Foreverisacastironmess When I first sat myself down to watch this I really wasn't expecting anything more than just another dusty old sci-fi clunker, but I was soon pleasantly surprised by it, it was very compelling and surprisingly eerie and to me it was a good movie. Not brilliant, it is quite slow and I can see how someone would get bored with it, but for me how it looks and feels made for some great atmospherics and it soon establishes a nice sense of dread. Visually I thought it was gorgeous, the first thing I noticed was the style of it. That alone elevates it above mere B-movie material as far as I'm concerned. The colours and designs of the fog-shrouded alien landscape are surreal and beautiful, and the way the sleek space suits looked and even the far-out techno jargon all had an effect that to me was like a 50's pulp science fiction comic book come to life, that amazingly luminous colour photography was so striking and otherworldly that it makes it feel like you're almost there! It's a visual triumph, that sparse creepiness was positively mesmeric to me, I couldn't take my eyes off it. Some of it even seemed a bit ahead of its time, like in the scene where the alien parasite awakens the corpse which claws its way out of the black body bag. It sure wasn't vampires threatening the people but the title fits very well. Although what it may or may not have influenced will always be more acclaimed, I think this picture still stands on its own merit as a very well presented fun and spooky adventure that's dripping with fear. Bava was a great one for turning a little into a lot and creating atmosphere out of meagre resources and this early gem of his superbly proves that. I'd recommend it to fans of his work that have yet to see it or just plain fans of chilling retro sci-fi cinema.

tomgillespie2002 The crews of two giant interplanetary ships. the Galliott and the Argos, head to an unexplored planet shrouded in fog and mystery after intercepting a distress signal. When landing the two crafts lose contact with each other, and the Argos, lead by the experienced Captain Markary (Barry Sullivan), lands safely after some brief but heavy turbulence. Upon arrival, the crew of the Argos inexplicably attack each other, with only Markary able to resist the strange urge to kill. After they've been knocked out of their trance-like state, they travel to the nearby Galliott to find the entire crew either missing or dead. They bury the dead they find and set out to explore the vast wasteland, but Tiona (Evi Marandi) keeps having visions of the walking dead.Though far more experienced in horror, gialli and sword-and-sandal pictures, the great Mario Bava turns Planet of the Vampires into the most gorgeous sci-fi of its era. The planet, Aura, is desolate but strangely beautiful. Using bold primary colours and going overtime on a smoke machine, Bava infuses the planet with a suitably otherworldly atmosphere, which helps distract from the relatively formulaic plot. The director's love for horror can barely be contained as the crew start to rise from the dead. Placed in makeshift tombs and wrapped in a plastic sheet, they rise like blue- faced ghouls. Free from any distracting edits and backed by Gino Marinuzzi's eerie score, it is the most visually arresting moment in the film.It often gets cited as one of the inspirations for Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), though Scott and writer Dan O'Bannon claim to have never seen it prior to making the film. While Markary and his crew's discovery of giant humanoid skeletons does bring to mind the space jockey found in Scott's masterpiece, the two share little else in common. Behind the visual splendour, Planet of the Vampires suffers from a cheesy script and wooden acting, the common bane of the B- movie. Aside from an exciting set-piece involving an escape from a locked room having its oxygen sucked out, the film is actually quite plodding when it forces us to spend time with its collection of cut- out archetypes. Beautiful, certainly, and perhaps inspirational, but mark this amongst Bava's more mediocre efforts that are still worth checking out.

Michael_Elliott Planet of the Vampires (1965) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A group of astronauts land on a mysterious planet that has all sorts of strange secrets. As soon as they land the astronauts quickly lose their mind and violently attack each other. After regaining order, the group begins to wonder around when they learn that they're not alone.PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is considered by many to be one of director Mario Bava's greatest films. I'm not going to go that far but there's no question that it's visually very impressive and shows that the Italian director could work wonders with very little to no money. The budget of this film was extremely small yet this no-budget movie went on to influence some much bigger pictures including ALIEN. I think the greatest thing that can be said about this movie is that it looks like a much bigger budget than what the director actually had to work with.The visual look of the picture is certainly the highlight. Every single frame of this film looks terrific and I especially loved the look of the actual planet. The fog machines are on overdrive but that just adds to the atmosphere and I'm sure covers up some fake looking things. The colors really jump off the screen and while they're not as impressive as what was seen in BLOOD AND BLACK LACE it's easy to compare the two films. Another major plus is that the director does build up an impressive atmosphere and you certainly get the feeling that these people are stranded and in danger.The performances are another strong suit with both Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell standing out in the acting department. As technically impressive as PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is, at the same time I can't help but say that the story itself was rather boring and the film drags really badly throughout the running time. I know some people appreciate the dialogue driven action but I found the picture to be way too slow for its own good.

trashgang I was a bit afraid to watch this flick from the sixties. I don't dig flicks from the fifties or sixties but what a relieve it was to see this one. It's directed by Mario Bava well known for so much horror flicks. But here he directed a science fiction. Science fiction in that era is mostly out dated to today's standards but this here keep me watching and finally I really enjoyed it. It's a good story and you never see the real monsters or vampires. To say vampires is maybe a bit exaggerated because you don't see any fangs. But it contains for the time being a lot of blood and is even for that time gory. One person do open his jacket to show his body being ripped apart by the alien creatures. And just have a close look towards the space costumes they were wearing. It was made in leather and you could easily see that the collars annoyed them. They can't turn their face properly so they have to act a bit wooden. Nice flick and surely a view worth if you are into science fiction or even horror.