Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

When asked to list the worst movies of all time, most film critics, reviewers, and fans will invariably mention Plan 9 From Outer Space; many will give it the dubious honor of being the worst movie of all time. I feel this is slightly unfair.

There is no doubting that this is a bad movie. "Bad" isn't even a strong enough word to describe it. Some of the lowlights of this movie include: tombstones that teeter when the actors run into them; a hubcap-on-a-wire flying saucer that mysteriously turns into a toolshed upon landing; a single shot of a car pulling to the side of the road that is used every single time someone arrives on scene, regardless of what car they are driving or what time of day or night it is; actors who are visibly reading from cue cards; at least one scene where an actress completely blows a line and nobody calls for the cameras to stop rolling.

However, this movie is not the worst movie I have ever seen. I say this because this movie was so bad, it was actually quite entertaining, and therefore I cannot in good conscience label it "the worst movie of all time." I'll reserve that label for a movie that was not only bad but was also completely devoid of entertainment value. So far, for me, Showgirls garners that label. I think everyone should see Plan 9 From Outer Space at least once. Anyone with a camcorder could make a better movie, but the chances of getting it on the big screen and into every Blockbuster store in the country so the rest of us can laugh at it are minimal.