A flying saucer? You mean… from up there? Yes! Flying saucers were seen circling Hollywood Blvd. as a group of stars gathered for a table read of “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” Ed Wood’s cult film that has been dubbed one of the worst movies of all time.
It’s all part of the TCM Classic Film Festival, for which comedians like Maria Bamford, Bob Odenkirk and Bobcat Goldthwait will read aloud the script to the maligned masterpiece. TheWrap obtained an exclusive clip from what is sure to be the silly shlockfest ahead of its premiere on Friday, May 7.
The above clip shows comedians Laraine Newman, Dana Gould and Kat Aagesen setting up the impending alien attack and resurrection of the dead, complete with an eerie and canny theremin in the score.
“People turning south from the freeway when they saw THREE…or in this case TWO…flying saucers flying high over Hollywood Boulevard,” Gould says in the clip. “There comes a time in every man’s life where he can’t believe his own eyes.”
For those unaware of the great badness of “Plan 9,” Ed Wood directed, wrote, produced and edited the 1959 B picture, casting the campy Vampira in one of the starring roles and bringing silent film star Bela Lugosi out of obscurity to make his final film appearance. Though the movie languished in relative obscurity for nearly 20 years, it was dubbed the “worst film ever made” in the book “The Golden Turkey Awards” and became the poster child for so-bad-they’re-good achievements, with fans reveling in the film’s laughable awfulness and elevating Wood to auteur status in the process.
And while movies like “The Room” and “Troll 2” have arguably surpassed “Plan 9 From Outer Space” in terms of sheer badness and cult credibility, Wood’s film remains the one that first inspired audiences to worship terrible movies.
SF Sketchfest is presenting the table read for “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” which Gould adapted for the event. He’s joined by Bamford, Goldthwait, Odenkirk, Oscar Nuñez, Laraine Newman, David Koechner, Janet Varney, Jonah Ray, Paul F. Tompkins, Gary Anthony Williams, Baron Vaughn, Deborah Baker Jr. and Kat Aagesen, all of whom are appearing virtually through Zoom.
This year’s TCM Classic Film Festival will air via Turner Classic Movies and the TCM hub on HBO Max across four days beginning Thursday, May 6. The “Plan 9 From Outer Space” table read will air only on TCM this Friday, May 7 at 5 p.m. PT followed by a screening of the original film.
Check out the exclusive clip above, and find out more about how to enjoy the TCM Classic Film Festival here.
