“What's a Vampire?”

 

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DRACULA 3000-2004-In the future when dope is legal and no one believes in God, Captain Abraham Van Helsing (Casper Van Diem) leads a salvage team (which includes Erika Eleniak, Coolio and Tiny Lister). There's also a whiny guy in a wheelchair who's like a cross between Eddie Deezen and Robbie Robertson. They investigate a 50 year old derelict space ship. Coolio turns into one of the worst vampires in vampire film history. Count Dracula is somehow on board. He's from planet Transylvania in the Carpathian solar system. 

Really! I didn't make it up! 

Udo Keir is also in it. 

Written and directed by Darrell Roodt (PREY (2007))

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Bava In Space

 

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PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES-1965-A group of astronauts land on a mysterious planet looking for a missing spaceship. At first they act strangely. They find the spaceship they were looking for but the crew is dead. The captain, Mark Markary (Barry Sullivan) deduces some kind of force is trying to control them. They find giant dinosaur like skeletons, the remains of a dead civilization. But the inhabitants are still around possessing dead bodies and killing who's ever still alive. 

There's a twist ending in this well directed but slow-paced horror sci-fi from Mario Bava which was co-produced by AIP. Star Sullivan promoted this film on an episode of “Celebrity Password”. Susan Hart (AIP co-owner James Nicholson's wife) was originally supposed to play the female lead. Director Bava's future director son, Lamberto was the assistant director.

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The Original Invaders

 

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INVADERS FROM MARS-1953-Little David (Jimmy Hunt) who's interested in astronomy sees a UFO land near his house at night. When his scientist dad (Leif Erickson) goes to investigate, he disappears. David's mom (Hillary Brooke) calls the police. Two cops investigate (one is Douglas Kennedy) and seem to fall into a hole made in the sand. Later dad shows up, now a cold, mean zombie with a strange wound on the back of his head. After dad hits David, the cops show up also zombified. Later David sees his young neighbor fall in one of the sand holes. She comes back mesmerized and sets her house on fire. David goes to the chief of police (Bert Freed) but he's already been taken over and has Sgt. Finley (Walter Sande) put him in detention. Finley calls in Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter, who retired from acting after this) to examine David. She seems concerned. Mom comes to get David but it's obvious she's now “one of them”. Fortunately, Dr. Blake rescues him and takes him to see Dr. Kelston (Arthur Franz), an astronomer who believes David saw Martian invaders. Kelston contacts Col. Fielding (Morris Ankrum) and Capt. Roth (Milburn Stone). The taken over people start sabotaging things. When Pat & David are captured, we finally see the aliens, tall green guys with bulging eyes who obey a weird golden head (Luce Potter) who speaks telepathically. 

I won't reveal the “shock ending” although everyone probably knows it already! Also with (mostly all uncredited) William Phipps, Fay Baker, Peter Brocco, Richard Deacon, John Eldredge, Tod Karns, Robert Shayne, Frank Wilcox and Lock Martin. 

This science fiction film released by 20^th Century-Fox was filmed in SuperCineColor, a three-color process invented in 1948 but only used till around 1954. Despite a fairly low budget, director John Cameron Menzies uses unusual camera angles and almost surreal set pieces.

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Ulmer To The End

 

 

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BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER-1960-Major Allison (Robert Clarke from THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) is sent into space. He doesn't seem to be gone too long but when he returns the base is in shambles and deserted. He's taken prisoner by some people in "The Citadel". They think he's a spy and put him in a chamber with some bald-headed mutants. However, the leader of The Citadel, The Supreme (Vladimir Sokoloff) has a mute granddaughter Trirene (Darlene Tompkins) who takes a liking to Allison and saves him. (She has ESP too) He also meets 3 imprisoned scientists Kruse (Stephen Bekassy), Boardman (John Van Dreelan) and Russian Markova (Arianne Arden). From them he learns about a plague from outer space and that the year is 2024! There's one scene in front of a blackboard where it sounds like someone farts. After Markova lets the mutants out and there are a few double crosses Allison returns to 1960 to warn everyone of the plague but he's changed a bit. 

