#51: Planet of the Vampires (1965) (dir. Mario Bava)

A surprising new favorite - mainly due to the fact that it's a feast for thine eyes and that Radiance Films put out an extraordinary new transfer that I was beyond impressed with!

To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t initially planned to write about Planet of the Vampires. It wasn’t on my list, but I added it last night. There are definitely a couple of Bava films I would rate higher but let’s just say there was a bit of a revelation while rewatching it for the first time in over a decade.

I know a lot of physical media collectors and enthusiasts, but I wouldn’t have put myself in that category even if back in the day, I had an insane amount of VHS tapes and vinyl records. These days, I would consider myself a modest buyer of Blu-Rays. It’s been difficult to budget accordingly over the years to acquire the number of physical media titles I would really love to own. After all, I’ve mostly worked part-time until recently. Now, with the help of a couple of kind distributors out there, you’ll be hearing more about certain titles on a monthly basis as evidenced by my last post.

Why am I prefacing this review with this detail? Well, let’s say that the recent Radiance release of Planet of the Vampires has officially converted me into someone who will now greatly prefer to own a physical copy of a film. It’s kind of a duh anyway since streaming may be convenient but the transfers are usually subpar. There have been a number of 4K titles that have stood out over the years on my 4K TV, but a lot of them looked quite dark. Something felt off. I certainly did everything I could by watching YouTube videos or adjusting my settings. Watching this new Blu-Ray that I was lucky enough to purchase, truly made my eyes light up with wonder. I completely understand why physical media nerds exist to the extent that I’ve seen lately. There’s no way this will match the theatrical experience, but by golly, it’s close here. 

A couple of factors contributed to my latest viewing and revelation. First and foremost, I had gotten home from an outpatient procedure, and I was still doped up pretty good. This could probably explain why at times throughout watching Planet of the Vampires, I felt compelled to applaud at the transfer alone. I might have even blurted out, “My god, those colors really do pop!” It was akin to a kid discovering a new all-time favorite kind of candy. Secondly, I was so happy that I took the next day off so I could stay up a bit later and watch this before bed. Not only was there an accompanying thunderstorm for this viewing, but it gave me vivid dreams: always a plus! What can I say? Sometimes it doesn’t take much for a film to cement itself as a new favorite.

I won’t prattle on again with more backstory, particularly surrounding the procedure or having no memory of it, but let’s face it: Planet of the Vampires doesn’t have a whole lot of story or plot to analyze in-depth and I can never resist elaborating on my own experiences here rather than just focusing on the film. I have adopted the phrase, “feast for thine eyes” courtesy of the first podcast I ever listened to, Film Junk. When I think of movies where the visuals alone are enough to give me a rush, the work of Bava is right up there. So, let’s talk about one of his unsung gems that I hope you’ll seek out to revisit.

Planet of the Vampires makes you wish Bava ventured more into outer space though this is a bit of a slow burn horror/science fiction amalgam. A mysterious signal leads two exploratory space vehicles to the fog-covered planet of Aura. While attempting to land one ship crashes with the loss of all hands, while the crew of the other start attacking one another while under some strange cosmic influence. When the surviving crew go to collect the bodies of the dead, they find them mysteriously gone without a trace.

Adapted from Renato Pestriniero’s short story “One Night of 21 Hours,” Bava’s film is blessed with a moody, back-lit atmosphere that was uncommon for science fiction movies of the time. Starring Barry Sullivan as Captain Markary and Brazilian bombshell Norma Bengel as Sanya, Planet gives us some signature Bava moments with a mastery of the use of forced perspective. Not to mention the loss of control when some kind of psychic phenomenon takes hold of the crew. The origin or the reason behind all of this? Leave that to your imagination. There is certainly a lot of skepticism and questions among the crew here, but I think the enemy besides the transformed undead is simply an unrelenting fear of the unknown.

If The Thing were written by Dr. Seuss; if Forbidden Planet were a gore fest, if Black Narcissus met Alien. Beautiful backdrops, intense, solid colored lighting, massive set pieces with just enough low fi charm to make it fit the b-movie performances, this is a film that is on the verge of modern violence but rooted in the 50s space-is-campy aesthetic. This is a film that makes a giant skeleton look both gorgeous and grotesque, and a film that embraces the seriousness of its cornball plot to make it even more incredible to experience; it's fun. Unfortunately, the sometimes-regrettable role the women in the crew are relegated to drags it down a little bit, but it's hard to say any of these characters--uniformed and kind of dull--are deep characters. This is not a film for character studies (later films influenced by it would go that direction), this is a film for those green- and purple-lit walls and those sliding doors and the infinite dry ice used to make every moment eerie. - Sally Jane Black

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, more or less. Miniatures and the aforementioned forced perspective visuals are utilized to stunning effect, with much colored fog adding atmosphere but also obscuring the sheer cheapness of the sets. But there’s also something undeniably surreal at times especially once they enter a ship and become trapped in an almost escape-room like fashion.

