Monday, 19 February 2024

Planet of the Vampires (1965) (Terrore nello spazio)


A stylish, innovative, well-paced and entertaining mid-1960s sci-fi film with strong tone and atmosphere along with earnest performances.



Directed by Mario Bava
Screenplay by Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Mario Bava, Antonio Román, Rafael J. Salvia
English version: Ib Melchior, Louis M. Heyward
Based on "One Night of 21 Hours" by Renato Pestriniero
Produced by,Fulvio Lucisano
Cinematography: Antonio Rinaldi
Edited by Antonio Gimeno, Romana Fortini
Music by Gino Marinuzzi Jr.
Production companies: Italian International Film, Castilla Cooperativa Cinematográfica, American International Pictures
Distributed by Società Italiana di Distribuzione (SIDIS) (Italy), C.B. Films (Spain)
Running time: 88 minutes
Budget: $200,000
Box office: £90 million (Italy), 38.2 million ESP (Spain), $251,000 (United States)


Cast

Barry Sullivan as Captain Mark Markary
Norma Bengell as Sanya
Ángel Aranda as Wess Wescant
Evi Marandi as Tiona
Franco Andrei as Bert
Federico Boido as Harry Gash
Stelio Candelli as Brad )
Alberto Cevenini as Toby Markary
Mario Morales as Eldon
Ivan Rassimov as Carter
Massimo Righi as Captain Sallis
Fernando Villeña as Dr. Karan



A strange transmission of a distress signal is received.

The spaceships Argos and Galliot travel to the mysterious planet Aura to investigate.

Automatic controls malfunction and the Galliot crashes on the surface of Aura.

Upon landing, crew-members in Argos briefly lose control and attack each other.

Why?

Casualties are soon found but the Argos’ Captain and his surviving crew discover that the dead do not stay dead.

How can this be?

Did they respond to a distress signal or have they fallen into a trap?

If the latter, then who set the trap and for what purpose?


Trailer

Read on for more....