Directed by: Ed Wood
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Vampira
Distributed by: Legend Films
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Running Time: 79 minutes
Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Legend Films is known for colorizing classic films and they their restoration of “Plan 9 from Outer Space” is very impressive. The coloring on the film is looks like it was done with care and very sharply with each scene. Even though this film is considered one of the “worst films of all-time”, I really have sweet spot for it and always enjoy watching it. This is technically the first time that this film has been properly released on Blu-ray. The first being by Rifftrax as a glorified commentary track, though that release wasn’t restored or cleaned up at all. Legend Films really did a great job restoring it in both color and black-and-white.
So many have tried to figure out the actually plot of this film and how it actually comes together as a film. The film itself and Ed Wood’s life even inspired the 1995 Tim Burton directed bio-pic with Johnny Depp as Ed Wood (one of my personal favorites). In “Plan 9”, it is just plain simple fun or madness or both as aliens resurrect the dead as zombies in order to stop human kind from creating a sun-driven bomb. The film has many issues during production including the death of Bella Lugosi. I wish Ed Wood could see this film today as it has become such a cult classic. Love it or hate it, this film will always be around.
The video resolution looks really sharp in its 1080p transfer. The only main concern is that the aspect ratio on the Blu-ray is 1.33:1 compared to the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Nothing major missed though. Theaudio is actually quite decent as it includes an DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. Since this film is considered one of the “worst”, you might not expect much but in video and audio this release definitely succeeds, thanks to Legend Films.
The special features are impressive for this release. Starting off is a commentary track by MST3K’s Mike Nelson, which definitely delivers some great laughs. There is trivia subtitles, which I enjoyed quite a bit about the film. There are also a few features on Ed Wood. The first is called “Ed Wood Home Movies”, it is presented in HD even though it is old grainy footage. It is short but definitely worth checking out for a rare look into some personal moments with Ed Wood. Then there is “Ed Wood Commercials”, also in HD included some really priceless shorts, definitely in the spirit of Ed Wood. Lastly if you prefer the classic black and white version of the film, as with all Legend releases they included the original black and white version as well, so everyone is happy.