☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Planet
of the Vampires (1965) – M. Bava
Apparently an inspiration for the plot
of Alien and not unlike a long episode of Star Trek (which debuted the
following year) BUT directed by Mario Bava the Italian horror maestro (see
Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Blood and Black Lace, etc.). So, the colors are astonishing, the camera
glides in an unusual way, the actors (though of soap opera calibre) have great
costumes – really the art direction stands out.
At times this is like watching an experimental film, with all the
interesting shapes and colors – but, again, the plot is rather slow moving and
the acting is almost like a satire of stock sci-fi characters. In short, after hearing a distress beacon,
two space ships arrive on a mysterious planet where the crew members are
compelled to kill each other (and then to come back as zombies – or hosts to
the parasitic beings who live on the planet and must escape it because their
sun is dying). The twist ending caught me off guard but I won’t spoil it for
you. A big cut above some of the usual
sci-fi tripe of this era.
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