Review of Planet of the Vampires (1965) by Gordon T — 08 Nov 2009

How to rate an out-dated, "schlocky (by nature of it being outdated), poorly acted, "poorly directed," cheese-ball Italian science fiction spaghetti-horror movie?

With a big fat ZERO . . . or contextualize the film, placing it in its proper place in the history of science-fiction, horror, international and world cinema.

Call Planet of the Vampires "THE EVIL DEAD IN OUTER SPACE." The tiular creatures are not classic-mythological vampires that are undead creatures who suck the blood of the living for survival; instead The Vampiers are spiritual creatures who invade the bodies of their host.

The plot:

Just as in RIDLEY SCOTT'S 1979 masterpiece ALIEN, the crew of a starship answers a distress call from a distant world. Just like in ALIEN, They crash-land upon the strange, eerie, breathable alien planet. And Just as in ALIEN, they stumble upon a pile of GIANT BONES of a creature who crash-landed on the planet centuries before. AND just as in ALIEN, the crew encounter a strange alien life-form that wants to sneak into their bodies and hitch a ride aboard their ship to another planet yet not in as gorily a fashion as in ALIEN.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is based upon an Italian short story entitled "21 HOURS OF NIGHT" Samuel Z. ARKOFF at American International Pictures changed TERRORE NELLA SPAZIO to PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES because "VAMPIRES" sell more tickets; notice the tag-line on the poster reads "Are they Vampires?".

MARIO BAVA is a pioneer in his ability to increase the level of gore and violence in mainstream cinema: threre are plenty of bloody, partially denuded rib-cages and bloody gashes by 1965 standards in PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and the red and blue pastel lighting effects are stylishly "out of this world.".

Absent of a historical and artistically-minded context PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES lingers around a 10%, yet "BECAUSE ITS BAVA (e.g. because it is directed by the great Italian horror director MARIO BAVA," PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES earns a 100%.