RiffTrax Live: Plan 9 from Outer Space

Just about everything that can be said about this much-lovedslashreviled turkey has been said.....so, I would offer the suggestion, should RiffTrax ever update their narration for "Plan 9 From Outer Space", to make more mention of the many gaffes in the cemetery in the early scenes. The wife's burial, in the beginning, looks like it's taking place in a dump. And the lighting changes frequently: is it daytime or nighttime? Probably both. Lately---with the success of James Franco's "The Disaster Artist"---many people have affectionately supported "The Room" as the worst American movie ever made, but it's a hard fight to beat 'Plan 9'. This is truly something special.

A few years ago I caught this, the first Rifftrax Live I'd seen - it just had to be really, their take on the "Citizen Kane of bad movies". Or was it the 1812? I've lost count of the films they've done since, they really are people who enjoy their work! They were live on stage in Nashville, Tennessee on 20th August 2009 and simulcast to 434 US cinemas - warm-ups from a short rubbishy travelogue film Flying Stewardesses, a couple of spoof adverts plus a couple of witty ditties including Plans 1 – 8 from Jonathan Coulton lead to the "main" feature, Plan 9 itself. Colourised too.

The plot is straightforward…er nope, it's hopeless nonsense. The grave robbers in the hubcaps from outer space (or even Homotania) have a plan to unleash the undead onto an unsuspecting handful of people. The Riffers are the classic lunatic line up of Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy and they're unmerciful to the film and the people involved in it. What a seemingly effortless chemistry that's displayed between them; the best things in life are never a job. The film is particularly bad because at least Ed Wood & Co. tried, and a little money was expended in the making but all to no avail. The riffs are relentless, but as usual and like MST3K from the '90's are basically unrepeatable and can be hit and miss; when the gag works it's wonderful and sometimes can be dangerously close to urine-inducing, the in-jokes don't usually cross over the pond very well. It's nearly always worth it though, and I'm staggered by the number I've still to watch. The studio version was good too but this was better with a live audience for the three of them to interact with, and a fuller entertainment package for the audience to savour. But, as my daughter and I discovered a long time ago, you either love it or hate it; we love it. Amongst many others over the years my missus never got it at all, and profoundly too. Ah well, I don't get Andy Warhol, Dr Who or Blazing Saddles though...