Okay, I had been wanting to watch the Mormon themed Sci-Fi film Plan 10 From Outer Space, by filmmaker Trent Harris, for a long time. How could I not after reading the back of the DVD cover?
It is Fellini on an Ed Wood budget. This sci-fi comedy is an outrageous concoction of sexual fantasy, conspiracy theory, and religious satire. It begins when Lucinda Hall deciphers a centuries old book penned by a mad Mormon prophet. In it's pages she discovers a diabolical plot hatched by Nehor, a peeved alien from the planet Kolob. As Lucinda frantically tries to uncover "the secret of the bees" she is sucked into a strange world filled with spacemen, polygamists and angels.
"Rocky Horror meets the Mormons." Cinefantastique Magazine
"Nancy Drew on Acid." Sundance Film Festival
First of all, I highly recommend watching this film in a room full of ex-Mormons, each with a glass of wine in them, which I did. But I have to warn you, if you do, you will hit pause and spin off into lengthy rants about the brain damage of your youth more times than you can count and it will take a ridiculously long time to get through it. But, it will be so worth it.
My favorite thing about truly kitschy B-movies is their oh-so-low production quality. The random horribleness of the costumes, hair and make-up, props, scenery, special effects... The worse they are, the more sublime. And this one didn't disappoint. Although, I gotta say, we were pretty impressed with the spaceship. Not kidding. It rocked.
It began on a high note with a couple fooling around in a car playing BYU's favorite game JUST THE TIP. From there it careened headlong into Peeping Tomfoolery, electric shock aversion therapy, seagull poop, cursed private parts, "hard, sweaty, nasty sex with angels", pioneer women in Go-Go cages, the Mormon Macarena and Karen Black singing a glorious love song / anthem to Kolob - all to a soundtrack that featured the harp with a delightful frequency.
Best lines:
"I'm an artist myself. I also have a motorcycle." Loved the kooky exhibitionist neighbor. Loved, him, loved him, loved him!
"Nehor's comin... OH, YEAH!" This should be mandatorily exclaimed in unison, with true Kool-Aid-esque enthusiasm, by every LDS seminary class studying the Book of Mormon.
"Our windows fuck each other." I blurted this out to my neighbors when I was a virginal young Mormon girl as well. Didn't we all?
The last three are my favorites and stand alone in such a beautifully perfect way, no comment is necessary.
"Your metaphors befoul the air."
"Oh, there's a Plan 10. And it's so horribly insidious it makes my butt quake."
"It makes the church look silly."
Plan 10 From Outer Space was a wild romp through the weirdest of the LDS teachings. Like Barbarella it utilized the beauty of spaceships, goofy double names "Larson Larson" [Pretty Pretty], weird sex and naked extras. But, unlike Barbarella, it left me wanting to boil my brain - which means it did it's job brilliantly.
Barbarella is still the clear Kitschy-B Festival winner - but Plan 10 gets a big fat A for putting Silliness under such an entertaining microscope.
Goodbye feet...
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