Planet of the Vampires

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Planet of the Vampires
Italian theatrical release poster
ItalianTerrore nello spazio
Directed by
Barry Sullivan
Norma Bengell
Ángel Aranda
Evi Marandi
CinematographyAntonio Rinaldi
Edited byAntonio Gimeno
Romana Fortini
Music byGino Marinuzzi Jr.
Production
companies
Italian International Film
Castilla Cooperativa Cinematográfica
American International Pictures[1]
Distributed bySocietà Italiana di Distribuzione (SIDIS) (Italy)
C.B. Films (Spain)
Release date
  • 15 September 1965 (1965-09-15) (Italy)
Running time
88 minutes
CountriesItaly
Spain
LanguagesItalian
English[1]
Budget$200,000[2]
Box office£90 million (Italy)
38.2 million ESP (Spain)
$251,000 (United States)[1]

Planet of the Vampires (

Antonio Roman and Rafael J. Salvia, was based on an Italian-language science fiction short story, Renato Pestriniero's "One Night of 21 Hours".[3] American International Pictures released the film as the supporting film on a double feature with Daniel Haller's Die, Monster, Die! (1965).[1]

The story follows the horrific experiences of the crew members of two giant spaceships that have crash landed on a forbidding, unexplored planet. The disembodied inhabitants of the world possess the bodies of the crew who died during the crash, and use the animated corpses to stalk and kill the remaining survivors.

The film was co-produced by AIP and Italian International Film, with some financing provided by Spain's Castilla Cooperativa Cinematográfica. Ib Melchior and Louis M. Heyward are credited with the script for the AIP English-language release version. Years after its release, some critics have suggested that Bava's film was a major influence on Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) and Prometheus (2012), in both narrative details and visual design.[4]

Plot

Two huge interplanetary ships on an expedition into deep uncharted space receive a distress signal emanating from Aura, an unexplored planet. Both ships, the Galliott and the Argos, attempt to land on the surface of the fog-encased world. While entering the planet's atmosphere, the crew of the Argos becomes possessed by an unknown force and try to violently kill each other. Only Captain Markary has the will to resist, and is able to force all of the others aboard his ship out of their hypnotic, murderous state. After the Argos lands on the surface, the crew disembarks and explores the eerie landscape in search of the Galliott. Thick, pulsating mists, lit by ever-shifting eerie colors, saturate the terrain. When they finally arrive at the other ship, they find that the crew members have killed each other. Markary's younger brother, Toby, is among the dead. They proceed to bury as many of the corpses as they can, but several bodies are locked inside the ship's bridge. Markary departs to get tools for opening the sealed room, but the corpses disappear by the time he returns.

Some of the Argos' crew are found dead. Tiona sees their corpses walking in the ship, and becomes paralyzed with fear. Markary advises the survivors that they must escape from Aura. Unfortunately, the Argos incurred serious damage during the landing, and repairs will take time. During the waiting period that ensues, several more killings occur. In a private tape recording, Markary admits that he suspects none of them will survive. While exploring Aura, Wes discovers the ruins of a spaceship a few miles from the Argos. Markary, Sanya and Carter investigate. Inside the ship, they discover large skeletal remains of the long dead crew and thus realize that they are not the first ones to have been drawn to the planet by the distress beacon. Markary and Sanya are temporarily trapped inside the ship, but manage to escape and return to the Argos. Carter inexplicably vanishes.

Two crew members of the Galliott, Kier and Sallis, arrive at the Argos to steal the ship's Meteor Rejector device. Kier escapes with the machine, but Markary fights Sallis. Markary tears open Sallis' uniform, exposing his putrescent body. He learns that Sallis' corpse is being manipulated by an Auran, who reveals that the two ships were lured to the planet in order for the Aurans to escape from their dying world. With the crew of the Galliott under their complete control, they plan to use the ship to escape to the humans' home planet. Markary vows to stop them. Markary and his crew rush to the Galliott to retrieve the Meteor Rejector. They are successful, and manage to place explosives in the ship. During a struggle with the Aurans, Dr. Karan and Tiona are killed. Markary and Sanya return to the Argos and manage to escape as the Galliott is destroyed. After takeoff, however, they reveal themselves to be possessed by Aurans. They ask Wes, the last survivor, to join them. Wes refuses and tries to sabotage the Meteor Rejector, but fatally electrocutes himself while doing so. Because the device has been broken beyond repair, Markary and Sanya decide to change course for a nearby planet: Earth (1965).

Cast

Norma Bengell as Sanya and Franco Andrei as Bert

Production

Director Mario Bava

sword and sandal pictures. Eventually, AIP heads Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson decided to coproduce some of these films, rather than just pay for the rights to distribute them, in order to have more control over their content. Planet of the Vampires was one such coproduction, financed by AIP and Italy's Fulvio Lucisano for Italian International Film, along with some Spanish production money provided by Castilla Cooperativa Cinematográfica. AIP provided the services of writer Ib Melchior, whose previous movies had included such modest hits as The Angry Red Planet (1959) and Reptilicus (1961), as well as the relatively big budget Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). Melchior wrote the screenplay for the English-language version of the film, with some assistance from AIP producer Louis M. Heyward.[5]

American

Barry Sullivan and Brazilian Norma Bengell led the cast of international actors. Writer Robert J. Skotak reported that each cast member "used their own native language on the set, in many cases not understanding what the other actors were saying."[6]
Sullivan's lines were spoken in English, Bengell's in Portuguese, Evi Marandi's in Italian and Ángel Aranda's in Spanish.

