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Post by wmcclain on May 16, 2020 0:15:35 GMT
Planet of the Vampires (1965), directed by Mario Bava. That should be "zombies" rather than "vampires", but American International picked the English title. When responding to a distress beacon, two spacecraft make forced landings on an unknown planet. The crews become psychotically murderous until punched around a bit. They discover a derelict alien spacecraft with large calcified Space Jockey remains. The worst thing? Dead crew members won't stay dead, and come back changed. Let's get the bad out of the way first: - Pointless and incoherent techno-declamations waste the first 10 minutes.
- Lots of running around and screaming to no purpose.
- We only get to know a few of the crew members; the others are kind of anonymous. (They swap one actor midway through; I didn't notice).
- As I mentioned for Barbarella (1968), there's something painful about Italian science fiction.
- I don't know whether to complain about the costumes or not. Maybe spacemen will want strangely detailed motorcycle leathers. (Actually neoprene wetsuits, I think).
- The limited budget and rudimentary effects might take us out of the story, but I would argue for accepting those restrictions in this type of film.
I recommend it for: - Mario Bava completists.
- Those interested in the history of the SF/Horror genre.
- Anyone with a fondness for old pulp magazine rocketship adventures.
- Fans of Alien (1979) who want to see the remarkable parallels for themselves.
Ridley Scott and Dan O'Bannon say they never saw this film, so I can't explain the apparent influences. Take this and It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and you have a big box of Alien (1979) construction parts. Carlo Rambaldi worked on special effects for both films. It has other good features as well: - A persistently ominous and creepy tone. No humor or cute mugging at all.
- Lovely color and better than expected composition and camera work.
- The pulp magazine cover vibe is strong in this one. We see more retro-SF these days and it fits into that revival.
Available on Blu-ray from Kino. No subtitles. Commentary track by a Bava scholar with a wealth of technical detail. He says Bava had a passion for SF, although most of his films were horror. 
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Post by Prime etc. on May 16, 2020 4:16:10 GMT
I like the Gamma One series.
Ridiculous science fiction but better than nothing IMO.
There is little chance Planet of the Vampires wasn't an influence on ALIEN-the shot of the spaceship in the mist is too close to the one of the derelict in Alien.
Interesting that the ending is kind of a companion shock twist for Planet of the Apes.
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Reynard
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Post by Reynard on May 16, 2020 17:25:30 GMT
Didn't Planet of the Vampires recycle props from Margheriti's Gamma One movies? Alfonso Brescia's ("Al Bradley") super cheap scifi adventures certainly did. Brescia also included some horror elements to his sci-fi movies.
Science fiction is one genre that Italians never mastered. They do not feel that different from the US ones, neither are they classy in a way that Italian horror & gialli often were. Instead they are more like Italian low budget war movies - cheap and rather unoriginal copies of bigger & better productions.
Talking about movies that inspired Alien, Curtis Harrington's Queen of Blood from 1966 was a major influence.
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Post by Prime etc. on May 16, 2020 18:47:52 GMT
They should have done Space Gangster movies, then I think they would have found the right balance.
I like their war movies.
They aren't particularly stylish like the westerns but some of the plots are interesting like Desert Commandos (which has the plot of The Eagle Has Landed mixed with Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and Commandos 1968 which has a brilliant ending. Maybe it is copied from a movie I have never seen.
Curtis Harrington-there's a name who seems to linger in the outskirts of horror film appreciation for inexplicable reason.
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Post by wmcclain on May 16, 2020 19:18:00 GMT
Curtis Harrington: he's mentioned in preservation commentaries. He knew James Whale and was the driving force behind the rediscovery and restoration of the once thought lost The Old Dark House (1932). Of his own films I've reviewed only: Night Tide (1961), directed by Curtis Harrington. A lonely sailer falls in love with a strange woman working as a carnival mermaid at the pier. Too late, he discovers the police are watching her -- two of her earlier boyfriends drowned. She thinks she is one of the "sea people": a siren who lures sailors to their deaths. Oddly enough, other people believe it, too. He begins having lurid nightmares... A micro-budget, minimalist production with both pro and amateur cast. It has a bit of the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits ambience of the period, and that dreamy off-kilter mood of Carnival of Souls (1962). More than anything it seems like a return to the Val Lewton thrillers of the 1940s. Like Psycho (1960) it wraps up with a rational (or rationalizing?) explanation. Dennis Hopper was an unusual choice for the lead (his first). As warm and friendly as he tries to be, there is always a dangerous unreliability to his persona. You expect him to go all pervy and transform into a giggling sadist at any moment. David Raksin score. Hopper did his own scuba-diving. Roger Corman helped with financing, such as it was, but the independent production had many money problems. There seem to be several DVD versions. The one I got from Netflix is 4:3 letterboxed but has a late 1990s commentary track by Hopper and the director. Harrington confirms he was thinking of Val Lewton and Cat People (1942). Also available online for free: Night Tide. I haven't watched that version.  |
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Reynard
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@reynard
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Post by Reynard on May 16, 2020 20:43:36 GMT
Night Tide is fascinating. I've only seen a fullscreen vhs quality version so far but still liked it. I agree that it has many similarities with Carnival of Souls. Both feel more like European art house / auteur cinema than something done for low budget horror & exploitation markets. Val Lewton thrillers serving as an inspiration does not surprise either.
I don't remember how exactly Night Tide ended, but I think the possibility of supernatural was left open. Harrington's interest in symbolism, surrealism and the occult is quite well known, he never tried to hide it. Harrington had connections to people like Kenneth Anger and Maya Deren and was inspired, at least to some degree, by the writings of Aleister Crowley.
Night Tide was released as a lovely looking Blu-ray / book box set earlier this yer by Powerhouse Films UK. I think it's "officially" out of print now but can still be found for reasonable prices. Second Blu-ray includes a selection of Harrington's short films, which have been hard to find. Regular single Blu-ray release will follow, but it won't the the book, the short film extra Blu-ray or any lobby card reproductions.
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Post by petrolino on May 16, 2020 23:01:31 GMT
Great movie. ('Night Tide' too)
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Post by taylorfirst1 on May 18, 2020 20:37:16 GMT
Don't forget that "Queen of Blood" 1966 also influenced "Alien".
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