Before Tim Burton made his brilliant
Ed Wood movie, starring Johnny Depp as the hilariously optimistic and untalented film director of such cult clunkers as
Glen or Glenda and
Plan 9 from Outer Space, the only places to see any of his films were at college or independent cinema arthouse showings, or on the very very late late shows on local TV stations. This 1959 sci-fi Ed Wood “classic” is one such film – which I saw in the 1970s on a Los Angeles triple bill of truly terrible movies, along with 1964’s
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and that infamous musical all-little-people Western, 1938’s
The Terror of Tiny Town. TCM is showing
Plan 9 from Outer Space, complete with its oddball Criswell introduction, its late-career appearance by Bela Lugosi, and the unforgettable Maila Nurmi, who plays the Vampire Girl – the original inspiration for Cassandra Peterson’s Elvira.
For more on this treasure, see Mike Hughes' Open Mike.