Planet of the Vampires [Blu-ray] [Region A & B & C]

The original 'Alien'
At last, a film that lives up to its hype. ‘Alien’, although great, is just a remake of Bava’s ‘Planet of the Vampires’. Long tracking shots through the spaceship, an alien planet with creeping fog, being taken-over by an alien force, an abandoned alien space-ship skeleton, it’s all there in Bava’s original. Yes, Dan O’Bannon had never seen ‘Planet of the Vampires’.

Something not quite identifiable out of the corner of your eye
Just a general warning: “Planet of the Vampires” has no vampires in it. Not even vampire-like aliens.

But if you can get past the issue of there being no Space Dracula, then “Planet of the Vampires” is unlikely to disappoint. This little cult movie is more like a hybrid of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Alien,” especially the heavy, haunting dread that hangs over it — and though it has the same ray guns and hokey spaceships as many other sci-fi movies, Mario Bava gives it a gothic quality that few others had.

When they pick up a distress call, the captains of the starships Argos and Galliott decide to land on the planet Aura, so they can assist whoever is stranded there. But during the Argos’ descent, the crew is suddenly seized by the desire to strangle each other to death, and only the intervention of Captain Markary (Barry Sullivan) is able to snap them out of it. To make matters even worse, they discover that the crew of the Galliott wasn’t so lucky. All of them are dead.

As they repair their damaged ship, the crew begin to suspect that something strange and terrible is happening on Aura. Sleepwalking, vanishing corpses, ghostly visions and a string of murders haunt them, and the discovery of a strange alien spaceship indicates that this has happened many times in the past. Something terrible and cruel is alive on Aura — and unless they can escape soon, the crew may suffer a fate worse than death.

“Planet of the Vampires” is a movie that sounds like it should be hilariously cheesy at best, and simply bad at worst. After all, this is a sci-fi movie from the 1960s, which contains bodily possession, zombies, ray guns, rocketships, and a Star-Trek-like planetary set. But Mario Bava was a maestro of the horror genre, and he gave “Planet of the Vampires” a hauntingly creepy atmosphere that few other sci-fi movies can match.

Part of this comes from the creepy setting, which is full of fog, gore-splattered corpses and the half-buried skeletons of ancient aliens. Little by little, Bava reveals how very screwed the crew is, and that this nightmarish scenario is not a random accident. But it’s also HOW he reveals this — through glimpses of the dead walking in the distance, through glimpses of something out of the corner of your eye, through a crushing claustrophobia that settles around the shadowy, dark spaceship like the mist. It gives everything a magnificently gothic feel.

And despite the low budget, Bava managed to make Aura a genuinely scary place — the artfully-placed alien skeleton and the constant rolling fog give the standard alien planet set a creepy look. The one part of the movie that doesn’t quite work is the futuristic vinyl jumpsuits, whose collars are so high and stiff that they would keep the wearers from effectively turning their heads.

The various actors all do an excellent job, especially Sullivan as the fatherly captain who fears that his entire crew is going to end up dead, but isn’t entirely sure what he can do to protect them. Norma Bengell, Angel Aranda, Evi Marandi, Ivan Rassimov and Massimo Righi are all solid, whether they are playing increasingly desperate crewmen or cold-blooded zombies. Perhaps the only problem with the acting is is that it’s a bit too easy to spot when someone is possessed.

“Planet of the Vampires” has no vampires, but it does have a solid cast and skin-crawlingly creepy story — especially for those who like their horror and sci-fi to have a slow, suspenseful burn. Just try to ignore the hokey title and covers.