'Planet of the Vampires' Review

‘Planet of the Vampires’ – 1965

Story in Brief: The spacecraft Argos and its sister ship are on a routine investigation of a signal from an uncharted planet when they are suddenly dragged down to the planet in question. Madness breaks out amongst the crewmembers of the Argos, the crew of the other ship may or may not be dead. If they’re not dead, they might be undead…

Thoughts:

This is the best science fiction movie that you’ve probably never seen. Or haven’t seen in years and have forgotten about. Or have never had a chance to see properly. It’s a movie that doesn’t get mentioned often when discussion of ‘great’ movies begins but it should.

The first thing that I noticed and liked was the fact that this movie is based on a previously written story and the opening credits identify not only the magazine it was published in, but even the issue involved. I don’t think I’ve even seen such detail before and it pleased me.

The title of the film isn’t particularly accurate. The attackers aren’t ‘vampires’ of any traditional sense, so you shouldn’t expect a planet filled with Dracula clones. The inhabitants of the planet in question do feed off the living in a sense, but it’s stretching things to call them vampires.

I found the flow of the tale to be very logical. First off, the characters aren’t introduced in a traditional manner where each character gets their name, job, and ‘quirk’ announced within moments of their first appearance. The people in this film obviously know each other and we are in a position where we are suddenly watching their actions. They continue their lives as if they were not being watched. We get the information we need to understand what’s going on, just not before we need it. Also, as the story progresses, there are no sudden leaps of logic, where the protagonists suddenly know something they need to know. Exploration as well as trial and error is seen at work. Until the situation gets explained to the crew by one of the antagonists, they don’t understand what’s going on, they’ve only got guesses with which to work. All this adds a slight hint of realism to the film.

Admittedly some of the character development is thin and some things aren’t explained (for instance, the crew wear insignia which seems to indicate their rank, but the Captain is constantly called ‘Mark’ instead of ‘Captain’) but the lack of some details is unimportant really (so the Captain prefers to be called by his name instead of his rank, that’s his right and it subtly hints at his character traits). We are given a chance to understand the emotions and reasons behind the actions of most of the character we see and therefore have a chance to care about their continued survival. So what if we don’t find out about their favourite colour, it’s not really important to the story.

The film is of Italian origin and therefore was likely filmed primarily (at least) in Italian. The film is dubbed into English without any option to hear the original Italian track with English subtitles. This is not a problem as the film is dubbed very well. The lines are performed as opposed to merely spoken in English and there appears to have been a successful effort to have the words match the lip movements on the screen.

The main reason I like this film is due to it’s rich colourful look which is due to it’s director: Mario Bava. Bava is best known for his colourfully lit and interestingly shot horror films. This film fits easily into his normal work, the only difference is the outer space setting. Strange lighting and a constant gentle fog help transform a studio floor into an alien planet. Creative methods of shooting, such as using models in the foreground with actors in the background in order to add to the perceived size of the set, help give the film a unique look as well as making the film look high budget. The set design and the costume design also add to this look. The film is a treat for the eyes. Very few effects don’t work well. Bava obviously knew how to get a lot out of a little.

The DVD is part of the MGM Midnite Movies line. Like most of the disks in the series, the film looks like it has been remastered for this release. The film is exceptionally clean with few marks to distract the eye. The colours are bright and rich, as well they should be for this film. The sound is clean and crisp without any pops or hisses. The only extra is a trailer for the film that is in an acceptable condition.

Since SRP for this title is $15 and it can easily be found for $10, I heartily recommend it. There’s nothing bad about this film or DVD.

(Standard pricing and availability may have changed disclaimers apply.)