Terrore Nello Spazio (Planet of the Vampires) Review

The following review was based on a DVD graciously provided by the good people at Diabolik DVD.

Though the Italy of the sixties are still well and fondly remembered for its output of westerns and the blood drenched giallo films of the period still have a loyal cult following it seems as though the country's huge volume of resolutely B-grade science fiction productions – most with English language casts – have been largely forgotten. That began to change with a retrospective of Italian B films at the 2005 Venice Film Fesival and some of the films included in that program are now receiving fully restored DVD releases, Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires among them.

Purely a product of its time Bava's 1965 film is a luridly colored film loaded with form fitting pleather suits, planet scapes built on soundstages, effects composed largely of lighting tricks and compositing, large scale matte paintings, and acting that would do William Shatner proud. Though the Trek had yet to begin when this film was made Planet of the Vampires is clearly of the same period and the same aesthetic sense dominates both Bava and Roddenberry, right down to the engine effect composed out of a well lit, well stirred, bubbly glass of water, a la the original Trek transporter effect. It also features enough plot similarities to Alien that it leaves you curious as to how familiar Ridley Scott and his team were with this film when making their classic work.

The film tracks the crew of the spaceship Argo, an exploratory vessel from an unnamed planet. When the film opens the Argo, along with its sister vessel, are in orbit over a strange planet, a gaseuous giant, which has been transmitting a signal they have come to investigate. The ships are trapped in a gravitational surge and pulled to the planet's surface where they are stricken with violent bouts of madness, the dead refuse to stay dead, and it quickly becomes apparent that they are besieged by a deadly, parasitic race of aliens who need to seize control of their bodies in order to survive. As the alien race picks off the crew members one by one it becomes a race against time to get the Argo operational again and get the survivors safely away.

Bava's work is resolutely B-grade. Proto-Alien or not – and that is well open to debate – this film doesn't hold a candle to Ridley Scott's masterpiece but, in fairness, it makes no pretense to that level of seriousness. This is pulp, pure and simple, and hugely enjoyable on that level. The film deserves to be seen for its production design alone and the parade of old school effects – models, composites, latex, and masses of fog to mask the shortcomings – is like a trip down memory lane. By current standards the film's plotline is overly slender but by period standards Planet of The Vampires does an admirable job of taking the 50's sci-fi serial mentality and giving it the gloss of respectable film making.

This DVD release, from Italy's 01 Distribution, features a stunning anamorphic transfer that shows of Bava's Technicolor composition beautifully. If there are any flaws to the restoration they are too minor for these eyes to have noticed. The one surprise is that the release includes the Italian dub – augmented by optional English subtitles – only with the original English dialogue track absent, though watching it in Italian really does nothing other than add to the camp value and really isn't a negative.

While the old fifties and sixties Japanese sci-fi pictures have a loyal cult following that ensures their continuing survival it is sad to see the western produced sci-fi pictures from the same period so neglected. They are every bit as worthy, every bit as entertaining and historically important, and here's hoping that more of these get quality releases.