Queen of Blood

Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper and John Saxon star in this piecemeal sci-fi horror using a ton of great special effects from some Russian film, as far as I've read somewhere anyway. That doesn't detract from the fact that the special effects are great for their time, and really groovy to boot. In fact, things only slow down a bit when we get to the actual story line.

Some aliens announce that they'll be dropping by Earth for a visit and perhaps a pint or too, but their ship crashes on Mars. Rathbone, being the head honcho, dispatches Hopper and a crew to go and find any survivors. They don't find any, but a follow up ship containing Saxon lands on Mars' moon Phobos and finds a female survivor. He leaves his buddy behind and takes a rescue ship over to Mars, where he joins up with the rest of the crew, who then set off home with their green skinned, creepy looking cargo.

This alien, with her beehive hairdo, evil grin, and green skin, is rather creepy to begin with, but when her eyes start glowing and she chows down on a crew member things take off. It's scientific research (the Captain's wishes to keep feeding the alien blood so they can get her back to Earth to study) versus common sense (Saxon just wants to destroy the thing, and quite rightly too). What will prevail? And what will the survivors do with the surprises that the aliens left on the ship?

Keep in mind: This film is PG, and made in the sixties, so don't go expecting Alien. The first half is full of those funky special effects from that other film, and the latter half, although not as fun, still has that creepy, silent alien prowling around. Dennis Hopper looks to be still in his teens and John Saxon gets to say lines like "I've only got paper moon money". What more do you want?

Okay, gore and nudity, but what else?

It's the year 1990 and scientific receive a distress call , a SOS , from an alien spaceship . As a ball contains a videolog of the events that caused their ship to crashland on Mars . After the crash-landed on Mars , Dr Farraday (Basil Rathbone) decides to send out a team of astronauts , including Allan Brenner (John Saxon) , Paul Grant (Dennis Hopper), Laura James (Judi Meredith) , among others, on a rescue mission. On the planet, they discover just one survivor , this is a green-skinned alien woman that is brought aboard, a peculiar vampire whom they call 'the Queen' and they decide to keep her under observation . The spaceship is ordered to bring back the alien creature . As the crew takes special care of her on the trip back to Earth but she is brought back with disastrous results , as at the end an astronaut is holding some alien eggs . New highs in blood chilling horror ! Hideous beyond belief...with an inhuman craving ¡

It's a formula terror space film with tension , thrills , chills, including some elaborate scares , twists , and results to be entertaining enough . This nifty sci-fi/horror has a thrilling plot , if simple and ordinary , similar to subsequent Sci-Fi- movies , as alien species makes contact with Earth through radio transmission, notifying of an imminent visit , a rescue team goes Mars and discover a strange extraterrestrial , but when one man is attacked and drained of his blood, the survivors are soon racing home , before they too become victim to the bloodsucker . At the beginning shows up some colorful paintings belonging to the artistry of John Douglas Cline, a popular artist in the 1960, forerunner of the Phoenix Art Group, and he founded the John Douglas Cline Gallery in Los Angeles. If you've ever seen the soviet film Niebo Zowiet don't be surprised if some scenes look familiar , the script was written around segments cut from that film . This was an ultra low budget production with decent special effects taken from two big budget Soviet productions , Encounter in space (1963), and Battle Beyond the Sun (1959), though Harrington estimated that most of the film was his. Producers Roger Corman and his brother Gene Corman made a similar operation, as economic as rip-off from a Russian film , with ¨Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet¨also starred by Basil Rathbone . And being released on a double-bill by AIP along with other B-Science Fiction pictures . Acceptable main and support cast , such as : the recently deceased John Saxon , the beautiful Judi Meredith , the great Sherlock's Basil Rathbone and the Czech actress Florence Marly as the beguiling green-skinned woman who was a personal friend of filmmaker Harrington. In the final shot, a cameo by Forrest J. Ackerman, at the time, Ackerman was the editor of the magazine "Famous Monsters¨. Queen of Blood has most often been compared to ¨Lifeforce¨ (1985) by Tobe Hooper and many films have received some inspiration from his feature ¨Queen of Blood¨, as the expensive ¨Alien¨ (1979) by Ridley Scott . Other movies that have been likened to Queen of Blood include ¨The Thing from Another World¨ (1951) by Christian Niby , ¨It! The Terror from Beyond Space¨(1958) by Edward L. Cahn , ¨Terrore nello spazio or Planet of vampires¨ (1965) by Mario Bava and other quickies or sequels as ¨Forbidden world¨(1981) by Allan Holzman or ¨Galaxy of Terror¨(1985) by Bruce Clark . The picture was regular but professionally directed by Curtis Harrington , and it was shot in seven to eight days . Harrington was a good craftsman in B-territory . In 1961 he made a strong and impressive feature-film debut with the nicely moody and quirky Night tide (1961) with Dennis Hooper. His follow-up features were a pleasingly diverse , idiosyncratic and often entertaining bunch , and included the delightfully campy Shelley Winters vehicles as Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) , What's the Matter with Helen? (1971) ,the perverse The Killing Kind (1973) and the immensely fun Ruby (1977). Moreover , Harrington directed a handful of solid and satisfying made-for-TV offerings: The cat (1973), Killer bees (1974), The Dead Don't Die (1975) and the terror animal Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978) , as well as TV episodes from The Twilight Zone, The Colby , Dynasty , Wonder woman , Hotel , among others .

Sometime in the 1990's I believe, the Earth has sent many ships to space and is awaiting the arrival of an alien to Earth after sending various stress signals. A crew of three astronauts(including a young Dennis Hopper and Judi Meredith)go to their planet when some kind of problem arises. It seems this race is dead or dying, and the scientists on Earth want to explore their culture and, unbeknownst to them, their anatomy. Another expedition is needed to go after the first with two more astronauts led by John Saxon. In control at home is Doctor Farraday, played with enthusiasm by Basil Rathbone. What the astronauts find on this dying planet(actually one of its moons) is a creature that is horrific yet strangely sexually hypnotic. The creature is in definite female form wearing what has to be one heck of a tight body suit that shows every...and I mean every curve, peak, and valley. Florence Marley plays this vision of beautiful horror. Her face is green and her hair rises up like some kind of testy beehive. She says nothing but acts with her face and facial movements. One side note about this alien presence. It feeds on blood. Well, you can guess what happens to sundry members of the crew as she/it vampirizes them. The innovative part of the script is that most of the people in charge are more concerned with saving the "beast" for the acquisition of knowledge rather than the, in many cases their own, preservation of life. This is definitely something laced throughout the Alien movies. Queen of Blood is a very innovative film that uses some insightful direction from Curtis Harrington with what looks like an obviously small budget. Harrington used clips from a Russian scinece fiction film to show the rockets and other large scale sets. But despite its small budget, Harrington manages to create a film that is haunting, eerie, and strangely beautiful, not to mention adding some good scares and some thought-provoking questions about science and its ends. He uses colors most inventively...blue, red, green hues all over. The acting is adequate. Its fun to see Mr. Rathbone, although he looks very tired and old. Mr. Sci-Fi himself, Forry Ackerman, has a bit part and oddly enough the best scene in the film at the end...a real unexpected climax. Be sure to give Queen of Blood a try...the first half or so is somewhat boring and slow, but it does pick up and I think is an excellent foray in the world of intelligent sci-fi.

It's 1990 and earth has finally made its first contact with extraterrestrials on Mars. Which they have told earth through radio waves that they actually plan to visit earth. Although something goes wrong in their attempt and an expedition is sent to Mars to find any survivors. In which case they discover a green skinned lady. On their trip back the crew encounter that their new passenger has a deadly fixation for blood.

"Planet of Blood" is a cheap little hybrid picture by director / writer Curtis Harrington. He turns in one very solid Sci-fi / horror yarn which is held together by capable performances from John Saxon and Dennis Hopper and some strikingly eerie visuals that go a long way in plastering the film with an atmospherically moody embrace. The haunting story is quite languid, but keeps things rather firm and planted throughout the material are a few surprises and neat touches. The astute plot is quite original and has a variation that would go on to influence (with such others like "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" and Bava's "Planet of the Vampires") the masterpiece "Alien". Some might find the pacing quite slow going and a jargon packed script terribly chatty, but I found it more often interesting with the questions that are raised than boring. If action and mayhem is what you want, it doesn't really kick into gear until the final 30 minutes, where it ends on a surprising final note.

The production looks quite colourful with suited special effects (from a Russian sci-fi flick) that simply does the job. Visually, there are some wondrous lighting compositions and cardboard sets sprayed with a vibrant colour scheme. An otherworldly music score builds up some rustling tunes that rattle along. Harrington's direction is commendably focused and stylishly tailored. Performances are good with the likes of Basil Rathbone, Judi Merdith and Florence Marley as the mysteriously hypnotic and silent alien woman. Watch out for her "Look into my eyes" sequences. John Saxon chimes in with his usual impressive performance and a young Dennis Hopper is sound. Also Forrest J. Ackerman makes a minor mark in the last minute of the flick.

For it's budget, it's a well-presented and exceedingly slow burn premise with a sterling cast.

"Queen of Blood" is also known as "Planet of Blood". It was released by American International around 1966.Reguardless of it's low budget,it is a combination of science fiction and horror, with more attention being paid to it's sci-fi side.Cult movie fans should notice that it is actually a foreign movie bought by American International and reworked for american audiences.Curtis Harrington(writer and director)did a fine job on the film. John Saxon would later star in "Planet Earth", a film that closely resembles this movie.I wouldn't be surprized if Gene Roddenberry saw this thriller and hired John Saxon to star in "Planet Earth".If you get the chance, watch this movie, it's pretty good.