“My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of grave robbers from outer space?”
In some plane, I can see why Ed Wood would turn to Criswell for advice on the future. The man is so insane and incoherent and yet so stern in his predictions that he’d naturally be deemed something of a deity or messiah to someone as nutty and eccentric as Edward D. Wood Jr. In fact if I could meet someone alive or dead, I think I’d love to sit down with Criswell and pick his brain while munching on some acid, because I think my head is doomed to explode from the utter inanity and absurd circular logic this man will inevitably spew for hours on end if given the opportunity.
For many, the most infamous and most attractive aspect of “Plan Nine” is Criswell, an element of a science fiction movie so unnecessary it’s astounding to sit and watch. Criswell serves no purpose to the overall narrative of “Plan Nine” beyond narration, and even then there’s really no need to explain everything before our eyes.
While “Halloweentown High” really isn’t the most subtle of films with monsters and knights acting as symbolism for civil rights, it does excel in fully realizing the character of Marnie who is no longer a student and now just a matriarch of other students looking to make their way in to the human world. Kimberly J. Brown is as good and charming as ever in the role of heroine Marnie who takes it upon herself to play civil rights leader by insisting some of the monsters from Halloweentown should be allowed to go to human school for the sake of diversity and equality. The catch is by Halloween if she hasn’t made progress, her powers will be stripped away. This allows for a more open forum for new characters, all of whom have their own likable traits and quirks. One if a goblin, another is a werewolf, another a wood nymph, and so on. Marnie plays more of a protector this time watching over the new exchange students, and falling for a new guy named Cody.
