PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965)

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965)

Tagline: This was the day the universe trembled.

(Action, Sci-Fi, Horror) [PG]

We suddenly stopped and were set down gently, and then you all went crazy…

In this one, it’s supposedly the near future and two ships called the Argos and Galliot are sent out to find out more about a planet called Aura. It’s basically a mystery and they seem to know almost nothing about it, except that it was giving off electronic signals for the past 2 years. We do find out right away the atmosphere is breathable. Once on the planet everyone goes nuts and starts attacking each other like at Canucks, Flames hockey game. Once the crew of the Argos discovers the Galliot is in deep trouble, they go to help but find something sinister and bodiless is lurking on the surface. 

The first thing I have to say is the collars on the space outfit everyone is wearing are the best in the business. I mean, Ming The Merciless is probably somewhere pissed that he didn’t get show these collars for weekend excursions. The spacesuits the main actors are wearing all look like they were stolen out of STRYPER’s closet, mostly black with yellow trim and logos. It’s freakin fantastic. The second thing is that the color pallet in this is pretty solid at the beginning of the movie, but gets murkier and murkier as it moves along. 

Cinematically this thing is pretty effective so I can’t really knock it there, but it is missing some camera angles that might have helped. A few attempts they do make to keep it interesting come across as super hokey. Effects wise this thing is pretty rough when looking at it now, but through the lens of time, it’s actually pretty well done. This feels like an older spookier version of what a 60’s FLASH GORDON might have been like only not near as Rainbow Bright. 

I don’t speak Italian, but when you take the acting and the English voiceovers, this is quite a bit better than a lot of films of its time, especially in the sci-fi genre. I watched the digital version on Amazon Prime and the quality was incredible, but I can’t speak to what the VHS, DVD, or BLU-RAY version might be like. 

I am guessing this movie was considered pretty progressive when it came out. One of the first things the men in the Argos do is stick one of the women outside to guard the ship with a gun while they go inside, all this after discovering an entire ship of dead crew. I have rarely seen someone in my life freak out and fall on the ground. In this movie, you will witness at least 2 occasions of that. I am not going to say how many. 

The last act of this thing feels very TWILIGHT ZONEish and that’s actually just fine. In the end, however, this movie was a bit too slow for me and while I can appreciate the effort, The overly simplistic plot and almost an hour of not much going on with little spatial queues to tell you where anyone is at any given time is problematic. Especially when you are filming a space flick. 

For me, this is a 3 out of 7. For the most part, it looks great but lacks a lot of what I love about 60’s sci-fi. I can see why others regard it highly though, especially people into atmospherically dark films. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF ITALIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.