Criswell Predicts: The BFI Blu Ray Edition of ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ Will Be A Sensation!

 

It’s finally here! I’m thrilled to announce that the British Film Institute’s Blu Ray edition of Edward D Wood Jr’s Plan 9 from Outer Space has finally arrived, and Criswell was right. It’s an absolute sensation!

 

Close readers of this blog might remember that the BFI struck a new print of Ed Wood’s Trash masterpiece and presented a special screening of it in NFT1 back in the spring of this year. Those with cloudy memories can click here for more details. It was my honour to introduce that first showing of the new print with a special reading of my text ‘Criswell Predicts 2026’, especially revised and updated for the occasion. 

 

The BFI has now released that new print in a deluxe Blu Ray edition that comes freighted with so many extras and unexpected goodies that it must surely set a new standard in Trash studies. Not only can you choose to view Plan 9 from Outer Space in two different screen ratios, but there is also an extra disc containing Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster, plus some fabulous Bela Lugosi extras. 

 

There are essays and commentaries by some of my favourite people, including Mark Pilkington, Jane Giles and Will Fowler, plus some people I don’t know personally, but I will now make a point of seeking them out. We’re talking Flying Saucers. Plan 9 at the old Scala Cinema, which was where I first saw it. Lugosi coming out of rehab. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted from a Blu Ray, except for something to play it on.

 

But wait, there’s more! I had the great privilege of doing the commentary for the Blu Ray of Plan 9 from Outer Space, which I recorded over the summer with the BFI’s Vic Pratt. I’m so delighted not only that Ed Wood’s magnificent disaster of a movie has been officially honoured by the BFI, but also that I was asked to add my voice to the commentary. As an extra bonus, the BFI also made a studio recording of me reading ‘Criswell Predicts 2026’, and they have presented it on the disc with clips from Plan 9 as a short video essay. I couldn’t be more delighted.

 

You can order the BFI Blu Ray of Plan 9 from Outer Space by clicking here. Copies of art magazine émergent 16 have also just hit the shelves, containing a revised transcript of my ‘Criswell Predicts 2026’ reading for those who like to read my words as well as to hear them. You can order émergent 16 by clicking here.

 

As the Amazing Criswell would say: ‘Can you prove it didn’t happen?’

Pictured above from top to bottom: Plan 9 pack shot; unboxing the Blu Ray; émergent 16