In case you missed it, here’s the video of Roy Bjellquist and me defying the living dead and “Planet of the Vampires” (1965), arguably the most influential vampire movie not to have any vampires. Perhaps there wasn’t enough money in the budget for plastic teeth?
As always, spoilers are a part of the conversation. But the charm of “Planet of the Vampires” isn’t really in its plot, which we’ve seen many times now, most memorably in “Alien.” A distress beacon lures would-be rescuers to a creepy, unknown world, where an unseen threat aims to use them as hosts. Fortunately, Barry Sullivan is there in his rubber unitard to beat some sense into everyone. But the real magic is in director Mario Bava’s clever deployment of extremely limited resources, wringing every last drop out of the film’s dollar-ninety-eight budget.
Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner live-streams on Facebook every Friday and Sunday at 7 pm EDT. Roy will be taking off tomorrow, but on October 2 the gloves are off. Our Hallowe’en fest gets truly underway with Karen Black and “Trilogy of Terror!”
