Queen of Blood (1966)

★ 5.2 1h 21m IMDb

Horror Sci-Fi

A spaceship is sent to Mars after an alien distress signal is picked up. They find one survivor, but when a crew member is found drained of blood it's evident they have rescued a bloodsucking monster. Uses footage from Encounter in Space (1963).

Where to Watch

Checking 300+ streaming services for this title. Check back soon.

Rent / Buy

No rental or purchase options available yet.

Cast

Florence Marly as Alien Queen Died 1978 · Obrnice - Czechoslovakia Highly alluring Czech-born actress Florence Marly, born on June 2, 1919, initially expressed intentions of being an opera singer. At the age of 18, however, she was discovered by the 33-year-old renow...

Basil Rathbone as Dr. Farraday Died 1967 · Johannesburg, South African Republic Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967), was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily c...

John Saxon as Allan Brenner Died 2020 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1935 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor and martial artist who worked on more than 200 projects during a span of 60 years. Saxon is known for his work in...

Judi Meredith as Laura James Died 2014 · Portland, Oregon, USA Judi Clare Meredith (born October 13, 1936) is a former American actress..

Dennis Hopper as Paul Grant Died 2010 · Dodge City, Kansas, USA Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. H...

Director Curtis Harrington

Cast Florence Marly, Basil Rathbone, John Saxon, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, Robert Boon, Don Eitner, Virgil Frye, Forrest J. Ackerman, Gary Crutcher

Wuchak 7/10 Sep 25, 2023

**_Eerie sci-fi from the mid-60s with the help of footage from a few Russian flicks_**

In the near-future, when Earthlings have a moon base and can travel to nearby planets, a radio transmission is received from Mars wherein an alien craft has crash-landed and needs assistance. Two spaceships are sent on the rescue mission, but serious problems manifest on the return voyage. The cast is headed by John Saxon, Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper.

“Queen of Blood,” aka “Planet of Blood” (1966), is an interesting movie in that it uses stock footage from a few Russian films (cited below) as ‘frosting’ on the cake of an entirely different story, resulting in a moody, slow-burn sci-fi experience. People compare it to the Italian "Planet of the Vampires” from the year prior, but this has a more compelling story. Both of these flicks obviously influenced superior future films, like “Alien” and “Lifeforce.”

While I suppose the two women in “Planet of the Vampires” are superior (a blonde and a redhead no less), Judi Meredith isn’t exactly a slouch and Florence Marly is effective as the mysteriously seductive green-skinned extraterrestrial.

The movie was released the same year that Star Trek debuted. If you appreciate serious Star Trek episodes from its first season, you’ll appreciate what “Queen of Blood” has to offer. I’m talking about episodes like "The Cage," "Where No Man Has Gone Before," "The Corbomite Maneuver," "Enemy Within," "The Man Trap," "The Naked Time," "Charlie X," "Balance of Terror" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

Executive producer Roger Corman purchased stock footage from a few Russian films to beef-up the production values of his low-budget movies in the mid-60s. As such, most of the F/X in “Queen of Blood” hail from “A Dream Come True” (1963), including the Martian sequences and elaborate miniatures of the launch of the extraterrestrial ‘mother ship.’ The animated exteriors of some of the Earth vessel sequences are from either “Planet of Storms” (1962) or “Battle Beyond the Sun” (1959), which had already been used for “Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet” the previous year.

The movie runs 1 hour, 18 minutes, and the new footage (by director Curtis Harrington) was shot at a studio in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B