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Such a frustrating disappointment

A different way of telling a story

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

In the year 1990, scientists from an American "space institute" translate a radio signal sent from a distant planet notifying Earthlings of an impending visit, but instead the intrepid aliens crash land on Mars and a rescue team is sent into space to find them. Another one of those B-grade American International products with poster art more creative and promising than the film being advertising. Still, writer-director Curtis Harrington isn't Ed Wood; he attempts to put on a colorful show, even though a great deal of the special effects footage has been lifted from two Soviet features, "Mechte Navstrechu" and "Nebo Zovyot". Actors John Saxon, Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper alternately look bemused and embarrassed. ** from ****

Queen of Blood (1966)** 1/2 (out of 4) Earth finally manages to make contact with an alien form but that form crashes on Mars so astronauts are sent to try and rescue any survivors. Allan Brenner (John Saxon) and Laura James (Judi Meredith) both have different opinions on the mission but soon they are fighting for their lives when the Queen alien (Florence Marly) turns out to be a vampire.QUEEN OF BLOOD isn't your average horror film. If you're familiar with Curtis Harrington then you know he liked to go more towards the art house than the drive-in. His feature film NIGHT TIDE is one of the strangest horror movies that you'll ever see and QUEEN OF BLOOD is just as weird on many levels. I know a lot of people praise Mario Bava for PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and how he managed to turn a low-budget into a great looking production. I think Harrington really deserves the same credit because this movie certainly looks wonderful even if the film itself isn't a complete success.What does work here are the terrific visuals. You've got the budget of your typical low-budget nature but Harrington makes sure you can't tell that by looking at the picture. I really loved the use of color throughout the film and especially the glowing reds. The colors certainly leap off the screen and manage to grab and hold your attention. Another plus is that we've got an excellent villain in the female vampire. I really loved her look with the green colors and there were some great scenes with the red blood just dripping from her that was quite effective.Another plus is that we've got a good cast with both Saxon and Meredith doing a nice job with the lead roles. Marly is also quite good in the role of the vampire and we've got Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper in small roles. The film certainly does have some flaws including its story, which is rather unoriginal and there's no question that the psychedelic nature doesn't always work in regards to its story. Still, QUEEN OF BLOOD is an interesting picture visually and certainly worth watching.

This flick is pretty low budget and a rip off of most 1950s alien plots (you know, humans in the future go to Mars and encounter an evil alien presence). However, it seems to be an homage to the older low budget sci-fi thrillers. It doesn't get campy (this could be considered a fault if looking for something to crack jokes at), but is obviously cheap.Here's the plot gang, in the year 1990 humans receive an alien signal from Mars and send a crew to investigate. They experience difficulties and have to make an emergency landing (of course) leaving them stranded on Mars near an alien space craft. Brenner (John Saxon) and his buddy convince Dr. Farraday (Rathbone wondering what happened to his career) to send them in a rescue ship to an orbiting moon where they can get to their marooned colleagues. On this moon, Saxon and friend locate a living alien being. To make a long story short, Saxon leaves his buddy on the moon and links up with the marooned humans and brings alien queen with him. She ends up sucking the blood out of the captain (Brockman) and the young crewman (Dennis Hopper trying to break out of crappy roles) leaving Saxon and his love interest (Judi Meredith) to cope with the queen of the alien undead.I won't give the ending away, but you can probably figure it out.The film wasn't that good, but the actors and actresses do a good job. I'd definitely have to say it's good if you're in the mood for a low budget 60s sci-fi film.

As a child of the 60s/70s, I realized (in hindsight, of course) how many of the wonderfully effective B-movies I remember were made by one man; Curtis Harrington. Films like THE DEAD DON'T DIE (scary, zombie/noir TV movie), WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (psychotic HANSEL & GRETEL-like movie) and many others. This film has plenty for modern audiences to laugh at, granted; but, in many ways it is the precursor to ALIEN. As much, if not more so than Mario Bava's PLANET OF VAMPIRES. The film uses Russian special effects footage from NIEBO ZOWIET(c.1960) as a way to inject production value into a very low budget frame. And what the hell, it works! The actors, especially Basil Rathbone(yes, Sherlock Holmes himself) are pretty stiff (although a very young Dennis Hopper tries to be more 'natural'). However, Florence Marley as the Vampire Queen is (to this day) an utter show stopper. With her deliberately unnatural smile and balletic body language, she truly seems alien. She makes this movie work! Forry Ackerman's cameo at the end with the 'eggs' is also very effective. Like the Weyland/Yutani Corporation of the ALIEN movies, one realizes Ackerman's inviting disaster on a planetary scale. Nice, nihilistic ending (I miss those once in awhile!). When I was younger, this movie really got to me. As I watch it now, I'm still impressed with Ms. Marley's work. And Harrington's efficient storytelling. Yes, the 'Space Institute' sequences are a little too 'Johnny Astro-Rocket Boy' for even my taste (and I can forgive a lot if a movie works), but once the movie gets into space, it starts to gel. Some details (the continuity between the Russian footage space suits with the American made suits, the interactive lighting during the rocket launches, etc.) are nicely handled. It's gratifying to see care applied to even the lowest budget films. This is no Ed Wood, "see-what-I-made-in-my-backyard-for-six-bucks -and-a-pint-of-scotch?"effort(although those films are hypnotic in their own hideous way). One of the lessons gleaned from movies like this is that a low budget need not be a show killer. This is a simple, effective, ALIEN prototype with a few decent scares and a very effective antagonist/monster. A nice little lesson in getting some good bang for your buck, from Curtis Harrington.