Starring Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore, Tom Keene, Carl Anthony
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A small California town is beset by the reanimated dead, brought back to life by space aliens as part of a plan to get the world's governments to notice them.
Ed Wood's most famous production, and yes, it is extremely cheaply made, and deserves its reputation as a landmark of bad cinema. Stock footage of the departed Bela Lugosi is awkwardly edited into the film, and bridged with scenes involving an obviously much younger performer trying to disguise himself and pass for Lugosi in a Dracula cape. The flying saucer models are moved about by visible wires and would not convince anyone. Several members in the cast deliver flat-sounding dialogue, and the quality of Wood's screenplay is of course lacking, with plenty of redundancy and silliness in Criswell's narration. Tor Johnson and Vampira after their death scenes are supposed to be stalking and killing visitors to the cemetery, but the film's editing doesn't allow us to view them actually attacking cast members. The latter half of the film gets weighed down with an alien description of a future deadly weapon that doesn't relate much to the plot. Despite everything I've said, because we know Wood's earnestness, I was entertained in waiting to see what the notorious director would try next and how he would try to tie together the disparate details of the plot. Dudley Manlove, as alien operative Eros, has a strong presence and voice, and may give the best performance in the movie, although at times the actor descends into camp, and describes plans that don't always make sense. Music supervisor Gordon Zahler assembles a number of memorable cues, including some I recognized from 1950s television, into a score that's just about as memorable as the movie is. The picture may be be reviled by some, laughed at by others, but I still think it's enjoyable.
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