Mario Bava gives us the darkly stylish grandfather of all space horror films...
In this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, we discuss Mario Bava's highly stylish and hypnotic Planet of the Vampires from 1965 -- a film that serves as a notable precursor to Ridley Scott's Alien and Prometheus, but also more than stands on its own as a colorful, phantasmagorical sci-fi horror film.
The film is absurdly high on gothic style, notable for its incredible black-and-yellow space suits, the haunted surface of the planet Aura and gigantic skeletons of a long-dead elder species on the world. As delightful as the visuals are, I think the sounds of Planet of the Vampire are equally impressive, with almost ASMR-inducing foley work and a solid score & electronic space sounds by Gino Marinuzzi Jr. I don't think there's a high-quality vinyl release of this one, but there SHOULD be.
As we discuss in the episode, the other notable music connection in Planet of the Vampires, is that Brazilian star Norma Bengell was also a musician, and put out a great 1959 Bossa Nova album titled Oooooh! Norma! Have a listen:
Up next on Weirdhouse Cinema, we'll have a special treat for 2022's only Friday the 13th. :) In the meantime, do check out our Letterboxd page and remember that there's Weirdhouse Cinema merch!
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