Il vampiro del pianeta rosso

I first saw this film in 1959 as a 7 year old while on holiday in Ireland. I remember feeling very scared watching it. It was part of a double bill with "The Attack of the Crab Monsters", another equally scary film for a child of such tender years. Both were rated "X certificate" by the UK censor.

The reason for my review is that I've just watched a doc on TV which deals with censorship in Ireland from 1923 to 1980 and one of the films discussed was "Casablanca", which in my opinion is the greatest film ever made. Though released in 1942, it was not shown until 1945. In those days, Ireland only had one certification, and any film that had content that was deemed "offensive", had to be cut, or was denied a certificate. The offending bit in this case was the portrayal of the Germans, quite rightly, as the villains.

At that time, they were treading a path of strict neutrality and they did not want to show the film in case it led to an anti-German backlash. To give some idea of how rigidly they stuck to this policy, when Hitler committed suicide, the then Irish Prime Minister, Eamonn De Valera, signed the book of condolence at the Germany Embassy in Dublin after Hitler's death

But I digress. Thinking about Irish censorship compared to the UK version and remembering how scared I was watching this X cert double bill, I wonder how scary the uncensored version must have been?

In case anyone is unaware, the film is considered a "Cold War allegory" with the invaders from Davanna representing an attempt by the Russians to take over the world.

Actually went to see "Attack of the Crab Monsters" but this was much better. The entire movie had a dark quality to it, like you were looking thru Paul birch's very cool wraparound shades (or maybe the theater needed a new projection bulb/ carbon arc light- no, "Crab Monsters" was OK..) The bat creature, as I remember it, was like a small webbed-between-it's-tentacles octopus that did an amazing skull crush. I was usually inured to a lot of those creatures, but I had nightmares for days after that thing. Beverly Garland always added to any movie, and I think from her output of films, she just lived on the sets. So where is it, Roger!!! We want to see it, and I don't think it's ever been on tape or dvd

A human-like alien leaves his dying planet to secure earthling blood that his planet needs.

Too bad Corman didn't dump that flying lampshade that apparently sucks the doc's blood. Because that's really the only cheezy element of this otherwise effective monster flick. It's arguably Corman's best. Birch is pretty scary with his deadpan face and perfectly parsed diction. Just don't ask him to take off his glasses. Then too, I wonder what he puts down as eye color. Plus I would give dear Beverly Garland a drive-in Oscar for her sparkly portrayal of nurse Storey. It's a performance far and above the call of a paycheck.

Yes indeed, what I remember from my first viewing decades ago is Dick Miller's vacuum salesman. He's so pesky and obnoxious, horns honked all over the drive-in when he got his. And what about the teen-age cutie who opens the film, even if she doesn't stick around. Too bad. Anyway, Corman sure knew his audience since we boys were hooked right then. Nonetheless, for the less hormonally minded, there's a message in the alien madness-- better watch out earthlings, nuclear war can cause a calamity that only a steady stream of blood can help.

Okay, so the movie's not exactly Oscar bait. Nonetheless, it's got a better-than-usual Corman script, plus good location staging that keep the usual hokey sets to a minimum. Yes indeed, it's still fun to track the Darvana alien, and maybe honk your horn when Miller gets his.

You have to hand it to Roger Corman, he could not only stretch a dollar but our imaginations as well. In this one he put character actor Paul Birch in a black suit, stark white contact lenses and sunglasses. He's playing a blind man, right? Wrong! He's playing a space alien and if you look at his pupil-less eyes your brain burns right in your skull (could this be where David Cronenberg got the idea for SCANNERS?). Anyway, Birch has come to our world looking for blood. His own planet is worn out due to years of atomic war and only the uncontaminated blood of Earth people can save what is left of his race. Birch's superior intellect has made him extremely arrogant (he refers to Earthlings as "subhuman") yet his unfamiliarity with the simplest things on this world continually attracts attention to himself. He makes no attempt to cover his many killings, leaving bodies where they can easily be discovered. His contempt for Earth and its people mirrors that of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD who brutally knocked Dr. Carrington aside when he dared to compare his feeble Earth brain to that of the alien. Also in the cast are Beverly Garland as the nurse who knows her patient is unusual but does not realise how much. Jonathan Haze as the former petty crook who is his chauffeur (Haze's last line is a classic!). Morgan Jones, the former "Green Hornet" in the 1940 Universal serial, is the cop in love with Garland who labels Birch "a creep"; and Dick Miller is a vacuum cleaner salesman who deserves some sort of award for using the word "purchase" the most times in a single sentence. Oh yes, there is a monster too, sort of. A briefly seen what-is-it designed by Paul Blaisdell that looks like an inverted umbrella. It kills the one person on Earth who knows who and what Birch really is and then (apparently) dies. Talk about thrifty, that isn't blood at the end of that scene, the actor who appears to have his head crushed by the monster just had a mouth full of grape juice and spit it out at the right moment. Roger has remade this film twice (what, will he keep doing it until he gets it right?) but the original is still the most fun.

Evil, blood-sucking alien (like there's another kind in Corman's universe?) Paul Birch is draining the citizenry of L.A. to save not only himself but the dying planet Davanna in this creepy Corman classic. When nurse Bev Garland and her not-too-imaginative cop boyfriend discover what Birch is up to, the fun really gets going: foot chases, car chases, fiery crashes - in short, the works. Even though there's something for almost everybody in this little gem (except spaceships; sorry, all you hardware freaks), "Not of this Earth" remains one of the very few Corman films that has never been released on either VHS or DVD. Supposedly, the reason for this is that Corman himself wasn't satisfied with the finished product; hence, at least two remakes, or, three if you count the stupendously awful "Star Portal." As is typical in Corman films, the budget was very tiny; so tiny, in fact, that the only piece of the original, lavish "dimensional warp chamber" to survive fiscal reality was the multi-orbed thingamajig at the very top of the otherwise spartan black chamber. Too bad. The word is that the original design by Paul Blaisdell was pretty impressive. Well, for a low-budget B/W 1957 thriller, anyway. So, while a lot of money does not necessarily a hit film make (witness "Alexander"), it doesn't really hurt, either. Bottom line: don't pay too much attention to the, er, lean FX, such as the deadly lampshade bug. The story isn't bad, the acting is, for the most part, okay (although the three bums are laughable), and you actually feel some pity toward the end for Birch and his ilk. If you can find this one, go for it. Believe us, there's A LOT worse out there