Queen of Blood (1966)

Director:

Curtis Harrington

Writer:

Curtis Harrington (writer)

Release Date:

March 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

HIDEOUS BEYOND BELIEF with an INHUMAN CRAVING

Plot:

The year is 1990. An alien species makes contact with Earth through radio transmission, notifying of an imminent visit...

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Blood | Rescue | Egg | Mars

Cast

John Saxon	...	Allan Brenner
Basil Rathbone	...	Dr. Farraday
Judi Meredith	...	Laura James
Dennis Hopper	...	Paul Grant
Florence Marly	...	Alien Queen
Robert Boon	...	Anders Brockman
Don Eitner	...	Tony Barrata
Virgil Frye
Robert Porter
Terry Lee
Forrest J Ackerman	...	Farraday's aide (as Forrest Ackerman)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
T. Pochepa	...	Woman on alien planet (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Flight to a Far Planet (USA) (working title)
Planet of Blood
Planet of Terror
Planet of Vampires
Space Vampires (USA) (working title)
The Green Woman

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Company:

Cinema West Productions

Trivia:

This was an ultra low budget production. The elaborate special effects were taken (uncredited) from the big budget Soviet production Nebo zovyot (1960).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The Cyrillic letters CCCP (USSR) can be seen on the side of the "American" rocket ship, betraying the fact that this film used stock footage from a Russian sci-fi film.

Quotes:

Allan Brenner: How are the musical spheres?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bikers, Blondes and Blood (1993) (V)

Psychedelic Alien Fun

Sometime in the 1990's I believe, the Earth has sent many ships to space and is awaiting the arrival of an alien to Earth after sending various stress signals. A crew of three astronauts(including a young Dennis Hopper and Judi Meredith)go to their planet when some kind of problem arises. It seems this race is dead or dying, and the scientists on Earth want to explore their culture and, unbeknownst to them, their anatomy. Another expedition is needed to go after the first with two more astronauts led by John Saxon. In control at home is Doctor Farraday, played with enthusiasm by Basil Rathbone. What the astronauts find on this dying planet(actually one of its moons) is a creature that is horrific yet strangely sexually hypnotic. The creature is in definite female form wearing what has to be one heck of a tight body suit that shows every...and I mean every curve, peak, and valley. Florence Marley plays this vision of beautiful horror. Her face is green and her hair rises up like some kind of testy beehive. She says nothing but acts with her face and facial movements. One side note about this alien presence. It feeds on blood. Well, you can guess what happens to sundry members of the crew as she/it vampirizes them. The innovative part of the script is that most of the people in charge are more concerned with saving the "beast" for the acquisition of knowledge rather than the, in many cases their own, preservation of life. This is definitely something laced throughout the Alien movies. Queen of Blood is a very innovative film that uses some insightful direction from Curtis Harrington with what looks like an obviously small budget. Harrington used clips from a Russian scinece fiction film to show the rockets and other large scale sets. But despite its small budget, Harrington manages to create a film that is haunting, eerie, and strangely beautiful, not to mention adding some good scares and some thought-provoking questions about science and its ends. He uses colors most inventively...blue, red, green hues all over. The acting is adequate. Its fun to see Mr. Rathbone, although he looks very tired and old. Mr. Sci-Fi himself, Forry Ackerman, has a bit part and oddly enough the best scene in the film at the end...a real unexpected climax. Be sure to give Queen of Blood a try...the first half or so is somewhat boring and slow, but it does pick up and I think is an excellent foray in the world of intelligent sci-fi.