Reviews: Planet of the Vampires (1965) Movie Review
- Related: [ Movie Details for Planet of the Vampires ]
Subgenres: Vampires, Cursed, Drama, Sci-Fi
Where does Planet of the Vampires (1965) stand among horror films? Our review examines the scares, pacing, and what makes it unique in the genre.
Planet of the Vampires (1965) is an Italian/Spanish science fiction horror movie that is also known in Italy as Terrore nello spazio (1965). Director Mario Bava (A Bay of Blood (1971), Black Sunday (1960), Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)) did a great job with this movie in 1965. Below is a little summary about the beginning of the movie so you will have a gist of it.
Planet of the Vampires is about two humongous spaceships, Galliott and Argos that received a distress signal from planet Aura that has never been explored. The two ships enter the planet that is very foggy, and crash-landed on planet Aura that is forbidden to everyone. The crewmembers of ship Argo became possessed as they were landing and tried to kill each other. Captain Mark Markary (Barry Sullivan - The Man Called X (1956), The Tall Man (1960), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)) was able to unhypnotized all the people aboard his ship that was in a killer hypnotized state.
The crewmembers that survived ship Argo witness something so horrific that they were scared for their life. Upon landing on Aura, they went in search of ship Galliot and found everyone dead. Captain Mark locked the dead bodies that he could not bury in the ships bridge. He went away for a few minutes and upon returning to the Galliot ship; he discovered all the dead bodies are gone. The inhabitants from the forbidden planet possessed the bodies of all the crewmembers of Argo ship that died during the crash. The possessed crewmembers went on a killing spree, hunting all the surviving members. Captain Mark found ship Argo’s crewmembers dead. Captain Mark saw what is going on and advised the surviving members that they have to by any means escape from planet Aura. The captain told the crew that it would take some time to fix the ship because it was damaged when they crash landed. The captain has no hope for anyone surviving and leaving Aura, but he gives his team member positive energy.
Tiona (Evi Marandi - Paris When It Sizzles (1964), Un gangster venuto da Brooklyn (1966), James Tont operazione U.N.O. (1965)) becomes paralyzed by fear after seeing dead crewmembers corpses walking in the ship. Captain Mark, Sanya (Norma Bengell - Of Gods and the Undead (1970), A Cor do seu Destino (1987), Mafioso (1962)) and Carter (Ivan Rassimov - Last Cannibal World (1977), Beyond the Door II (1977), Eaten Alive! (1980), Sacrifice! (1972)) went to investigate a spaceship that Wess (Ángel Aranda - Don’t Panic (1978), The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)) found while scouting the ruins of planet Aura. The captain and his team saw large skeletons that once belonged to another spaceship crewmembers. The captain realizes that they were not the first ones to land on Aura and to receive distress signals from this forbidden planet. Carter disappears while Mark and Sanya escaped their temporary entrapment in the ship and return to Argo as quickly as possible.
The movie was a great watch, and I would recommend to viewers who like old time classics without all the CGI effects we have today. The lighting and color were wonderfully done in this movie, and it is noted. The actors did a great job as well, and the spaceship was a plus.
Similar films like Planet of the Vampires can be found in vampire movies sub-genre(s), check them out for more movies like Planet of the Vampires.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Planet of the Vampires Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 6.49/10
- IMDB: 6.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 7.3/10
Look here for more movies starting with P and here you can find 1965 movies to watch on your favorite streaming service.
Browse: New Vampire Movies / Vampire Movies List