Queen of Blood (1966)

Remember-- this was 1966! No Computers. No CGI. EVERYTHING done by hand.And for those of you who were old enough to see this on TV-- I say watch it again-- WHY? Because you very likely saw it in Black & White. And you saw it in the old square ratio TV-tube ratio. And probably worse-- you may have seen a video store VHStape repro with all the washed out colors, scratchy, jittery juddering that came with a haphazard transfer. This movie was a true Screen production. And I recently streamed a clean video reproduction of this gem via Netflix to my Flatscreen and I was amazed at the quality of the entire show and taken in by the Movie itself.One-- it's an ironic chuckle to see a movie purporting to be 30 years into the future- 1990! on my Flatscreen via the Internet.Two- It's a Monster Movie. What Movie from the Age of Outer Space doesn't have One? And like all Monsters we know and love-- this one likes and prefers Blood. . .But Doesn't like unattached girlfriends.The setup and the story is very cohesive. The science isn't too wild and doesn't have too much hand-wavium. This movies was intended as a SERIOUS SCIENTIFIC outer space entre to the screen. So excuse the fact that they travel to Mars inside of a few days instead of MONTHS, or the fact that they've intercepted a signal ". . .within our Galaxy, but from outside our solar system. . ."The scenes from the alien planet are cool and definitely otherworldly. And the depiction of Mars is actually pretty realistic, considering what they knew back then.And the 'Monster'. She's worth watching. She's acting totally and only with her glowing white eyes, Her writhing red lips and her white, white teeth. And she is enjoying herself! When I first saw this when I was kid, I thought I heard a scary bee-like buzzing whenever they focused on her lips-- but I guess that was a vacuum tube inside the TV Set and not the movie (Yes, That's how OLD I am!)Pluses: Woman are portrayed as Levelheaded and intelligent, though seems that the world of the future was only populated by Platinum Blondes.It's a story about meeting an alien culture, albeit a bloodthirsty one. So it makes sense that after you find that your alien guest sleeping peacefully in her bunk with a delightful dab of blood on the corner of her lip after gorging on one of your crewmembers-- the scientist of the group talks about donating blood in shifts to keep her satisfied. And of course, you know that HE will be Next!For the Nerds in us, they actually gave a nod to interplanetary travel restrictions on Time and Fuel. (despite the fact that the alien rocket crossed interstellar space in a matter of days-- but hey, they were a race of advanced Plant Vampires with Laser heat Vision! They're allowed to break the laws of physics)Bring your friends over and watch this one after Midnight with chips and dip.

I found this movie to be disturbingly good. I only saw it once but have never forgotten it. I enjoyed watch this movie build to it's obvious conclusion. For those who are not a part of the misguided in the name of knowledge movies. This movie may seem silly and pointless. But to those of us in that group the movie is a great way to remember all of those movies that were so bad that they are good. The costumes of the vampire alien are so campy that they have to be seen to be believed. And her hairstyle has to be seen just for the laughs it will bring. All in all one of those movie that should be seen just for the sake of camp.

Cold, but intelligent sci-fi horror flick from director Curtis Harrington made on a shoe-string, using special effects from a foreign source to save money. Harrington depends on the scientific aspects of the story while keeping the look of the film(for the exception of the marvelous alien sets, closer to the decade's previous horde of sci-fi horror flicks keeping elements in tighter confinements meaning the ship in which a small crew(including John Saxon, Dennis Hopper, Judi Meredith & Robert Boon)have brought on board an alien queen vampire who uses a hypnotic ability to "freeze" men so that she can feast on their blood. Her people were supposed to come to earth as "greeters", but instead wind up on Mars' moon. Only the Queen survived. They do not know of her mental telekinetic powers and each fall prey to her. The ending is quite rewarding and inspired(..and influential)..it has an apocalyptic quality that feeds into how science can perhaps lead to total destruction of the human race. Can desiring to learn and study alien life outside our own lead to the threat of complete distinction? Such a powerful question from a low-budget, no-money sci-fi horror.

As a child of the 60s/70s, I realized (in hindsight, of course) how many of the wonderfully effective B-movies I remember were made by one man; Curtis Harrington. Films like THE DEAD DON'T DIE (scary, zombie/noir TV movie), WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (psychotic HANSEL & GRETEL-like movie) and many others. This film has plenty for modern audiences to laugh at, granted; but, in many ways it is the precursor to ALIEN. As much, if not more so than Mario Bava's PLANET OF VAMPIRES. The film uses Russian special effects footage from NIEBO ZOWIET(c.1960) as a way to inject production value into a very low budget frame. And what the hell, it works! The actors, especially Basil Rathbone(yes, Sherlock Holmes himself) are pretty stiff (although a very young Dennis Hopper tries to be more 'natural'). However, Florence Marley as the Vampire Queen is (to this day) an utter show stopper. With her deliberately unnatural smile and balletic body language, she truly seems alien. She makes this movie work! Forry Ackerman's cameo at the end with the 'eggs' is also very effective. Like the Weyland/Yutani Corporation of the ALIEN movies, one realizes Ackerman's inviting disaster on a planetary scale. Nice, nihilistic ending (I miss those once in awhile!). When I was younger, this movie really got to me. As I watch it now, I'm still impressed with Ms. Marley's work. And Harrington's efficient storytelling. Yes, the 'Space Institute' sequences are a little too 'Johnny Astro-Rocket Boy' for even my taste (and I can forgive a lot if a movie works), but once the movie gets into space, it starts to gel. Some details (the continuity between the Russian footage space suits with the American made suits, the interactive lighting during the rocket launches, etc.) are nicely handled. It's gratifying to see care applied to even the lowest budget films. This is no Ed Wood, "see-what-I-made-in-my-backyard-for-six-bucks -and-a-pint-of-scotch?"effort(although those films are hypnotic in their own hideous way). One of the lessons gleaned from movies like this is that a low budget need not be a show killer. This is a simple, effective, ALIEN prototype with a few decent scares and a very effective antagonist/monster. A nice little lesson in getting some good bang for your buck, from Curtis Harrington.