Astronauts forced to land on a desolate planet discover a nightmarish world of fog shrouded landscapes and mind altering alien forces that have the ability to posses both the living and the dead. Slowly, their numbers begin to dwindle.

This eerie sci-fi shocker from Italian horror master Mario Bava was years ahead of its time in terms of combining gothic trappings with hard science fiction. His customary use of vivid colors, and a simplistic yet ghostly art design, help create an impending sense of dread throughout the film. Future filmmakers definetly took notice.  The barren, simplistic alien terrain, and a sequence involving a derelict alien ship and its skeleton crew, were major visual influences on Ridley Scott’s ALIEN (1979).

Note: While not considered a giallo movie, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is interesting to look at in the context of the many giallo movies he did make. And it all came from the same source material — the pulps!

— MAC BELL.

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Jon Abrams

Editor-In-Chief at Daily Grindhouse

Jon Abrams is a New York-based writer, cartoonist, and committed cinemaniac whose complete work and credits can be found at his site, Demon’s Resume. You can contact him on Twitter as @JonZilla___.

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Tags: Columns, mario bava, Sci-Fi, Space, trailer trash, vampires