“A captain should not be afraid and I confess now to whoever may hear this, that today, now, I am experiencing fear.” Did you hear him? Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Whitney Collazo, Chad Hunt, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Jeff Mohr, and guest host Bill Mulligan – as they go interstellar with a trip to Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires (1965).
Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
Episode 94 – Planet of the Vampires (1965)
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After landing on a mysterious planet, a team of astronauts begin to turn on each other, swayed by the uncertain influence of the planet and its strange inhabitants.
IMDb
- Director: Mario Bava
- Writers:
- Based on: Renato Pestriniero (story “One Night of 21 Hours”)
- Screen story by: Ib Melchior
- Screenplay: Ib Melchior, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Mario Bava, Antonio Román, Rafael J. Salvia
- English version: Ib Melchior, Louis M. Heyward
- Assistant to the director: Lamberto Bava
- Cast
- Barry Sullivan as Captain Mark Markary
- Norma Bengell as Sanya
- Ángel Aranda as Wess Wescant
- Evi Marandi as Tiona
- Franco Andrei as Bert (Garr in the Italian version)
- Federico Boido as Keir
- Stelio Candelli as Brad (Mud)
- Alberto Cevenini as Toby Markary (Wan)
- Mario Morales as Eldon
- Ivan Rassimov as Carter (Dervy)
- Massimo Righi as Captain Sallis (Nordeg)
- Fernando Villeña as Dr. Karan
Planet of the Vampires, directed by Mario Bava, is a creative science fiction/horror movie made on a shoestring budget. Chad chose this one for our viewing pleasure and he is really taken by Bava’s use of color and at how influential Planet of the Vampires is on later films. When the skeletal creatures were found in the crashed ship, Whitney was disappointed she didn’t see more of them later in the film but found Planet of the Vampires to be very beautiful. Daphne loved the suit designs and lush atmosphere, finding it to be a more complicated story than most 1960s science fiction. Be sure to check out the handmade replica collar she’s sporting, modeled after the ultra-cool uniforms the characters wear. Bill, whose favorite director is Mario Bava, loved the old-school tricks Bava uses to create an alien world out of smoke, mirrors, colored lights, and forced perspective.
This episode’s Grue-Crew definitely think Grue-Believers should check this one out! At the time of this writing, Planet of the Vampires is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. In the next episode, they will discuss a movie chosen by Daphne which will be Eyes Without a Face (1960).
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To each of you from each of us, “Thank you so much for listening!”
Jeff has written for Horrornews.net and SQ Horror Magazine. He currently writes for Gruesome Magazine and is a co-host of the Decades of Horror podcasts - The Classic Era, 1970s, and 1980s - and the Gruesome Magazine Podcast.
