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Some years ago I watched very old science fiction movie on French television that was advertised as "The worst SF movie ever made".

It involved aliens who somehow woke up the dead, so the living had to fight wave after wave of animated corpses coming out of their graves.

To elaborate on how bad the movie was, one scene I remember showed the alien spaceship "floating in space" with the strings holding it perfectly visible.

This movie was so bad it was totally hilarious. I really enjoyed watching it! Can anyone identify the movie?

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    Starcrash is the worst sci-fi movie ever made, but it doesn't match the description. Clearly the advert was lying.
    – Valorum
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:30
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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Outer_Space?wprov=sfla1
    – Adamant
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:33
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    UFOs hanging from visible strings sounds very Plan 9 which IIRC involved bringing back Earth's dead. It is widely considered a terrible movie.
    – DavidW
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:34
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    My friends, can your heart stand the shocking facts about...grave robbers from outer space?
    – Adamant
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:44
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    Fun fact: the (much better but much less successful) successor to the Unix Operating System, created by some of the original developers of Unix, is called Plan 9 from Bell Labs. Those are also some of the same people who (much) later created the Go Programming Language. Also, the ubiquitous UTF-8 encoding was developed as part of Plan 9.
    – Jörg W Mittag
    Jan 27, 2022 at 19:59

2 Answers 2

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This sounds like the infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space.

The titular plan involves using pineal and pituitary stimulation to awaken the dead:

The Ruler : What Plan will you follow now?

Eros : Plan 9. It's been absolutely impossible to work through these earth creatures. Their soul is too controlled.

The Ruler: Plan 9?

The Ruler : Ah, yes. Plan 9 deals with the resurrection of the dead. Long distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary glands of recent dead.

And the aliens responsible fly around in saucers that are clearly models:

In fact, the creation of the "Plan 9" saucers were even more prosaic than that. Instead of using pie plates, Woods' "special effects" team simply drove to their nearest hobby store (This was the late 1950s, when there used to be hobby stores) and purchased a half dozen "Flying Saucer" models made by Lindberg Line. They removed the rocket engines, spray-painted models -- including the clear plastic domes -- silver and -- voila! -- an alien invasion force!

The film has also frequently been considered the worst of all time, and is featured on Wikipedia's listing of films considered as such.

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    Oh yes ! I started checking Plan 9 as soon as you posted your comment. That was the one, yes.
    – Alfred
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:37
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    My friend, you have seen this incident based on sworn testimony. Can you prove that it didn't happen? Perhaps on your way home, you will pass someone in the dark, and you will never know it, for they will be from outer space. Many scientists believe that another world is watching us this moment. We once laughed at the horseless carriage, the aeroplane, the telephone, the electric light, vitamins, radio, and even television! And now some of us laugh at outer space. God help us... in the future.
    – Adamant
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:50
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    Worth mentioning that it's an Ed Wood film. Tim Burton made an eponymous movie about him, with Johnny Depp in the lead role.
    – Peter - Reinstate Monica
    Jan 27, 2022 at 12:31
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    @Adamant disappointed you left out my favourite line, "Future events such as these will affect you in the future."
    – Muzer
    Jan 27, 2022 at 15:28
  • And Ed Wood the worst director of all time :)
    – Robotex
    Jan 27, 2022 at 16:18
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Sounds like "Plan 9 From Outer Space":

  • Made in 1957, shot in black and white
  • The titular "Plan 9" refers to "a scheme to resurrect the Earth's dead, referred to as "ghouls""
  • Awarded the title of "Worst Film Ever" and described as "the epitome of so-bad-it's-good cinema"

Personally I couldn't spot the wires, but these UFO scenes certainly match the caliber:

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  • Excellent answer, but Adamant beat you by a very short time ! I totally agree with so-bad-it's-good definition.
    – Alfred
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:40
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    The pilot sounds so bored and disinterested when he says "that's nothing from this world".
    – coppereyecat
    Jan 26, 2022 at 21:40
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    Now I'm disappointed... Where are the strings that everybody is talking about? I demand to see them!
    – Fabio says Reinstate Monica
    Jan 28, 2022 at 1:55
  • @FabiosaysReinstateMonica Later in the movie, on a darker background IIRC, they are quite visible. Just watch the whole thing, it is hilarious...
    – Alfred
    Jan 29, 2022 at 22:21

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