Prior to actually watching the film all I knew about it was this. It was bad, it was low budget, it was by Ed Wood and the stuff I'd seen from the Johnny Depp Ed Wood film. Ignoring the film (which very faithfully reproduces sections of "plan 9" very well and actually watching Plan 9 itself. The original title "Grave Robbers From Outer Space" is used during Criswell's opening speech. The effects are terrible, as is the use of lots of stock footage. Wood as editor pays no attention to any kind of continuity (watch the 2nd plane cabin scene and watch the Stewardess's clipboard movie all over the place).
Most of the actors are awful if not worse. Very wooden performances are given (especially by wrestler Tor Johnson) and the wobbly scenery and re-used sets (the exterior door of the UFO is also the interior wall) are staggeringly bad. Having said all this the film is incredibly funny. It was never intended as a comedy but it is most definitely an accidental comedy.
Time has not been kind to it but it is certainly a good example of how to shoot a movie on a low budget and a very good example to film students on how not to do many things like sets, effects, continuity, editing and lighting. Watch and giggle.
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