Planet of the Vampires
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Movie Reviews of Planet of the Vampires
Movie Review: Italian Yellow Fever in Space, 28 March 2006
Summary: 4 Stars
First of all "Planet of the Vampires" is not about vampires, it is about aliens taking over the bodies of a group of space explorers. It alternates between science fiction and horror. Although directed by legendary horror filmmaker Mario Bava, it is technically science fiction. The production design and premise were heavily influenced by "Forbidden Planet" and would itself provide much of the inspiration for "Alien".
Bava is generally acknowledged as the founder of the "gialli" style of Italian horror/thrillers, which is characterized by a much greater focus on the deed of murder (whereas other styles emphasize the solving of the murder). They also have a lavish and lush look and in this regard could be thought of as the opposite of the "film noir" style. Dario Argento is the other acknowledged master of "gialli".
If you are looking for a sci-fi film heavy on atmosphere, with very original cinematography, and featuring the all-time coolest black leather space suits; then "Planet of the Vampires" is a must see.
There is also a subtle anti-fascist political message. Note that the crews of both the Argos and the Galliot wear Nazi "SS" lightening flash insignia and that the disciplined and militaristic natures of the crewman make it far easier for the aliens to successfully impersonate them. The ending implies that 1930's fascism was actually an attempt by the invading aliens to take over the earth.
Bava appears to cheat a bit to make the ending a bigger surprise. It is possible that this may just be the English dubbing which assigns earth names to the crew members and has the alien referring to them as humans.
The scene with the bodies of dead crewmen rising up out of their graves still wrapped in clear plastic is extremely eerie.
As in "Alien" the two spacecraft are lured to the planet by mysterious radio signals and find an earlier victim of the same trap. Both ships are damaged upon landing and an alien presence is able to turn various members of the crew into violent killers.
As the engineer works to repair The Argos, its crew is slowly being taken over. Most of the suspense comes from the race to fix the ship before everyone falls victim to the alien possession. But eventually the captain begins to worry that a successful repair will furnish the aliens with a means to leave this planet and invade his unsuspecting home world.
A historically significant film that is still very entertaining.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Movie Review: Good 1960's sci-fi/horror combo
Summary: 4 Stars
Attention: SPOILERS IN HERE, but not major. If this movie had been made with a bigger budget, it would have been remembered like Forbidden Planet. It shares some elements with that movie, in that a crew of humans land on a planet where a previous ship had landed previously, to check out why there had been a lack of communication from that first crew. That's the first major similarity, but it's not ripping it off. Also similar to FP is the discovery of a once inhabited planet. In forbidden planet, the Krell found a way to turn themselves into energy beings and destroyed themselves. In this movie aka "The Demon Planet" which I think is the more suitable title, we're not sure what happened to the natives. At least I wasn't. We know they are energy beings now, but not if they are the descendants of the beings which occupied the giant skeletons which the second crew, the main focus of the movie, found. At least I wasn't. I plan to actually find the book it was written from, I found the movie that intriguing. So the Krell destroyed themselves in FP but our planet "Aura" has hidden energy beings which attack the humans mentally in order to possess their bodies so they can leave their planet whose sun is in its last epoch of life, making their planet soon uninhabitable. Some crew members get picked off individually, as in ALIEN, but they start sticking together after that to be safer. The alien entities seem to be able to invade their bodies when they sleep or are weak willed. Indeed, ALIEN, STAR TREK seem to have borrowed, if unintentionally, from this flick, as it borrowed, I'm sure unintentionally, from Forbidden Planet. The ships in this flick look a little like the federation ships and they have a scanner on board and shields! There is no feel of rip off in this movie, just some good similarities that can and should be explored in other directions.
I thought it had a great plot, it was not straightforward. The giant skeletons were a great mystery to discover. There was great scenery too, as others have mentioned. Combined, all these elements together with a bigger budget for more props and a few really good special effects would have made this like FP or something like that. Mario Bava should have made more sci-fi. There are some good horror moments when the aliens invade the newly dead humans, and good moody music throughout. There was no one 'jerk' character who thought he was cock of the walk either, I wasn't hoping for anyone to get killed off. I really liked the picture quality, it seemed to be a good clean transfer, and letterbox too! Good job!
Movie Review: Unexpectedly Effective
Summary: 4 Stars
With a title like PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and a largely Italian cast dubbed to English, I expected this film to be little more than grade B sci-fi schlock--and indeed the first few minutes of the film gave me no reason to revise that expectation. The producers of note (in this case really more importers than producers) are none other than Samuel Zarkoff and James (aka Jack) Nicholson, a partnership that produced a stream of tacky 1960s horror flicks; the opening special effects were dated as only 1965 special effects can be; and yes, the dubbing was evident. So I was greatly surprised when, about fifteen minutes into the film, I realized that it was holding my attention in a way I never imagined it would.One of the most astonishing aspects of the film is how much the opening scenes of 1979's ALIEN resemble the pace, style, look, and plot of PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES--so much so that a claim of co-incidence would be difficult to believe. Like the later film, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES finds a spacecraft investigating a beacon that may indicate intelligent life, only to find themselves on a misty, dark, and yet strangely fascinating planet that harbors a very hostile life form--and where they find an ancient, derelict spacecraft complete with calcified alien remains.
