Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Tower Rats 2020

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Terrore nello Spazio / Terror en el Espacio

Planet of the Vampires
Haunted Planet / Demon Planet / Planet der Vampire

Italy/Spain 1965
produced by
Italian International Film/Castillo Cooperativa Cinematografica
directed by Mario Bava
starring Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ángel Aranda, Evi Marandi, Stelio Candelli, Franco Andrei, Fernando Villena, Mario Morales, Ivan Rassimov, Federico Boido, Alberto Cevenini, Massimo Righi
screenplay by Mario Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Román, Rafael J.Salvia, based on the story One Night of 21 Hours by Renato Pestriniero

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!


2 spaceships, the Galliot & the Argos, are supposed to land on the planet Aura, but upon landing, the Galliot goes amiss - a crash most probably - & the Argos only manages to land safely on Aura thanks to captain Mark Markary's (Barry Sullivan) superior piloting skills. Once on solid ground though all crewmembers except for the captain start to violently attack each other, & again, it's the captain who saves them from killing each other thanks to his two-fisted intervention.

On Aura, a small scouting group go looking for the Galliot ... & find it too, but all of the crew seems dead, killed by each others hand, safe for 2 crewmembers, captain Salas (Massimo Righi) & Kier (Frederico Boido) who are missing for some reason. & it seems the meteorite shield of the Galliot has been intentionally damaged (without which spacetravel might prove fatal).

Soon, the scouting crew returns to the Argos, only leaving crewmember Aldon (Mario Morales) behind as a guard ... but when they return to the Galliot they not only find Aldon gone, but also the corpses of the Galliot's crew ...

Back at the Argos, crewmembers start to behave violent for a short while every now & again, including first technician Wes (Ángel Aranda), who even tries to steal the Argos' meteorite shield, but once he is stopped by the captain, he cannot explain why ...

The captain, along with hs first officer Sonia (Norma Bengell) & crewman Carter (Ivan Rassimov) decides to scout around on the planet some more to find some answers ... & they find an ancient spacecraft which belonged to some aliens 3 times the size of a man (the giant skeletons prove it), which must have landed on Aura about 300 years ago & the crew of which has apparently killed each other too, much like the crew of the Galliot. Temporarily, the captain & Sonia even get locked into the spaceship & almost suffocate, but when they finally find a way out, Carter is gone ... & for good, too, it seems.

On the Argos, things get more & more out of hand when more & more crewmembers report that they have seen dead crewmembers of the Galliot &/or missing crewmembers of the Argos walking about, & are pretty much scared stiff ... & then the missing Galliot-crewmembers, captain Salas & Kier show up, very much alive (or so it seems), & are of curse given shelter on the Argos, but instead of using their skleeping quarters for a rest-period, they proceed to steal the meteorite shield ... & when trying to stop them, captain Markary is only able to capture Salas, while Kier gets away with the shield.

Salas reveals to Markary that he - & his crew - are indeed dead but possessed by bloodsucking intelligent parasites who are in desperate search to get off this barren planet & make for a more richly inhabited world to feed on its populace & with the Galliot - & its crew as temporary hosts - they want to obtain that ...

... but not as long as captain Markary has to say a word or 2 about it, & he soon makes up a plan to get the shield back from the Galliot & blow the ship up, then make a quick getaway with the Argos. & despite some complications that costs most of the Argos' crew safe Markary, Soniy & Wes their lives, the plan works ... but once airborne, Wes has to reylize that by now, Markary & Sonia are taken over by the parasites as well, & - being oputgunned & thus not able to fight them directly - destroys the meteorite shield.

This leads the captain & Sonia to land the Argos on the next inhabited planet, an uncharted world orbiting Sol called Earth.

 

Without a doubt, Terrore nello Spazio is one of the milestone sci-fi-horror films, & certainly the best of this genre in the 1960's (not that there was much competition worth mentioning) - & that's despite a rather trashy script with stupid dialogue, obvious cardboard sets & ridiculous spacesuits.

In this movie, Mario bava manages to ship around all its budgetary & storywise shortcomings by relying heavily on atmosphere created by a weird, otherworldly soundtrack, a massive use of cheaply to create but bizarre miniatures, & such inexpensive means of production as coloured lights. With the help of all this, Bava is able to conjure up an utterly unreal but nevertheless convincingly creepy world all of his own.

By the way: in English language sources, Ib Melchior is often credited with writing the screenplay for the film ... which is of course utter nonsense, he had nothing to do with the creative process of screenwriting but merely helped out with the dialogue for the English dub-version - & judging from the pedestrian quality of the dialogue, that is nothing to be proud of (it didn't sink the movie though thanks to superior direction).

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Planet of the Vampires
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Planet of the Vampires here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Planet of the Vampires at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!