Planet of the Vampires is a 1965 Italian-Spanish science-fiction horror film directed by Mario Bava. The screenplay, by Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich and Antonio Roman and Rafael J. Salvia, was based on an Italian-language science fiction short story, Renato Pestriniero’s ‘One Night of 21 Hours’. The movie stars Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Angel Aranda and Evi Marandi.
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 American International Pictures 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 suggested that the film’s narrative details and visual design appeared to have been a major influence on Alien (1979) although Ridley Scott has always maintained he had never seen Bava’s film.
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 (Sullivan) 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 colours, saturate the terrain. When they finally arrive at the other ship, they find that the crewmembers 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…
Cast and characters:
Barry Sullivan … Captain Mark Markary
Norma Bengell … Sanya
Ángel Aranda … Wess Wescant
Evi Marandi … Tiona
Stelio Candelli … Brad/Mud
Franco Andrei … Bert/Garr
Fernando Villena … Doctor Karan
Mario Morales … Eldon
Ivan Rassimov … Carter/Dervy
Federico Boido … Keir (as Rico Boido)
Alberto Cevenini … Toby Markary/Wan
Giuseppe Mattei … Brent
Massimo Righi … Captain Sallas/Nordeg
Technical specs:
88 minutes
Technicolor
Aspect ratio: 1.66: 1
Audio: Mono
Trailer:
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Full film free to watch on YouTube:
