Queen of Blood

Queen of Blood (1966)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Earth finally manages to make contact with an alien form but that form crashes on Mars so astronauts are sent to try and rescue any survivors. Allan Brenner (John Saxon) and Laura James (Judi Meredith) both have different opinions on the mission but soon they are fighting for their lives when the Queen alien (Florence Marly) turns out to be a vampire.

QUEEN OF BLOOD isn't your average horror film. If you're familiar with Curtis Harrington then you know he liked to go more towards the art house than the drive-in. His feature film NIGHT TIDE is one of the strangest horror movies that you'll ever see and QUEEN OF BLOOD is just as weird on many levels. I know a lot of people praise Mario Bava for PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and how he managed to turn a low-budget into a great looking production. I think Harrington really deserves the same credit because this movie certainly looks wonderful even if the film itself isn't a complete success.

What does work here are the terrific visuals. You've got the budget of your typical low-budget nature but Harrington makes sure you can't tell that by looking at the picture. I really loved the use of color throughout the film and especially the glowing reds. The colors certainly leap off the screen and manage to grab and hold your attention. Another plus is that we've got an excellent villain in the female vampire. I really loved her look with the green colors and there were some great scenes with the red blood just dripping from her that was quite effective.

Another plus is that we've got a good cast with both Saxon and Meredith doing a nice job with the lead roles. Marly is also quite good in the role of the vampire and we've got Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper in small roles. The film certainly does have some flaws including its story, which is rather unoriginal and there's no question that the psychedelic nature doesn't always work in regards to its story. Still, QUEEN OF BLOOD is an interesting picture visually and certainly worth watching.

Is 'Planet Of Blood' a good movie or a good bad one? I've watched it three times this week and I'm still not sure. The print on the DVD I bought was lousy, yet there looked like there were some impressive visual images for a 1960s b-grade sci fi movie. The acting was variable to say the least, ranging from inept to quite good. The script has some silly moments and the whole movie is incredibly dated, yet there was a few genuinely creepy moments. Good, bad, camp, forgotten gem, however you describe this movie there's one thing for sure, it's entertaining! It's certainly an improvement on AIP's goofy 'Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet', released the previous year, which was also directed by Curtis Harrington, produced by Roger Corman, and included stock footage recycled from a Russian SF movie. Both movies also featured Basil Rathbone in small supporting roles. The main reason most people (myself included) will hunt this one down is to see cult favourites John Saxon ('Enter The Dragon', 'Cannibal Apocalypse') and Dennis Hopper ('Easy Rider', 'Blue Velvet') co-star as astronauts. Saxon ("That's one bad thing about space trips - no banana splits!"), Hopper, Judi Meredith, and Don Eitner are sent on a mission to Mars to retrieve a crashed alien space ship. The year is 1990(!) and man has unsuccessfully searched for life on other planets. Unexpectedly alien transmissions are received, but the alien ship crashes before it can reach Earth. Saxon and co. eventually find a survivor, a mysterious green skinned female (Florence Marley), who they rush back to Earth. That's when the trouble starts... 'Planet Of Blood' is lots of fun for fans of 1960s SF, Roger Corman, John Saxon and/or Dennis Hopper. p.s. Keep an eye out for Forrie Ackerman!

I saw this movie on late night TV as a teenager. It scared myself and my younger brother so much we never made it to the end. About 20 years later I caught it on TV again and though It didn't have the same impact, I could still see what made it so frightening to me back then. Atmosphere.

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.

To be commended for casting a middle-aged woman as a seductive lady vampire; I would have love to have been a fly on the wall when Curtis Harrington told Florence Marly she was perfect for the part. With even less screen time than Max Schreck in 'Nosferatu' she's as memorably predatory but infinitely more alluring.