hwg1957-102-265704 Two spaceships land on a mysterious planet. Which is the bare bones of many a science fiction movie but this one has its felicities. The main one is the fantastic look of the film. The costumes, the make-up, the spaceships, the planet itself. Like 'Forbidden Planet' (1956) every frame is a work of art. This planet has vampires, though not the bloodsucking type, but a parasitical force that possesses bodies. By the end of the film most of the two ship's crews are dead and the film ends on a disquieting note. Before that are many atmospheric scenes; the rising of the dead, the exploration of a previously crashed spaceship; the crossing of the alien landscape etc. Even the mist and fog are creepy and some of the sound effects are positively scary. The great Mario Bava directs with a sure hand and it is easy to see the influence this film has had on other films. The cast is capable led by the American actor Barry Sullivan. There are some beautifully coiffeured women but thankfully there isn't any soppy romance to hold up the plot. The men and women are entirely equal.A fine film and well worth watching.

John austin Atmospheric visuals dominate this Italian made sci-fi tale about earthlings who get more than they bargain for when their spaceship touches down on the mysterious planet Aura.They're attacked by an unknown force and later find out that Aura is inhabited by a dying race of vampire beings who have the power to raise the dead and take over the body and minds of the living. Although obviously made on a very small budget, this film is a lot of fun to look at, although the acting makes it seem like a movie made well before 1965. If anything, it feels like a low budget action or serial feature from the 1940s. The alien body snatcher/mind stealer thing was a pretty common element in these movies well before this was made and was often taken to symbolize subversive communist infiltration, although it's hard to say if that was the intent here. No doubt this movie was good source material for numerous big budget sci-fi features that came later.

Bryan Kluger Mario Bava is one of the more prolific Italian horror filmmakers that ever graced the big screen. His work is well known throughout film buff's circles and critics alike. Even though most of Bava's projects were done a smaller budget than we might be used to today, they were always a perfect specimen of what every movie should strive to be like, visually. No matter the budget, Bava always added great detail to his sets and was a master cameraman, who framed each shot perfectly and beautifully.It's no wonder than nearly 35 years after his death, Bava is still talked about and his movies celebrated. One of those films is 'Planet of the Vampires' from 1965. This is not one of his best films by any means, but it might be his most interesting. Don't let the title fool you. There are no vampires in this film. In fact, if I were given the option to name this film, I would call it 'Alien'. And yes, I'm speaking of Ridley Scott's 'Alien' from 1979. If you think about Scott's 'Alien' film, going into 'Planet of the Vampires', your head might explode or your chest burst open by the numerous similarities in both films.'Planet of the Vampires' was first though. Nearly fifteen years before. But where 'Planet of the Vampires' left off, 'Alien' picked up and added all of the strong characters, the debilitating fear and scares, and one hell of a monster. Yes, 'Alien' is by far a better film, but it's great to see where Ridley Scott and his writers were influenced by their genre bending film 'Alien', whether they admit it or not.The story starts out with two large ships traveling through space on a mission to explore the vastness outer space. The two ships traveling together receive a distress signal from a strange planet in the distance. The ships travel to the planet to investigate, but as they are landing on this strange planet, the crews become possessed and start to kill each other off. Only Captain Markary (Barry Sullivan) has not been possessed and is able to get his crew back to normal. Both ships crash land on the planet, where Markary and his crew set out to find the other ship. Once they find it, the soon see that the other crew have all killed themselves on the way down.When the Markary and his crew start to bury the deceased, the dead in fact start to get it and cause trouble. This leaves Markary and a few of his surviving crew to try and repair their ship and get off the planet before they too become consumed by this mysterious evil. There is actually a scene here where Markary and his crew discover another ship on this alien planet where they see large skeletal remains of some big alien life form. All of this was done in 'Alien', but only better.The film mostly consists of Markary and his remaining crew, searching and figuring out a way to survive, with almost no real action up until the end. And even then, it isn't all that spectacular. But really drives this movie home is the intricate and amazing sets, practical effects, makeup, and costumes. Every little detail is paid attention to by Bava, and shows up nicely in each frame. But the story line isn't all that thrilling and the pacing is quite slow. 'Planet of the Vampires' is visually stunning from start to finish, but it's story execution is lacking. Luckily a great mind in Ridley Scott was influenced enough to make this movie into something more.

Claudio Carvalho The spaceships Argos commanded by Captain Mark Markary (Barry Sullivan) and her sister Galliot commanded by Captain Sallas (Massimo Righi) travel to the mysterious planet Aura to investigate a strange transmission of a distress signal. The spaceships are protected by the meteor rejector instrument but on the arrival, the gravity increases and the automatic controls go haywire and the Galliot crashes on the surface of Aura. Then the crew-members in Argos go crazy and attack each other in a first moment. Soon Captain Mark finds that most of the crew from Argos is dead after fighting against each other. When the dead members resurrect, Captain Mark, communications officer Sanya (Norma Bengell) and engineer Wess (Ángel Aranda) discover that parasite bodiless aliens have entrapped them with the transmission expecting to flee from their dying world. What will be their attitude?"Terrore nello spazio", a.k.a. "Planet of the Vampires", despite the low- budget, is an original, stylish and with a surprising plot point. The conclusion shows a great surprise to the viewer. This movie was certainly the major influence to at least Ridley Scott's "Alien" and "Prometheus" that have similar storyline. It was said that the set was a Tower of Babel, with international cast using their own native language (Barry Sullivan, English; Norma Bengell, Portuguese; Ángel Aranda, Spanish; and Evi Marandi, English). My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Planeta dos Vampiros" ("The Planet of the Vampires")