What is up with the features aboard? Why the giant alien skeleton? The crewmembers climb up into the depths of the eerie ship and discover the gigantic remains of long dead monstrous creatures. Lots of questions with zero answers is sometimes how I prefer my science fiction horror films to contain. Everything is mysterious without ever being truly scary. Which might disappoint Bava fans and those expecting to be terrified throughout. It’s really about the uneasy feeling of what’s lurking rather than what’s actually there once it’s revealed.

The scenes within the spaceship, Bava makes the large empty spaces look organically cluttered and otherworldly by putting important objects like the Meteor Reactor in the foreground, are just a few of the ways in which he reveals his abilities at composition. The visions of the hostile planet and the massive interior of the alien derelict spaceship with their use of weird abstraction, extreme colored lighting (pure Jim-nip) and crazy optical trickery, both obvious and yet somehow not quite, are masterful representations of expressionism. Bava's work with cinematographer Antonio Rinaldi looks absolutely phenomenal in nearly every frame. I’m not sure how they accomplished this feat - Planet of the Vampires manages to find the perfect balance of B-grade science fiction (complete with smash zooms) mixed with a beautifully staged surrealist art film.

In 1979, Cinefantastique noted the remarkable similarities between a particular atmospheric sequence and a lengthy scene in the then-new Alien. The magazine also pointed out other minor parallels between the two films. 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. Scott still stands by that. However, decades later, Dan O'Bannon would admit: "I stole the giant skeleton from the Planet of the Vampires.”

Pinched between 50s sci-fi camp romps and the gored-out influx of horror of the 70s (and the direct follow-up to Bava’s Blood and Black Lace, a pioneer in the sphere of the great Giallo and the subsequent boom it brought to Eurohorror), Planet of the Vampires boasts the dizzy whir of extraterrestrial dread and bewilderment while dabbling in bright-red blood n’ guts as a mysterious aura takes hold of a ship’s crew in strange, amusing, and diabolical ways. the coloring, as expected, is absolutely phenomenal, paired with a healthy dose of rapid zooms about a well-decorated set of massive pieces to other the B-film’s inhabitants and their sporadically silly, but committed performances to the possessive, vampiric centerpiece—eerie in the bones, and thoroughly entertaining on the skin - Corey

The ending may scream out Twilight Zone (also Jim-nip), but this is a true-blue Mario Bava movie and what will stand out above all else is its visual style, which this movie certainly has in spades. Perhaps watching it coming off sedatives will enhance the experience but there’s no denying the rich palette on display. From the snazzy leather spacesuits to the Daliesque-like details contained within the alien ship, to the colorful smoke-filled rocky landscapes, this movie is mainly all about the production design. It’s mainly why I decided to cite this and add it to the list of favorites. It’s far from perfect and maybe in another universe, MST3K could’ve poked fun at this for some cheesy moments scattered throughout, but I think it’s just a gorgeous film to look at with a 4K transfer that really did send me “over the moon.”

I can’t say much about some of the eye-rolling dialogue, the wooden acting or even a rather predictable storyline. But sometimes weaker elements can be overlooked and that’s the case here for me. I could easily reduce this review and analysis to a declaration of “look at all the pretty colors!” Every once in a while, why can’t a movie almost be like a painting? I’m not sure if every filmmaker that has chosen that art form to express themselves, all set out to be unique, cohesive storytellers, they may simply choose to create eye-popping visuals for an audience to immerse themselves into on a Saturday night. That’s certainly the case here for me.

There aren’t even vampires, really. Let’s face it, these creatures of the night would more likely be defined as space zombies since there are little to no neck bites or any form of blood sucking here. But on the simplest, purest of levels, these colors, the look, the feel, the sense of dread and uncertainty make Planet of the Vampires such an enriching, rewarding experience. We have to applaud Radiance for converting me into a physical media fiend now too based on this viewing alone. Bava certainly has made even better films, but personally, I have grown to like this one the best and I can assure you, it’s not the hospital drugs talking. I can’t wait to watch this again.