B-movie influences on "Space Zombies!"

Over the past few weeks on social media (Facebook and Instagram), I have been revealing some of the B-movies that have inspired the novellas I wrote in "The Trilogy of Horrifically Half-Baked Ham", starting with Space Zombies!  I thought I'd go ahead and compile those posts here... 📽

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The most obvious, to me, at least, is "Plan 9 From Outerspace" and it's influence over almost 100% over the feature film I produced/directed/co-wrote/edited "Space Zombies: 13 Months of Brain-Spinning Mayhem!", and therefore the novelette adaptation and first book in the trilogy, "Space Zombies!" 👽🧟‍♂️
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Summary of "Plan 9" from Wikipedia: Plan 9 from Outer Space (originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space) is a 1959 American independent black-and-white science fiction film, written, produced, directed, and edited by Ed Wood, that stars Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, and "Vampira" (Maila Nurmi), and is narrated by Criswell. The film also posthumously bills Bela Lugosi as a star (silent footage of the actor had actually been shot by Wood for another, unfinished film just prior to Lugosi's death in August 1956). Plan 9 from Outer Space was released theatrically in 1959 by Distributors Corporation of America (then credited as Valiant Pictures). 🎥
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The storyline concerns extraterrestrials who are seeking to stop humanity from creating a doomsday weapon that could destroy the universe. The aliens implement "Plan 9", a scheme to resurrect the Earth's dead, referred to as "ghouls". By causing chaos, the aliens hope the crisis will force humanity to listen to them. If not, the aliens will then destroy mankind with armies of the undead. 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️🧟‍♂️
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Plan 9 from Outer Space played on television in relative obscurity until 1980, when authors Harry Medved and Michael Medved dubbed it the "worst film ever made" in their book The Golden Turkey Awards. Wood and his film were posthumously given two Golden Turkey Awards for Worst Director Ever and Worst Film. It has since been retroactively described as "The epitome of so-bad-it's-good cinema"[2] and has gained a cult following.[3] 🎞

Yet another "Space Zombies!" influence is "Bride of the Monster", another film by Edward D. Wood Jr. Yes, "Plan 9 From Outerspace" is the bigger influence on "Space Zombies: 13 Months of Brain-Spinning Mayhem!", but you could say almost all of Ed Wood's works had a say in the making of my parody B-movie.
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From the Turner Classic Movies website film article, by Jay S. Steinberg: "Acknowledging Bride of the Monster (1955) as the most lavishly mounted work in the portfolio of cult favorite director Edward D. Wood Jr. (1924-1978) would be akin to recognizing the smartest of the Three Stooges. While the production values may have been on a par with a serviceable "B" picture, there's still plenty of the shaky continuity, stilted dialogue and eccentric performances that posthumously earned the transvestite tale-spinner his curious niche in cinema appreciation…"
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Fun, ridiculous and boring—sometimes all at the same time—this B-movie is worth your time if you're into that sort of thing…otherwise, you may only want to take in some clips.
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Producer: Edward D. Wood, Jr., Donald E. McCoy
Director: Edward D. Wood, Jr.
Screenplay: Edward D. Wood, Jr., Alex Gordon
Cinematography: Ted Allan, William C. Thompson
Film Editing: Warren Adams
Music: Frank Worth
Cast: Bela Lugosi (Dr. Eric Vornoff), Tor Johnson (Lobo), Tony McCoy (Lt. Dick Craig), Loretta King (Janet Lawton), Harvey B. Dunn (Capt. Tom Robbins), George Becwar (Prof. Vladimir Strowski).
BW-68m.

Another B-movie with a major influence on "Space Zombies!" (in this case, the third part, called "Space Zombies: The Incredible Duel-Headed Cat Freak!")..."The Thing with Two Heads"...a particularly wacky film from the 70s starring Ray Milland, Rosey Grier, Don Marshall, Roger Perry, Kathy Baumann, and Chelsea Brown. Directed by Lee Frost. 🎥
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From the Rotten Tomatoes site: "In this sci-fi horror movie with comedic elements, a racist transplant surgeon (Ray Milland) learns that he's dying of cancer. He's recently performed some revolutionary experiments with a gorilla (special effects guru Rick Baker), by attaching a second head to the gorilla's body and removing the first one after the second has grown firmly into place. Now he wants to replicate the experiment with a human body, by grafting his head onto another person's frame. This way, he reasons, he'll be able to continue his medical and scientific work unabated. When he comes to after surgery, however, he's horrified to find out that his..." head has been grafted onto the body of a black man. Can these two heads learn to get along? Silliness and a minorly renowned soundtrack ensue. 🍅
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The Los Angeles Times had this to say: "every bit as preposterous as it sounds. It is also utterly hilarious, and any picture that can point up the absurdity and cruelty of racial prejudice with such incessant laughter deserves respect. Indeed, this American International release is a well-calculated, competently made exploitation picture that offers lots of fun." 😄

"The Beast of Yukka Flats" is another influence on "Space Zombies!" and something I discovered because Tor Johnson, professional wrestler and one of the stars of "Plan 9" was in this truly bad film. It has its fun moments, though! 🎥
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A succinct summary by Jonah Falcon on IMDb: A defecting Russian scientist is transformed by an atomic test into a hulking monster (Tor Johnson, of course). Not much else except some people are killed, boys get lost, and a rabbit sniffs Tor's corpse. This film was used for Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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More from Wikipedia: The Beast of Yucca Flats (released to television as Atomic Monster: The Beast of Yucca Flats) is a 1961 B-movie horror film written and directed by Coleman Francis. It was produced by Anthony Cardoza, Roland Morin and Jim Oliphant.[1][2]
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The film stars Swedish former wrestler Tor Johnson as "the Beast". It starred Anthony Cardoza, Coleman Francis and Jim Oliphant in bit parts, as well as Conrad Brooks in a very small role. Director Francis cast his two sons (Ronald and Alan Francis) in the film as the two lost boys.
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The plot concerns a Soviet scientist named Joseph Jaworsky (Tor Johnson), who defects and flees to a Nevada Test Site called Yucca Flats, only to be turned into a mindless monster by atomic radiation, stalking the desert. The film has very little dialogue and most of the speech is done by omniscient narration.
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Some critics have characterized the film as one of the worst science fiction horror films made, and one of the all-time worst films of any kind, even suggesting that it may be worse than Ed Wood's legendarily bad Plan 9 from Outer Space.[3] In 1995, the television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured The Beast of Yucca Flats, helping the film develop a cult status.