19 Hour Plan 9

Interdisciplinary artist Joe Wilson�s 19 Hour Plan 9 is a wild thing that one
definitely does not see every day. Wilson took Ed Wood�s cult classic black
and white film Plan 9 from Outer Space and ran it through Final Cut Pro
software to stretch the runtime from 79 minutes out to 19 hours. We will not
review the original Plan 9 here, please see the link above to Josiah Teal�s
very fine review of the original film. He rates it 10/10.

Considering the technical implications when a 79-minute film runs for 19
hours, doing some quick kitchen math, we can boil down the result to give
context. Film is shot at 24 frames per second (FPS). The runtime of Plan 9 is
79 minutes, giving us 113,760 individual frames. Playing those frames at a
speed that culminates in a 19 hour runtime changes the frame rate of playback
to 1.66 FPS. We are seeing less than 2 frames every second. TL;DR: That�s
slow.

In email to Film Threat�s Chris Gore, Wilson shared insights into the
process: �It�s been super fun and frustrating working on this, 30 hour render
in FCP on an old laptop, uploading for a couple of days, partially due to the
power to the computer being accidentally turned off.�


��Plan 9 from Outer Space�[stretched] from 79 minutes out to 19 hours.�

Wilson suggested skipping ahead to scenes with Tor Johnson, and they are
mesmerizing. One instance of this is around 7hr 59 min, where the vampire
girl (Vampira / Maila Nurmi) floats into frame, announced by her unnaturally
long fingers, followed by undead Inspector Clay (Tor Johnson) rising slowly
from his grave. On the film website 19HourPlan9.com Wilson writes about
making this version: �19 Hour Plan 9 is not intended as kitsch artifact but
as an evolving landscape of light, shadow, and cinematic texture that is also
sometimes hilarious.� Given that the source material itself is a kitsch
artifact, it is challenging to consider the project in this artistically
repurposed context.

The question top of mind is whether anyone will actually watch for 19 hours
(in fact it would be longer with potty and snack / booze / mind-altering-
substance breaks). If someone takes it on, I�d like to hear about it. Note:
viewing over multiple sessions is not the same as watching it in one sitting.

One may ask how a critic can review the film having not watched it in its
entirety, which is a fair question. We agreed to take in 45 minutes of the
experience and focus on particular moments in the film, like the appearance
of Tor Johnson rising from the grave. The rest we can extrapolate. Wilson
should consider providing a map of particularly interesting moments,
incidents like a torturously long phone bell ringing, or appearances by Bela
Lugosi, Vampira, and Johnson. The experience of the film is, to say the
least, trippy, but the sound is problematic. With it slowed so dramatically,
the sonics take on a backward-echo effect that is intensely grating. The
visuals are hypnotic as black and grey shadows play on the screen.

It is impossible to assess this work in comparison to more traditional format
films, as it is more of an art installation. We�ve credited Joe Wilson as
director here, but �conceptual artist� would be more accurate. 19 Hour Plan 9
would play well projected on the wall of a Goth club at 2AM listening to
�Bela Lugosi�s Dead� echo off stone walls at a breathtaking volume.  One
could think dark thoughts, sip absinthe, and consider the nature of time and
mortality.

19 Hour Plan 9 (2025)
Directed: Joe Wilson
Written:
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, etc.
Movie score: 7/10