Queen of Blood (1966)
Queen of Blood (1966), written and directed by Curtis Harrington.
Aka Planet of Blood. A Roger Corman project, although he is not credited.
The future world of 1990 has moon bases and explorers are now looking toward Venus and Mars. A mysterious radio signal turns out to be an SOS from alien visitors who have crashed on Mars and need rescue. Two expeditions are dispatched to help.
Should have let them be.
The first thing to remark about this is the absolutely gorgeous art design. I had no idea that someone had taken the vivid pulp magazine cover look of the 1930s-1950s and worked them into a film:
Sorry for the dark image, but that was probably needed to make the set construction work. The lights in the darkness are alluring, very old-time SF.
The story itself is not as strong and the spaceships and pressure suits are more familiar looking. SF films always lag print by decades, and this is like a minor story written earlier in the century.
The final "space vampire" segment is not very thrilling: a seductive, hypnotically-empowered mute green women with an appetite for blood and an unfortunate Dr Seuss hairdo. A skin-tight suit makes her look naked from a distance. Somehow she lays eggs.
Notes:
Some of the rocketship footage was borrowed (?) from the Soviet film Nebo Zovyot (1959) ("The Sky Beckons"), which was itself reworked into Battle Beyond the Sun (1962) by Roger Corman and Francis Ford Coppola. Both are available on the same DVD and I have to see them now.
The cast includes John Saxon and Dennis Hopper, who had been in Harrington's Night Tide (1961). Basil Rathbone did this back to back with Corman's Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), for pocket money in each case.
Harrington thought his film was an influence on Alien (1979). I can see it for It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) and Planet of the Vampires (1965) but it is a bigger stretch to find it here.
The planetary landscapes are reminiscent of Chesley Bonestell, noted creator of 20th century space art.
Budget: $65,000. Box office: $17.3 million. Roger Corman!
Available on Blu-ray from Kino.
Thumbnails from the artwork segments:
And from the story:
