The resurrected dead of Plan 9
Ed Wood's notorious film has aliens reviving a handful of corpses as ray-controlled ghouls under their ninth plan for Earth. It frames the walking dead as science fiction rather than magic. Its fame rests on its reputation as the worst film ever made, which turned it into a cult favourite.1
- shutting off the controlling ray
When did it first appear?
1957Previewed 1957, general release 1958
What the sources say
The three undead are played by Bela Lugosi (with a stand-in after his death), Maila Nurmi (Vampira) and wrestler Tor Johnson1
The zombies are mute1
They rot to skeletons when the flying saucer explodes1
Shot in 1956 as Grave Robbers from Outer Space and financed through a Baptist group1
Named worst film ever made in The Golden Turkey Awards (1980), which made it a cult favourite1
The Plan 9 operating system from Bell Labs is named after it1
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.
Same era: 1900 to 1967
Legendre's zombiesWhite Zombie (1932)
CarrefourI Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Cornish zombies of The Plague of the ZombiesThe Plague of the Zombies (1966)
Plague victims of The Last Man on EarthThe Last Man on Earth (1964)
Corpses of Invisible InvadersInvisible Invaders (1959)
Dr. Sangre's zombiesKing of the Zombies (1941)