Few directors so noted for producing terrible movies have achieved such a cult reputation as Ed Wood. More recently popularized in the Tim Burton movie of the same name, Ed Wood has become a byword for cheap and sloppy yet hugely entertaining low budget shlock, and his film Plan 9 From Outer Space was no exception. Dubbed by some as "the worst movie ever made" - surely enough to warrant the label of "legendary" if perhaps for all the wrong reasons - it tells the tale of aliens who unleash the walking dead in order to prevent humans from developing a doomsday weapon. The star of Plan 9 From Outer Space was no stranger to cheap genre movies - indeed, Bela Lugosi made his name as an actor who seemed to relish in such roles, and his performance as Dracula in the early Universal Studios adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel remains to this day one of the most memorable. After dying of a heart attack in 1956 it is perhaps ironic that his death has become associated with Plan 9 From Outer Space - while it was the last film he appeared in the footage he features in was actually shot for other Ed Wood projects. Perhaps the stress of working with such a haphazard and scatterbrained director contributed towards his heart attack.
