Queen of Blood (1966)

A rather cheap hybrid sci-fi / horror film with capable performances, strikingly eerie and vibrant visuals and haunting atmosphere.

Directed by Curtis Harrington
Screenplay by Curtis Harrington
Based on story “A Dream Come True” by Mikhail Karyukov, Otar Koberidze
Produced by George Edwards, Samuel Z. Arkoff
Cinematography: Vilis Lapenieks
Edited by Leo H. Shreve
Music by Leonard Moran
Production company: Cinema West Productions
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 81 minutes
Budget: $65,000
Box office: $17.3 million (as at 1 Oct 1966)

Cast

John Saxon as Allan Brenner
Basil Rathbone as Dr. Farraday
Judi Meredith as Laura James
Dennis Hopper as Paul Grant
Florence Marly as Alien Queen
Robert Boon as Anders Brockman
Don Eitner as Tony Barrata
Forrest J. Ackerman as Farraday's aide

Trailer

An alien species from another planet signals Earth to make formal contact with humanity.

The alien spaceship crashes on Mars.

A distress transmission is sent to Earth.

Earth dispatches a ship to attempt a rescue.

On Mars, the alien spacecraft is located.

Only a single dead alien humanoid is found aboard the ship.

An alien rescue shuttle had left Mars but crashed on the moon, Phobos.

A green-skinned alien female is found alive aboard the wrecked shuttle.

For the rescue mission’s crew, their troubles are only just about to begin!

(Read on for more.....)

Village of the Damned (1960)

A sinister horror picture with superb believable performances, an excellent mix of horror and science fiction genres as well as taut and suspenseful direction from Wolf Rilla. 

Directed by Wolf Rilla
Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla, Ronald Kinnoch
Based on “The Midwich Cuckoos” 1957 novel by John Wyndham
Produced by Ronald Kinnoch
Cinematography: Geoffrey Faithfull
Edited by Gordon Hales
Music by Ron Goodwin
Production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by Loew's
Running time: 77-78 minutes
Budget: $320,000
Box office: $2,175,000

Cast

George Sanders as Gordon Zellaby
Barbara Shelley as Anthea Zellaby
Martin Stephens as David Zellaby
Michael Gwynn as Alan Bernard
Laurence Naismith as Doctor Willers
Richard Warner as Mr. Harrington
Jenny Laird as Mrs. Harrington
Sarah Long as Evelyn Harrington
Thomas Heathcote as James Pawle
Charlotte Mitchell as Janet Pawle
Denis Gilmore as Keith Harrington
Pamela Buck as Milly Hughes
Rosamund Greenwood as Miss Ogle
Susan Richards as Mrs. Plumpton
Bernard Archard as Vicar
Peter Vaughan as P.C. Gobby
John Phillips as General Leighton
Richard Vernon as Sir Edgar Hargraves
John Stuart as Professor Smith
Keith Pyott as Dr. Carlisle

Trailer

BBC “History's Mysteries – Fact & Fiction” TV Program

Good evening, I’m your host Denis Vaughan. In tonight’s episode we’ll be examining the so-called “Midwich Time-out Incident” that reportedly occurred back in 1960 when it is said that the inhabitants of the British village of Midwich suddenly and inexplicably fell unconscious one day for several hours. Anyone entering the village also apparently succumbed to the same malady.

It is only recently that we have been able to piece together the events surrounding this inexplicable incident through numerous Freedom of Information requests. Much information has been denied to us and a great deal of the documentation (official government, scientific, military and medical sources, along with minutes from various meetings) is in some instances heavily redacted.

Surprisingly, but probably largely as a consequence of the application of the Official Secrets Act, no-one from the village in all the intervening time has come forward to give an open and public account of what transpired all those decades ago. That is apart from one individual now well into his seventies who we’ll refer back to later on. It is as if a cordon of silence has surrounded and encased Midwich and that as far as the residents of the village past and present are concerned, it is none of the outside world’s business what took place there.

To begin with though, we do know that the military established a cordon around Midwich. This was then followed by the establishment of a five-mile exclusion zone around the village for all aircraft. After a few hours, the villagers suddenly regained consciousness, and appeared to be unaffected. Or so it was believed…..

What followed these initial events with the passage of time will have the quality of a work of pure science fiction, so much so that many in government, the military and the scientific establishment scoff at the very idea of any such incident as ever having taken place.

We now take you to Midwich village in rural England where our investigative reporter, Barbara Long will try from whatever evidence is available to reconstruct the mysterious events of what has come to be called the “Midwich Time-out Incident.”

Read on for more.....