Planet of the Vampires
by Mario Bava
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DVD details
Actor: Ángel Aranda, Barry Sullivan, Evi Marandi, Norma Bengell, Stelio CandelliDirector: Mario Bava
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-28
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Planet of the Vampires
DVD Review: "How many strange things seem and then are, ever since we got on this planet?"
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't think I've seen a film that went by as many different titles as American International Picture's Planet of the Vampires (1965) has over the years...there's Terrore nello spazio, Demon Planet, Planet of Blood, Space Mutants, Terror en el espacio, Terror in Space, The Haunted Planet, The Haunted World, The Outlawed Planet, The Planet of Terror, and my personal favorite, The Planet of the Damned, which, I think, is a more appropriate title than the one used here, but whatever...directed by the legendary Mario Bava (Black Sunday, A Bay of Blood), who also co-wrote the original version, the film features Barry Sullivan (Shark!, Earthquake), along with a slew of foreign actors, mainly Italians, I'm not really familiar with including Norma Bengell (The Murdered House), Ángel Aranda (Satan's Blood), Evi Marandi (Agent 077 Fury in the Orient), and Fernando Villena (The Blind Dead 4).
The film opens in deep space, as we're aboard a futuristic looking ship named The Argos, which features about the biggest control room I've ever seen...seriously, it's huge, and includes a whole lot of unused space...at least there's lots of room to move...anyway, this is one of two ships traveling towards a distant planet called Aura. Apparently some sort of signal is emanating from the mysterious, fog shrouded, world and The Argos, along with her sister ship The Galilea, and have come to check things out. After losing contact with The Galilea, Captain Mark Markary (Sullivan) and his crew finds themselves in trouble, as The Argos is caught in some sort of gravity well, one that is drawing the ship towards the planet. After an emergency landing, the crew finds themselves in the grip of the space madness, attacking each other for no, apparent reason (it's like they turned Klingon), but eventually they manage to snap out of it, with no memories of their actions. After spotting their sister ship off in the distance, the captain and a few hardy individuals hoof it on over, across a barren, craggy, molten wasteland, only to find the crew of The Galilea in bad shape, i.e. they're dead, Jim. But are they? After the `away team' buries the recently deceased and returns to The Argos we discover the ship is damaged to the point where they can't take off, which is really bad because, due to the wacky orbit of the planet, if they don't leave in like three days, they'll never get home. The engineering dude says he might be able to make repairs enough for them to take off, or blow up (that's reassuring). Only problem is crewmembers keep disappearing, and the bodies previously buried don't seem to want to stay buried...turns out the crusty fog planet is inhabited by unseen creatures that have their own designs for The Argos and her crew, ones that don't necessarily entail a peaceful co-existence, if you know what I mean.
Overall I really enjoyed this, creepy, highly atmospheric science fiction thriller, and it was really interesting to see various concepts in this early film adapted in other, more poplar films released later on, specifically Ridley Scott's 1979 feature Alien. At one point the crew finds a large, derelict alien spacecraft, complete with skeletal remains of some rather large beings...sound familiar? Now I'm not saying Dan O'Bannon, who wrote the story for Alien, stole the idea from Bava's film, but one can't help but notice various similarities between the two films. One aspect that really sets this feature apart from many of the science fiction films of the time is the attention to detail regarding the overall atmosphere. This may have been a modestly budgeted feature, but it's hard to tell given the expansive space ship interiors and creepy, intimidating landscapes of the alien planet. One thing's for sure, Bava certainly knew how to set the mood utilizing effects, such as lighting, fog, spooky electronic scoring, etc. to create rich, vibrant, and imaginative backdrops for his features. The pacing can get a bit slow here, but I really didn't mind, as there was so much to take in visually. Something I really appreciated were the special effects in this film, often incorporating miniatures mixed in with live action footage, looking very realistic. Whoever was responsible for this did an outstanding job, given the technology available at the time. I'm no special effects expert, but I have seen enough films to provide an opinion towards this aspect, respective to when the movie was made. As far as the acting goes, well, it works well enough for the film, but none really stood out as being overly impressive, partly due to the sometimes odd and expository dialogue. The Captain's signature line seemed to be "I'll explain it to you later." Another kind of goofy aspect was how, after a mysterious, unexplained occurrence it wasn't unusual for someone to make an incredibly intuitive deduction that was right on the money...it was almost as if the characters in the film were privy to the script. One example of this is when a crewmember, apparently in a trance, tries to steal a vital component from The Argos, only to be stopped by Captain Markley. Afterwards he tries to describe what happened, and another states his mind must have been controlled by some malevolent alien force inherent to the planet. I suppose one would have eventually come to that conclusion, but given how little information was available at the time, it seemed like an amazingly accurate hypothesis. These various, astute deductions seemed almost uncanny at time with regards to their accuracy. I did like the mixture of males and females in the cast, along with the fact the female characters were relatively strong ones, expected to perform the same duties as their male counterparts, and not there just to serve coffee and such as was commonplace in films like this of the time. There are a few unintentionally humorous bits throughout, my favorite being when the captain and a female crewmember were investigating the giant, derelict alien ship. The female crewmember touches a disk found on the ship, only to get one heck of a shock, issuing an appropriate yelp. The captain comes running over, asks what happened, and then proceeds to touch the very same object she did, receiving the same shock...it's like going to a restaurant and having the server delivering a plate of food and issuing a warning that said plate is very hot. After she leaves, what's the first thing you see people do? Touch the damn plate...but I digress...if you enjoy classic science fiction films oozing with atmosphere and don't mind sometimes overly talky characters, then this feature would definitely be worth your time.
The picture on this DVD, presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), looks very sharp and does justice to Bava's glorious, often haunting visuals, and the Dolby Digital audio comes across extremely well, highlighting the highly excellent and appropriate musical scoring. The only extra available is a slightly worn, original theatrical trailer.
Cookieman108
If I learned anything from this film, it's that if you ever find yourself on a derelict alien spaceship, don't go flipping switches...by the way, I almost forgot to mention why I didn't care for the title of this film...there aren't any vampires in the film, at least not in the tradition sense.
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