right through to the infamous Plan 9. Burton achieves excellent panache in depicting accurately both Ed Wood’s methods as well as his own rather identifiable visual style. Dramatic, almost Renaissance lighting is complemented by Howard Shore’s mellifluously retro soundtrack with classical motifs. Martin Landau won an Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in this film and rightly so. Ed Wood is as much about Wood’s journey with Lugosi in his tragic final year as it is about Wood himself. Ed Wood is Tim Burton at his creative finest before perhaps going the way of self-parody in later films.
Ultimately, this double bill is an exceptional chance to view films which, in isolation, have their own merits, but together are greater than the sum of their parts. Almost like an earlier version of Tommy Wiseu’s The Room (also dubbed the worst film ever made), and subsequently his own biopic, The Disaster Artist, we get a sense of storytelling nostalgia alongside an appreciation for a creative mind that no longer exists and never got to experience praise in his own lifetime. Ed Wood’s big film premiere finale for Plan 9 finally gives its subject the fantasy future it always deserved.
Trash! Season plays until 30th April 2026 at the BFI.