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From the opening scene of a darkly shimmering spacecraft floating across a star field, it’s clear this is no ordinary science fiction/horror movie. Perhaps aware of the inherent unreality of mid-nineteen sixties special effects, Mario Bava chose to play on those flaws to enhance the surreal, nightmarish quality of PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (TERRORE NELLO SPAZIO, 1965). The result is a film that doesn’t try as much to earn the audience’s suspension of disbelief through verisimilitude as it does to simply sweep viewers along on a chilling journey through a lurid and stylish vision of horror and madness.

Bava, who worked as a designer and special effects artist before directing, takes full advantage of his experience to create a harsh and forbidding alien landscape through inventive use of miniatures and reflective backgrounds. Colors on this world are diabolical reds and deep neon blues, rich acid greens and searing yellows. Jagged rocks jut forth in all directions and a thick miasma of smoke and mist drapes the entire planet. The convergence of darkness and fog across the harsh environment creates a sense of claustrophobia even while the characters move across open ground. By contrast the interiors of their spacecraft are vast and cavernous, massive halls of iron and chrome interconnected by long, dim passages, segmented by sliding steel doors.

The story follows the crews of two spacecraft responding to a mysterious distress call ringing out from an unknown world. Their mission of mercy is horribly endangered as they approach the planet and become trapped in wave of gravity that forces them both to near-crash landings. Once firmly upon the surface, a fierce madness overwhelms the crew of the command ship, driving them to attack each other in an uncontrollable bloodlust. Only the level-headedness of their captain allows them to pull through and regain their senses.

Soon they find their sister ship, her crew killed in the severe landing. Or at least it seems so until bodies trapped within one of the cabins mysteriously disappear. While repairs are made to their own ship, other crewmembers explore the bizarre world around them, searching for some sign of their lost colleagues. Crewmembers vanish, three makeshift graves are disturbed in one of the film’s most eerie sequences, and the captain uncovers the ruins of an alien craft that prove they are not the first visitors to come to this deadly world. And always, around them crawls the thick, strange mist, swirling like it has a mind of its own.

As the truth is revealed, more strange events occur and the crew learns that they are locked in a violent struggle, not only for their lives, but for much more than they could ever have imagined.

Admittedly the movie relies more on atmosphere and mood than story, but there’s enough of a plot here to maintain an unrelenting low-grade tension. The cast turns in uniformly solid, if somewhat subdued, performances that only enhance the starkness of the insanity unfolding around them. The real star here is the film’s visual energy. Everything from costume design (the crew start out in unwieldy black leather uniforms and helmets) to alien ruins (think Ridley Scott saw this before making ALIEN?) to the weapons (very convincing, pre-STAR WARS laser blasts) look distinctive, and more importantly, as if they belong in this universe.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is the bridge between such sci-fi classics like FORBIDDEN PLANET and more modern sci-fi thrillers like ALIEN. The film’s influence on contemporary horror pictures is widely underestimated, despite the fact that Tim Burton is on record as being a Bava fan (just watch SLEEPY HOLLOW and then check out Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY if you’re wondering). Bava may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this movie proves the man was an artist and a master in his field.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRESis a genuine treat for horror fans. Sci-fi aficionados will like it, too, if they’re not hung up on stories filled with hard science or high-octane action.

MGM’s Midnight Movies DVD presentation is very good. The film, presented in widescreen, is vivid and clear, and the menu features a neat graphic composed of promotional art. As is generally the rule with this series of discs, the packaging is quite nice, though bare bones, and special features include only the theatrical trailer and subtitles in French and Spanish.

It’s certainly nice to have an inexpensive, high-quality DVD of this one available, but it would be great to see a film like this get the more elaborate treatment it deserves.