El planeta de los vampiros

I saw this film in it's 1965 American release, and at the time I was not overly impressed. It was obviously made on a low budget, the dialog dubbing is bad (although far superior to some other Italian imports I have seen), the acting alternates between wooden (Barry Sullivan) and outrageously overdone (i.e., "gravity effects", the reaction of the actor who smashes the "meteor deflector", numerous fear reaction shots of crew members). Time has proven that it has become a trend setter for numerous subsequent sci-fi films (most notably Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979)). I recently viewed it again 37 years after it's release, and the similarities to "Alien" are unmistakable. The attentions of the crews of both films are attracted by mysterious radio signals originating from an unexplored world. The horseshoe shape of the ships in POTV resembles that of the wrecked alien spacecraft in "Alien". There are similar shots of the ship's landing gear in both films. Both crews find ancient wrecked spacecraft and skeletal remains of giant aliens on the planets they land upon. There is an unknown predatory alien presence in both films. Lots of gore footage exists in both films too, although POTV unarguably started this trend (alas, is there any recent sci-fi film that does not fall to this temptation?).I cannot believe that all these similarities are coincidental, and I suspect that Dan O'Bannon must have been heavily influenced by POTV, whether he realized it or not.

The use of lighting and color are also noteworthy. POTV still looks good today due to colorful exterior scenes (forgive the somewhat clumsy use of composite shots of the crew in a few scenes set against an obviously miniature landscape). Please also forgive the overzealous use of the zoom lens, which had just been developed at the time. One big demerit in set design comes from a scene inside the wrecked alien spacecraft. A prominently-featured prop appears to be the taillight lens from a 1957 Packard, complete with the backup light lens below it. It is positioned vertically in the shot, and perhaps the set designer was hoping that Italian audiences would not recognize it. Another detractor is the almost unlimited amount of area inside the ships. No ceilings are visible, and the various compartments look as big as football fields when compared to realistic spacecraft design criteria.

I found this to be an entertaining if somewhat flawed film, certainly more enjoyable than it was when I first watched it in 1965. It deserves a vote of 6/10.

In typical Bava fashion this movie has great visuals, atmosphere, and a great overall 'feel' of uneasiness. The story is very well done and ahead of it's time, and parts of it were later used (and referenced in) Alien.

Two ships land on a mysterious planet after receiving a distress call, only it turns out it wasn't in distress at all... it was a lure so they can spring a trap. The bodyless aliens turn the crew against each other so they can take over their bodies, leaving the living to wonder who's on their side and who's been taken over by the unseen enemy.

This is a great early sci-fi gem that has a great mix of horror, a mix between Star Trek and Invasion of the Body Snatchers is how this could be described. Worth a watch if you can find it.

Astronauts land on a mysterious planet and encounter many strange and dangerous things--like bodies that don't stay dead.

This Italian movie has horrendous dubbing (except for American Barry Sullivan), silly "special" effects and truly laughable, comic book level dialogue. But it's still worth seeing.

Director Mario Bava was a master at creating spooky atmospheres out of no budget. This was a VERY low budget film (it shows), but he covers it up with beautiful, inventive lighting, tons of dry ice and a really scary score. Also the astronauts wear tight leather outfits which are interesting and some of the Italian guys give good performances--Sullivan is horrible and the women are beyond belief. Also the film contains a few nice jolts and some very scary coming back from the dead sequences.

So, ignore the lousy dialogue and preposterous plot and concentrate on the visuals and sounds. Perfect late night viewing.

In the film PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, there is an undeniable creeping dread, a very real sense of terror, in every scene. Despite the obvious lack of money, Bava wrung some eerie, disturbing imagery out of his sf schlock piece. Considering this is an Italian production of the mid-60s, director Bava infuses some real originality into his story, taking a 1950s crew of square-jawed astronauts and forcing them to confront the future of horror: a horde of gore-streaked zombies, an omnipresent supernatural force invading the crew's minds, and a nihilistic ending.

What is great about POTV stems from Bava, his dynamic camera, and his framing. The marooned spacecraft atop a craggy hillside, approached by rescuing astronauts, looks like a haunted house against the black-clouded sky of the planet. When the living dead begin stalking the pitted, fiery surface of the planet, intent on killing the astronauts, Bava effectively uses the new horror icons of fear: not of fear, but of zombiefication, of characters who could be us, once just human, but now horribly returned as mutilated living corpses set to kill friends and family.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is exciting, arresting in places, and nuanced in small ways even by the actors involved, all of them physically fit with numerous fight scenes. Sullivan and Bengall aren't creating their

characters, but they react realistically as human beings in an increasingly hopeless situation. The final scenes, of the

astronauts attempt to escape the planet, set upon by the living dead, have a psychological edge to go along with the action, as these noble travelers overcome their fear of the planet, of the zombies, and the horrible prospect of becoming zombies themselves, in order to end the hungering menace all around them. These scenes predate the best of George Romero's DEAD films or any John Carpenter flick, where a group of survivors are whittled down to just a few, and then to one, by a wave of seemingly unstoppable supernatural force.

It should be noted that "vampires" refer to parasites, not classic monsters, and truly this is more of a "zombie" film than a "vampire" movie. The film Bava made is gory and violent for 1965 when it was released, and as interesting as it was then, it's just as interesting now to see how POTV influenced later horror-film greats, not only in theory but in execution. And it's still better than 95 percent of the recent Hollywood sf-horror films of the past decade, bar none.

(aka: Planet of the Vampires)

And I don't say that lightly because I've seen a number of them such as "I Criminali della galassia" (Wild, Wild Planet), "Diafanoidi vengono da Marte" (War of the Planets) "Il Pianeta degli uomini spenti" (Battle of the Worlds) etc... Cheesy, boring epics, usually directed by the likes of Antonio Margheriti that have crummy atmospherics, bad plots and horrible dubbing.

But "Planet of the Vampires" has something else. Something mysterious and original that even Ridley Scott would pick up on 15 years later. A little known fact except to viewers of this film.

Plus they got some hot looking Italo-babes in this one. Yumm...

This beats them by far, and is certainly original in it's execution, in my opinion. The DVD is a vast improvement over the old Thorn/EMI videotape, transferred from a stunning, original master print that has the AIP logo at the beginning of the titles.

I don't think there was really anything that combined both the Sci-Fi element with the horror element before this film. If someone can come up with one that escapes me, then I'd appreciate hearing about it.

7 out of 10 for originality (for it's time) on the imdb meter...