Plan 9 from Outer Space

Well it's a strange food and film night round at P&S's. They remain TV free, but a DVD player and projector have turned their lounge into a mini cinema.

Tonight's title is Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Written, directed and produced by the infamous Ed Wood, it's a black and white science-fiction marvel.

The headline star Bela Lugosi is only in part of it, the rest of the time his character is played by another actor, with a cloak over his face.

Previously we had assumed that Mr Lugosi had passed away part way through the filming, but the accompanying documentary tells us otherwise. Basically it seems Ed Wood got a small amount of funding, enough for one day's shooting and just took some random footage of his friend Bela Lugosi, coming out a house and wandering around a cemetery. Following Bela's death, Ed raised funding for a full film and basically just hammered out a script around the footage he had of Bela. Weird.

Some of the acting is hilarously bad ("ah! Plan 9!") and the effects are indeed 'special' (you can see the strings on the flying saucers at times and creases in the backdrops).

So bad it's good.