Queen of Blood (1966)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

*Spoiler/plot- Queen of Blood, 1966. Takes place in 1990, Earth is contacted by a mysterious alien culture by probe. Earth's scientists send out a rescue crew to recover the aliens from Mars and an alien crash survivor on Mar's moon, Phobos. A female alien survivor is saved from Phobos and is returned to Earth with the rescue crew. During the return trip the crew find out the alien is dangerous to the them and the alien is producing offspring to re-populate wherever it lands.*Special Stars- Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, John Saxon, Florence Marly, Forrest Ackerman.*Theme- Alien cultures come to Earth to assimilate them.*Trivia/location/goofs- Color. Russian/American. Campy R. Corman 'mash-up' of two Soviet films, typical Roger Corman techniques. Goofs: Spaceship leaves the moon base passing through clouds? Look for furnace filter on the front of the galaxy listening recording machine. Missing gold swim cap from the alien's helmet screen turns into bee-hived hairdo. The alien eggs were convincing looking, but they were simple colored pink rubber balloons with green jello placed around them.*Emotion- A memorable (though campy now) B-Movie about spaceships, and vampire aliens coming to Earth. What is also interesting of this film is the selective editing of two other films from behind the Iron Curtain/Cold War to make this film with an intriguing new film plot by Roger Corman. Due to the strong and lasting images and plot of this film, this film rates higher than it's contemporaries. It's worth being seen and enjoyed.

Produced in 1966 this movie is supposed to take place in the future when space travel is more advanced than it is today. So when a communication is received by an alien race requesting a meeting the earth is only too happy to oblige. Unfortunately, the alien spacecraft crash lands on Mars and so an Earth spaceship is sent on a rescue mission. They eventually find a female alien and head back to earth with her as a passenger. What they don't realize is that she feeds on blood. At any rate, since I have a softness for films made during this period I found this movie to be somewhat entertaining even though I suspect that other viewers may not like it so much. For starters, some people may feel that the special effects were elementary by today's standards. And they would be correct. So some people may have to make allowances. Likewise, I believe that there were some portions of the film that were unnecessary and could have been written out of the film all together. For example, I don't believe that two additional rescue spaceships (one alien and one human) needed to be included. Same thing with the time spent showing the rocket ships in space. But that is just my opinion. Still, it was an interesting film and I believe that this is one of those rare movies that could justify a modern remake.

Remember-- this was 1966! No Computers. No CGI. EVERYTHING done by hand.And for those of you who were old enough to see this on TV-- I say watch it again-- WHY? Because you very likely saw it in Black & White. And you saw it in the old square ratio TV-tube ratio. And probably worse-- you may have seen a video store VHStape repro with all the washed out colors, scratchy, jittery juddering that came with a haphazard transfer. This movie was a true Screen production. And I recently streamed a clean video reproduction of this gem via Netflix to my Flatscreen and I was amazed at the quality of the entire show and taken in by the Movie itself.One-- it's an ironic chuckle to see a movie purporting to be 30 years into the future- 1990! on my Flatscreen via the Internet.Two- It's a Monster Movie. What Movie from the Age of Outer Space doesn't have One? And like all Monsters we know and love-- this one likes and prefers Blood. . .But Doesn't like unattached girlfriends.The setup and the story is very cohesive. The science isn't too wild and doesn't have too much hand-wavium. This movies was intended as a SERIOUS SCIENTIFIC outer space entre to the screen. So excuse the fact that they travel to Mars inside of a few days instead of MONTHS, or the fact that they've intercepted a signal ". . .within our Galaxy, but from outside our solar system. . ."The scenes from the alien planet are cool and definitely otherworldly. And the depiction of Mars is actually pretty realistic, considering what they knew back then.And the 'Monster'. She's worth watching. She's acting totally and only with her glowing white eyes, Her writhing red lips and her white, white teeth. And she is enjoying herself! When I first saw this when I was kid, I thought I heard a scary bee-like buzzing whenever they focused on her lips-- but I guess that was a vacuum tube inside the TV Set and not the movie (Yes, That's how OLD I am!)Pluses: Woman are portrayed as Levelheaded and intelligent, though seems that the world of the future was only populated by Platinum Blondes.It's a story about meeting an alien culture, albeit a bloodthirsty one. So it makes sense that after you find that your alien guest sleeping peacefully in her bunk with a delightful dab of blood on the corner of her lip after gorging on one of your crewmembers-- the scientist of the group talks about donating blood in shifts to keep her satisfied. And of course, you know that HE will be Next!For the Nerds in us, they actually gave a nod to interplanetary travel restrictions on Time and Fuel. (despite the fact that the alien rocket crossed interstellar space in a matter of days-- but hey, they were a race of advanced Plant Vampires with Laser heat Vision! They're allowed to break the laws of physics)Bring your friends over and watch this one after Midnight with chips and dip.

Cold, but intelligent sci-fi horror flick from director Curtis Harrington made on a shoe-string, using special effects from a foreign source to save money. Harrington depends on the scientific aspects of the story while keeping the look of the film(for the exception of the marvelous alien sets, closer to the decade's previous horde of sci-fi horror flicks keeping elements in tighter confinements meaning the ship in which a small crew(including John Saxon, Dennis Hopper, Judi Meredith & Robert Boon)have brought on board an alien queen vampire who uses a hypnotic ability to "freeze" men so that she can feast on their blood. Her people were supposed to come to earth as "greeters", but instead wind up on Mars' moon. Only the Queen survived. They do not know of her mental telekinetic powers and each fall prey to her. The ending is quite rewarding and inspired(..and influential)..it has an apocalyptic quality that feeds into how science can perhaps lead to total destruction of the human race. Can desiring to learn and study alien life outside our own lead to the threat of complete distinction? Such a powerful question from a low-budget, no-money sci-fi horror.