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Apr 02, 2013Monolith rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I just watched "Plan 9 From Outer Space" with the additional "Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion" bonus film documentary accompanying it about a week ago, so that made it so much easier to relate all the references and characters portrayed in this biopic. I can't think of a more appropriate eccentric filmmaker to have made this film of another eccentric filmmaker than the great Tim Burton. It takes one to know one. And the casting was superb. Depp was very good, but without question, the standout performance (supported with an Oscar nod) was Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi. He absolutely nailed down his manner and his accent to a tee. Next, (again, just seeing Plan 9), would be George 'The Animal' Steele as Tor Johnson. Incredible likeness. Lisa Marie as the stacked and yet toothpick waisted Vampira; Jeffrey Jones as Criswell... Tim Burton even includes a cameo from one of the original actors in Plan 9, Gregory Walcott, who played the pilot Jeff Trent. Lugosi and Wood each had sad final days -- devoured by the scourge of substance addiction(s), and the insatiable appetite of the machine known as Hollywood. (Evidently Frank Sinatra quietly paid for the funeral of the impoverished Lugosi.) Their celluloid legacy lives on, regardless of being classified as the best, or the worst. Great flick. FIVE STARS.