Movies - Planet of the Vampires

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	Movies - Planet of the Vampires

Planet of the Vampires (Italian title: Terrore nello spazio) is a 1965 science fiction/horror film directed by Mario Bava. The film stars Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell.

Plot

Two huge interplanetary ships on an expedition into deep uncharted space receive a distress signal emanating from an unexplored planet. Both ships, the Galliott and the Argos, respond and attempt to land on the surface of the fog-encased world. Before making a landing, both crews suddenly become possessed by an unknown force and attempt to violently kill each other. Only Captain Markary (Sullivan), leader of the Argos crew, has the will to resist, and he is able to force all of the others out of their hypnotic, murderous state.

After the Argos makes physical contact with the surface, the crew embarks and drifts across the eerie, rocky landscape in an attempt to locate the other ship. Thick, pulsating mists, lit by ever shifting eerie colors, saturate the terrain. When they finally arrive at the Galliott, they find that every crewmember has been brutally murdered. Markary’s younger brother is among the dead. They proceed to bury as many of the corpses as they can, but several bodies are locked inside the ship’s main control room. Markary departs to get tools that will assist them in opening the sealed room, but when he returns, all of the corpses have vanished.

Some of the Argos’ crew are killed. Tiona (Evi Marandi) sees some of the dead crewmembers walking in the ship, and she becomes paralyzed with fear. Markary advises what remains of his crew that they are all in danger and must escape from the planet. Unfortunately, during landing the ship had incurred serious damage that will take time to repair. During the waiting period that ensues, several more murders occur.

Suddenly, two survivors of the Galliot, Kier (Federico Boido) and Sallis (Massimo Righi) arrive at the Argos and attempt to steal the ship’s Meteor Rejector device. Kier is able to to escape with the machine, but Markary overpowers Sallis. During the ensuing fight, Markary tears open Sallis’ uniform, exposing his putrescent, dead flesh and bone. Sallis then tells Markary that he is an alien manipulating Sallis’s corpse. He reveals that he and others deliberately lured the two ships to the planet in order for the aliens to escape from their dying world. With the crew of the Galliott under their complete control, Sallis says they will be able to use the ship to escape to the world the crewmembers came from. Although Sallis tells Markary that they should not resist, Markary responds that he and his crew will fight to the death.

Markary and his crew rush to the Galliott to steal the Meteor Rejecter back. They place large explosives in the Galliott, and Sanya (Norma Bengell) successfully captures the device. During a violent struggle with the aliens, Dr. Karan and Tiona are both killed. Markary and Sanya return to the Argos and blast away to safety, with Wes (Angel Aranda) as the only other survivor. Wes notices that Markary is acting erratically, and he admits his suspicions to Sanya. Markary and Sanya then reveal themselves as being possessed by the aliens. They ask Wes to join them. Wes refuses, and sabotages the Meteor Rejector immediately before the aliens kill him.

Because the device has been broken beyond repair, the two aliens decide to land on a nearby planet, instead of the one originally planned. This new planet is called…Earth.

Production

American International Pictures had achieved a great deal of commercial success in the early 1960’s with Bava’s La maschera del demonio
and Black Sabbath
, as well as dozens of lesser Italian films, including several gladiator pictures. Eventually, AIP heads Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson decided to coproduce some of these films, rather than just pay for the rights to distribute them, in order to have more control over their content. Planet of the Vampires was one such coproduction, financed by AIP and Italy’s Fulvio Lucisano, along with some Spanish production money. AIP provided the services of writer Ib Melchior, whose previous movies had included such modest hits as The Angry Red Planet
and Reptilicus
, as well as the relatively big budget Robinson Crusoe on Mars
. American Barry Sullivan and Spanish Norma Bengell led the otherwise Italian cast.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Planet of the Vampires ]

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