FAQ

Contrary to how this film (and popular legend) has it, Plan 9 From Outer Space was released in 1957 under Ed Wood's original title, Grave Robbers etc. After the premiere, another year passed before the Distributors Corporation of America picked up the film. They soon went bankrupt, however. The company that bought DCA's assets, Valiant Pictures, rereleased the film in 1959 under the Plan 9 title.

Although there is little actual evidence of this, one theory has it that Ed did not want his backers to know that he was showing the film in the South, and asked DCA to change the title. By the time of its second rerelease in 1959, the backers had already given up hope of seeing any return on their investment. But who knows how they might have reacted if they knew about the rererelease?

Guitarist and writer Rudolph Grey wrote the Ed Wood, Jr biography Nightmare of Ecstasy (1992) on which the biopic Ed Wood was based.

The footage of Bela Lugosi ended up in Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957), however some of it was initially shot with no specific movie in mind. Some is believed to have been intended for an unfinished movie called The Vampire's Tomb.

The movie takes many liberties with the actual events. Bela Lugosi did not actually wrestle with a fake octopus in Bride of the Monster. An obvious body double was used. In addition, the octopus was not stolen, it was legitimately rented. Bela Lugosi remarried before he died. Also, his relatives do not recall him ever swearing. There are no reports of Ed Wood ever meeting Orson Welles. Breckinridge did not meet Wood until Plan 9 from Outer Space. Plan 9 from Outer Space did not premiere at the famous Pantages Theatre. The final footage of Lugosi was filmed outside Tor Johnson's house, not Lugosi's house. Also, Lugosi was not completely out of work prior to Glen or Glenda. The film Wood made after Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait, is not mentioned. The film makes no mention of Wood's alcoholism which was reportedly the real reason for his breakup with Dolores Fuller, the portrayal of whom has also been called inaccurately antagonistic.