Planet of the Vampires

Planet of the Vampires / Terrore nello Spazio (1965) American International Pictures. Starring Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengall.

Few B-movies from the 50's & 60's can actually claim to be an inspiration to mega-blockbusters decades later. Fewer still can be foreign produced, sport several titles and feature an international cast. "Planet of the Vampires", however is an above par movie with better than average production values and a visual style that makes it stand out amongst the usual shlock of the drive-in genre.

Helmed by Italian director Mario Bava, "Planet of the Vampires" was one of his earliest pictures, and later he would go on to make other classics like "Kill Baby, Kill" and "Danger: Diabolik". Unlike most Italian science fiction this one stays on focus with the story and it's subject matter.

If that is your real name!!!

The title of the movie has many pseudonyms Including: Planet of the Damned / Planet of Blood / Planet of Terror / Demon Planet / The Outlawed Planet / The Haunted Planet / The Haunted World / Space Mutants / Terror in Space / Terrore nello Spazio. Actually the title should have been "Planet of the Zombies", as that is the most accurate description of the threats in this film.


Many names, one movie.

Is it just me or do the Uniform styles seem familiar?

Hmmm...	Hmmm...

Ah probably just my imagination...

This reminds me of something...	Hmmm...

Vampires was based on the Italian-language science fiction short story "One Night of 21 Hours" written by Renato Pestriniero. While not original and taking liberal cues from "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958), The film just exceeds in retro future visual eye candy. This would be a Star Trek TOS episode with visual bite, a movie that embody's the spirit of pulp science fiction to the fullest.

Yo, Capt. Marky Mark!!!

The film opens with the spaceship Argus together with her sister ship Galeat on descent to the planet Aura where a mysterious signal has been detected. Sound familiar? Surmising the surface is shrouded in layers of impenetrable cloud neither crew has been able to discover anything about the source from orbit.




Captain Mark Markary (Barry Sullivan) decides that there is little to learn from orbit and orders both ships to land. Through some clunky exposition we learn that the captain's brother is onboard the other ship and we learn about the film's McGuffin called the meteor rejector a force field device which the vessels need to survive through the debris-strewn space circling Aura.

That shot looks familiar...

Hmmm...

I've fallen!!! And I can't get up!!!

Trouble begins as the two vessels begin descending faster than planned and the force of gravity renders both crews unconscious. Captain Mark manages to sustain the forces long enough to guide the ship into a safe landing.

Even though the ship is safe the crew suddenly begin attacking each other for no reason. As each member is subdued none of the affected crew  members have any recollection of the incident. For example, the ship's doctor mysteriously goes outside the ship for no apparent reason and when he is subdued has no explanation for his actions. When the crew come to their senses they find that the ship battery power has been depleted and they cannot lift off.

Communications officer Sanya (Norma Bengall) begins picking up a faint transmissions which strongly suggests that the same fate is happening to the crew on the other ship.

Long, empty corridors.

Okay, maybe this one is a bit of a stretch.

Markary decides to mount a group to go planetside and determine the fate of the Galeat. What they find are the bloodied corpses of their counterparts strewn about the ship leaving the Captain and his First Officer unaccounted for.  Further examination shows all were seemingly killed at each others hands.

Those damn kids and their spaghetti sauce!!!

Markary and his men bury the first three corpses and then head back to the Argus for a cutting torch get to other remaining four, who are in compartments sealed off from the rest of the ship leaving a crewman Eldon (Mario Morales) to stand guard and wait for their return.

In ancient times...
Hundreds of years before the dawn of history,
Lived a strange race of people... the Druids...

When they get back, they find that the bodies inside the Galeat have vanished, along with poor Eldon. The doctor tries to convince the captain that perhaps what he saw were illusions, but Wes (Ángel Aranda) convinces them otherwise when he finds traces of blood.

Crew member  Tiona (Evi Marandi) suddenly starts screaming and when the others reach her they decide to go back to the ship to deliberate on their latest findings. Minutes after they leave the ground where the bodies were buried begins to tremble and the three monolithic (trialithic?) grave markers are toppled over as the once dead crewmen crawl their way out to the surface.

Fresh from the dry cleaners!!!

Back at the ship Wes has some bad news. He estimates that the crew can only stay on the planet another three days before the planets orbit sweeps them so far away that flight will be impossible. The captain then orders the crew to get some sleep so they can be fresh to tackle the problem in the days ahead. While making a late night log entry he notices Wes sneaking about the ship, making his way to the engineering section.

He manages to stop Wes from tampering with the meteor rejector and comes to the conclusion that whatever beings exist on the planet have the ability to influence their minds. He orders all members to post guards on those who are asleep.

Wes: Captain, I think that the phase coils are...
Captain: Shut up Wes!!!

Meanwhile crewman Burt (Franco Andrei) notices some strange lights flitting about and after going to investigate winds up dead saying that the enemy was the missing Captain Sallis of the Galeat.

I wager fifty Quatloos on the newcomers!!!

As the beleaguered crew take care of yet another casualty. they start to realize that the lights may be the alien presence and that their form may exist in a different plain of existence. Tiona is left alone with Burt's corpse. Zombie Burt rises to give her a scare but decides not to attack her, and lies back down on his gurney, while she passes out but not before giving the obligatory jump scare scream, ensuring thereby that no one will quite believe her story.

Meanwhile First Officer Carter (Franco Andei) has noticed a faint, metallic glint off in the distance and Markary takes Carter and Sanya to investigate. it turns out to be caused by light reflecting off the hull of a huge ancient alien spacecraft. The derelict vessel is littered with decaying skeletons of giant humanoids.

How long does it take for you guys to get a pizza?

Wait! Remains of giant alien skeletons?

Hmmm...

Hmmm...

Markary and Sanya split up from Carter while exploring the wreck and if not through some clever deduction just barely manage to make their way out. When they do escape, there’s no sign of Carter.

Planet of the Vampires Gallery:
 

I'll end the review here. In conclusion it's hard to believe that Writer Dan O'Bannon and director Ridley Scott of "Alien" fame have denied ever seeing this movie, despite the many parallels to this film and to some degree "Prometheus".  Nevertheless for me this movie is just pure fun.