Dani and I went to see a screening of this epic of crapulence at a horror movie festival last week. I've seen this numerous times before, and it's always a good time to spot the inconsistencies, the redundant and inane dialogue, and the "special" special effects.

Regarded as the Worst Film Ever Made, "Plan 9" is director Edward. D. Wood Jr.'s "masterpiece," as it were; it is THE film for which he is known. With hubcap spaceships (wires showing and all), obviously fake tombstones (that fall over with the slightest nudge), and the, shall we say, fluid nature of time, in which day becomes night becomes day again over the course of one scene, it is truly a monument to bad filmmaking.

But something has been nagging me since we were sitting in that darkened theatre, and it nagged me through most of the movie - "Plan 9 from Outer Space" should not be bad. It's obvious Ed Wood did not set out to just make a terrible B movie; he definitely had something to say. The story idea was just fine; it's just the execution of that idea which didn't go so well.

For those of you who haven't been had the dubious pleasure of sitting through a screening of "Plan 9," let me get you up to speed with a brief synopsis:

Old man's wife dies, he grieves, he gets hit by a car and dies. UFOs show up in the area and cause strange occurences. Dead wife returns from dead as zombie, kills grave diggers, kills inspector sent to investigate. Inspector and old man come back as zombies as well. Unfortunately dressed aliens return to space station to report on progress (and reveal plot to audience). Plan 9 involves reviving the dead to make the aliens presence known, as the govenrment has been denying their existence for years. Meanwhile, pilot sees UFOs over Los Angeles and is told to keep his mouth shut. Pilot also conveniently lives next to cemetary where the old man, wife and inspector were buried. After his wife is attacked by old man zombie, pilot investigates cemetary with Air Force officer and police. They find the UFO with the aforementioned unfortunately dressed alines and go inside. Unfortunately dressed aliens reveal their main mission - to prevent Earth scientists from stumbling upon the most destructive weapon in the universe: a bomb that harnesses the power of the sun a solar rays. This weapon can set off a chain reaction that would destroy not only the earth, but the entire universe. Fight ensues, fire is sparked, heroes escape before UFO explodes in cheaply produced fire effect. The end.

Okay, not so brief, but you get the point.

Sure the dialogue is terrible, the acting is awful, and often the plot contradicts itself. But, the basic idea that an advanced race of aliens coming to earth to prevent us from destroying ourselves and the universe with our mad dash to create more and more destructive weapons is a solid premise, and was executed more poignantly in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Ed Wood, after all, was a veteran of World War II, so it's no stretch to suggest that his wartime experiences, and the horrors he probably witnessed during the Battle of Guadalcanal, would lead him to create an antiwar film, which is what I feel "Plan 9" was intended to be at its heart - an antiwar film wrapped up in the conventions of a Sci-Fi Horror movie with zombies and UFOs.

Not to mention the multiple story line structure, where unrelated characters are brought together near the end of the film as a result of their connection to the phenomena is a pretty sophisticated narrative device, used to much greater effect in films such as "Traffic" and "Babel."

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "Plan 9" could be a legitimately good film (heck even a great film) if remade by a talented and competent filmmaker. There is an urban legend, I think, that says that Wood never or rarely did rewrites of his own scripts. I think if the script of "Plan 9" was given to a modern screenwriter today (not a hack, mind you), and had it's plot holes filled in, and that script was given to an A list director like Steven Soderbergh or Ridley Scott, it could be a much better - and thought provoking - film than it is now. Because "Plan 9" is a good film trapped in B movie body. And like the zombies the aliens created, all it needs is to have new life put into it.