But whereas ALIEN doesn't really get underway until the explorers leave the planet, VAMPIRES finds the explorers trapped on the planet--and possibly forever. The script is rather prefunctory, but the cast (which includes Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Angel Aranda, Evi Marandi and Stelio Candelli) plays it in a tight-lipped and business-like manner that actually lends it a certain degree of credibility. But the real star of the film is the tone director Mario Bava brings to the piece: a combination of languid tempo and hypnotic visuals that keep you glued to the screen--not so much via suspense as by style alone.
PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES isn't a film that will have you on the edge of your seat. Indeed, in many respects the story is remarkably predictable--and any one taken aback by the "surprise" ending obviously doesn't get out too much. But it is a fascinating thing to watch, and sci-fi/horror fans who like their films heavy on atmosphere, interesting cinematography, and truly remarkable designs will want this one their shelf. Recommended.
Movie Review: Original Alien owes a lot to Planet of the Vampires
Summary: 4 Stars
I know that the DVD is not out yet as of this writing. I am reviewing the VHS version. If you are a fan of the original ALIEN, like James Cameron and I are, you will love this movie. Not so much for the plot, but for the many things in it that will remind you of the ALIEN and ALIENS movies that came later. Here are just some of the similarities:
1) They are answering a signal that has been sent from the planet, 2) Helmets setting on consoles like they were in ALIEN, 3) A somewhat cheesy landing sequence like ALIEN, 4) The planet surface will remind you of the one in ALIENS, 5) The round hatch is similar to the 3 openings on the green, horseshoe shaped ship from both ALIEN & ALIENS, 6) In order to keep production costs down, the two ships that visit the planet are identical both inside & out. This way, the same interior/exterior sets could be used for both ships. A distant shot of the identical ship will also remind one of the horseshoe shaped ship.
And, On one visit to a derelict ship, they come across huge, skeletal figures which will remind one of the skeleton in the horseshoe shaped ship. There are more things like these, but I will let you discover them yourself.
The music score is similar to the one in FORBIDDEN PLANET, with lots of electronic sounds, rather than real instruments. However, an electric guitar is obvious in this score.
Barry Sullivan, the American lead, obviously speaks his own lines. However, if the Italian actor's voices were dubbed in, this is one of the best looping jobs in a movie that I have ever seen!
The voice of the doctor Carron (not sure of spelling) sounds just like Paul Frees. Frees was a frequent voice in the Rock/Bullwinkle cartoons and he was also a news reporter in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS movie. You can also see him a little in a scientist role in the original THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. I am not sure if Frees is the voice, but it is a dead ringer for his.
Despite the plot holes, this is sure worth the price that Amazon is asking for the CD, even if it does not have any special features. I am ordering the CD version right now.
Enjoy it and always watch the skies!
rjb
Movie Review: Juicy and scary planet -- great Sci-Fi entertainment!
Summary: 4 Stars
Well, I believe it now. When I was in film school, one of my instructors told me that all the stories that could possibly be told were done prior to the 70's; anything else is just a re-make. Ridley Scott ripped off Mario Bava, John Carpenter ripped off Mario Bava, and I'm sure there are plenty more! I have 7-8 Bava films now in my collection, and it's so obvious that modern filmmakers have stolen ideas and scenes directly from Bava's films. "Alien", no doubt in my mind, was conceived using "Planet of the Vampires" as a basis. All they had to do was create a frightening, living alien for that film series -- everthing else was written for them here!
But on to reviewing the DVD: You won't notice them right away, but as the film progresses you'll enjoy the beautiful women featured. They are Evi Marandi and Norma Bengell. As they change costumes or remove parts of their opening wardrobe, they will become more visible. They are your typically juicy, delicious women in a Bava film but in this movie there's no reason for them to be sensual. They're still fine to look at, and it was great that Bava used more than one woman in the crew back then.
The DVD picture is rather nice -- beautiful and strange colors and the film is rather sharp for its' date. All colors, mist, bubbling, etc. are rendered nicely from this old film.
The soundtrack is the real treat. This is a mono soundtrack, but it again has the enveloping sound like "Blood and Black Lace", so if you have multiple speakers different sounds will come from different places. The unusual spaceship, planet, and space sounds are quite effective. The only problem with sound here is that during obvious loud parts the sound fades away.
I'd say this film will appeal to science fiction fans more than the horror/gore fans. But if you insist on building your Mario Bava collection like I have, then you will want to own this remarkable DVD that holds up today as a very nice space epic. Surprise ending -- something that "Alien" did not have.
There is no DVD insert booklet nor chapter list.