Restricted by a low budget, Bava was unable to utilize opticals, so all of the film's extensive visual effects work were done "in camera". Miniatures and forced perspective visuals are used throughout, with much colored fog adding atmosphere but also obscuring the sheer cheapness of the sets.[7] Bava explained: "Do you know what that unknown planet was made of? A couple of plastic rocks — yes, two: one and one! — left over from a mythological movie made at Cinecittà! To assist the illusion, I filled the set with smoke."[8] According to Tim Lucas, the two plastic rocks were multiplied in several shots by mirrors and multiple exposures. The planet's exterior sequences were filmed on an empty stage obscured by mists, table top miniatures and Schüfftan process shots.[8]

Reception

Planet of the Vampires poster advertising a double billing with Die, Monster, Die!

AIP released the film as the supporting film on a

ray guns and zombies that looks like no other space movie ever filmed".[7] In Fangoria magazine, Tim Lucas said "Planet of the Vampires is commonly regarded as the best SF film ever made in Italy, and among the most convincing depictions of an alien environment ever put on film".[8]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 73% rating based on 11 reviews (8 "Fresh" and 3 "Rotten").[16]

Influence

Several critics have suggested that Bava's film was a major influence on

2001 to Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires."[19]

One of the film's most celebrated sequences involves the astronauts performing an exploration of an alien, derelict ship discovered in a huge ruin on the surface of the planet. The crewmembers climb up into the depths of the eerie ship and discover the gigantic remains of long dead monstrous creatures. In 1979, Cinefantastique noted the remarkable similarities between this atmospheric sequence and a lengthy scene in the then-new Alien. The magazine also pointed out other minor parallels between the two films.[20] However, both Alien's director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon claimed at the time that they had never seen Planet of the Vampires.[21] Decades later, Dan O'Bannon would admit: "I stole the giant skeleton from the Planet of the Vampires."[22]

Tim Lucas has noted that the basic plot and ideas of the film not only inspired Alien but "continue to influence filmmakers and inspire the genre today, as witnessed by David Twohy's Pitch Black (2000) and Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars (2000)."[1]

In the late 1970s Atlas/Seaboard Comics published a short-lived comic book entitled Planet of Vampires, which combined plot elements from Bava's film with elements of Planet of the Apes and I Am Legend.[23]

It has strongly influenced the 2023 DC film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.[24]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-9633756-1-X
  2. ^ Lucas, Tim (2014). Audio commentary with Tim Lucas (Blu ray). Arrow Films. Event occurs at 0:00:32. K1448.
  3. ^ Stephen Jones. The Essential Monster Movie Guide. Billboard Books. 2000. Pg. 302
  4. ^ a b Maçek III, J.C. (2012-11-21). "Building the Perfect Star Beast: The Antecedents of 'Alien'". PopMatters.
  5. ISBN 0-7864-0137-0
  6. ISBN 1-887664-41-6
  7. ^ a b Erickson, Glenn. "DVD Savant Review: Planet of the Vampires". DVD Savant. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
  8. ^ a b c Lucas, Tim. Fangoria Magazine, #43, pg. 31, "Bava's Terrors, Part 2", article on Bava's career
  9. ^ File:AIP double feature.jpg
  10. ^ Unknown Reviewer. Castle of Frankenstein Magazine, issue #9 (Volume 3, Number 1, 1966), pg 6. "Frankenstein MovieGuide" review
  11. ISBN 0-8240-8712-7
    .
  12. ISSN 0015-167X
    .
  13. ^ Unknown reviewer. Terror nello spazio (Planet of the Vampires), Monthly Film Bulletin, Volume 34, 1969, pg. 204
  14. ^ Dante, Joe. Castle of Frankenstein Magazine, issue #22 (Volume 6, Number 2, 1974), pg 42. "Frankenstein TV Movie Guide" review
  15. ISBN 0-87951-626-7
  16. ^ "Planet of the Vampires". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
  17. ^ Hill, Derek. "Planet of the Vampires". Images Journal. Retrieved 2007-01-24.
  18. ^ Monell, Robert. "Planet of the Vampires". DVD Maniacs. Archived from the original on 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2007-01-24.
  19. ^ "Decoding the Cultural Influences in 'Prometheus,' From Lovecraft to 'Halo'". The Atlantic. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  20. ^ Frentzen, Jeffrey. Cinefantastique Magazine, Volume 8, Number 4, 1979, pgs. 24 - 25. "Alien: It! The Terror from Beyond the Planet of the Vampires"
  21. ^ Carducci, Mark Patrick and Lovell, Glenn. Cinefantastique Magazine, Volume 9, Number 1, 1979, pgs. 10 - 39. "Making Alien: Behind The Scenes"
  22. ^ J.W.Rinzler. The Making of Alien, Titanbooks, 2019, page 22.
  23. ^ Unknown. "Planet of the Vampires". Atlas Archives. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  24. ^ Shepherd, Jack; Graham, Jamie (August 18, 2021). "James Wan talks Aquaman 2: "It's very heavily inspired by Planet of the Vampires"". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.

External links

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