PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, 1965
Movie Review

In the near future the two spaceships Argos and Galliot are sent to investigate the mysterious planet Aura. As the Galliot lands on the planet her crew suddenly go berserk and attack each other. The strange event passes, but the crew soon discovers the crashed Argos - and learns that her crew died fighting each other! Investigating further, the explorers come to realize the existence of a race of bodiless aliens that seek to escape from their dying world.

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REVIEW:

It must be frustrating when one tries to be helpful and answer a distress signal, only to be possessed and violently try to kill each other. With mysterious happenings, giant skeletal remains found in an ancient crashed starship and body snatchers, it’s no wonder the crew of an interplanetary ship desperately want to leave.

Planet of the Vampire is a 1960’s low-budget sci-fi film co-produced by American International Pictures and Italy’s Italian International Film, staring an international cast from America, Italy and Spain led by Barry Sullivan and directed by Horror legend Mario Bava.

Planet of the Vampires, also known as Terror in Space and half-a-dozen other titles, is about the crew of two starships, the Galliott and Argos, that crash land on unknown planet while answering a distress signal. After the crash, the dead crew members are possessed by the disembodied inhabitants of the world as they use the re-animated corpses to stalk the surviving crew.

The brilliance of Planet of the Vampire is not in its acting, plot or story – though the story is the strongest of these points – it is in Bava’s masterful filmmaking and use of the limited set he had and the subtle twist ending – an ending many of today film makers could learn from.

Bava had almost no budget, a limited studio set and a cast that didn’t even speak the same language. But, he made it work. He didn’t let the small set and limited props dictate the production, instead he used them to his advantage. With brilliant use of light, fog, a handful of boulders (Bava claims he only had two) and creative cinematography, Bava was able to create a bleak, claustrophobic, almost gothic, atmosphere that successfully looked like one small section of an alien world.

In fact it worked so well, it is said the look and feel of Planet of the Vampires inspired the look and feel of Alien and Pitch Black – both big budget films that had much more to work with than Bava did.

This alone should prove Bava’s worth as a director – even if Planet of the Vampires isn’t his best film. He took nothing, made it into something and in turn created a cult classic and influential sci-fi film. Many directors can’t do this with $100 million dollar budgets.

It is the subtle twist ending that truly gives Planet of the Vampires its punch. Unlike M. Night Shamlayan’s, whose twist endings are gimmicks that often explain the myriad plots holes or make viewing the film completely meaningless, the twist on Planet of the Vampires work within the confines of the film, not outside them.

The twist is a single line of dialog that changes the entire perspective of the film, while the plot and story stay intact and gives the ending a chilling and ominous sense of foreboding.

If you want to see a Mario Bava film, or like low-budget, dark, gothic, yet fun and intriguing films, than Planet of the Vampires is a good choice. If you want a big budget, action packed, special effects driven extravaganza you’d best steer your course away.

– Ace Masters

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