This interesting if drawn out little space drama was directed by the great Edgar Ulmer very late in his career. As usual he manages to do a few neat things with the limits put on the movie. He made it back-to-back in Texas with another Sci-Fi cheapy THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN. His wife Shirley was the story editor and their daughter Arianne plays the female cosmonaut. Star Robert Clarke was originally supposed to direct but hired Ulmer. The two had worked together a few years before on THE MAN FROM PLANET X. Screenwriter Arthur Pierce later wrote the bizarre THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS. Female lead Darlene Tompkins co-starred with Elvis in BLUE HAWAII a year later.

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Another from 1953 and Based On a Bradbury Story!

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE-1953-In Arizona, writer Johnny Putnam (Richard Carlson) and his girlfriend Ellen (Barbara Rush) think they see a meteor crash but it's not a meteor, it's an alien spaceship. Helicopter pilot Pete (Dave Willock) takes them to the crash site the next day. Johnny discovers the ship and is almost killed by an avalanche. No one believes him how-ever. He and Ellen have a brief encounter with a one eyed creature. Two telephone line workers Frank (Joe Sawyer) & George (Russell Johnson) get a weird noise on the wires and later encounter the creature. When they next meet Frank he seems hypnotized but it's actually an alien impersonating him. 

Later John catches alien clones of Frank and George stealing. After Ellen is kidnapped, Frank and the skeptical sheriff (Charles Drake) go to the desert where Frank meets an alluring alien version of his girl. Then he encounters an alien who tells him they are only repairing their ship and everyone will be ok if the humans don't interfere. The stupid sheriff who's sweet on Ellen wants to fight them. When he decides to attack. John goes to the mine to warn them. He's attacked by the Ellen clone. Snooping around he finds the alien base and meets a clone of himself. He convinces the aliens to let their captives go and they return to space. 

This eerie Sci-Fi classic (orig-inally shown in 3-D) was only the second full length feature directed by Jack Arnold and was adapted from a Ray Bradbury story by Harry Essex who in 1954 would team up again with Arnold to make THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON!

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Tiny Planet

 

THE PHANTOM PLANET-1961-After an Earth rocket ship that look off from the moon is destroyed by some kind of asteroid, Commander Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) and his philosophical co-pilot Makonnen (Richard Weber) investigate. When Makonnen is killed saving Chapman, the ship is drawn to an asteroid and is forced to land. When Chapman steps onto the planet he passes out. 80's⁹Later he wakens and encounters some tiny inhabitants. He passes out again and shrinks to their size. They seize him and bring him to a court overseen by Sessom (Francis X. Bushman). It seems he's on the planet Rheton and can never go back to Earth. Sessom wants Chapman to be a productive citizen even offering the astronaut his choice of a wife, his daughter Liara or the mute Zetha (Dolores Faith). 

Sessom's second in command Aron (Anthony Dexter) is the troublemaker who gets jealous when Liara takes a liking to the alien Chapman. Meantime, a search party is sent out to find the missing astro. He seems to prefer Zita but green eyes Aron challenges Chapman to "the duel". When Chapman bests his rival he refuses to kill Aron and let's him live. Then Aron wants to help Chapman leave so he can have Liara all to himself although Chapman already told her to bug off. Before the escape plan can be implemented, their dreaded enemies The Solarites attack. They destroy the attackers but a captured Solarite (Richard Kiel in his film debut) escapes and attacks Sessom. Chapman is eventually rescued but thinks it all might have been a dream except he has a stone Zita gave him. 

There's some minor narration at the beginning by Marvin Miller. Director William Marshall (not to be confused with the actor who played Blacula) also produced and co-wrote this unusual space opera. 

Richard Kiel and Dolores Faith were reunited a few years later in THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (1965).

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Perry Rhodan

MISSION STARDUST-1967-Major Perry Rhodan (Lang Jeffries) and his crew are all part of the super secret Stardust Project which is headed to the moon to mine a new type of precious metal. Along with him are Capt. Bull (Luis Davila), Capt. Flipper (Daniel Martin) and Dr. Monoli (Joachim Hansen). A guy named Arkin (Pinkus Braun) wants the metal too. When they land a strange interference knocks out communication with Earth. Then their land Rover is destroyed. A weird robot with teeth and eyes takes them to meet Crest (John Karlsen), an old guy with a lisp and Thora (Essy Persson), the arrogant commander from the planet Arkon. 

While Perry tries to melt the ice princess, Manoli discovers that Crest has leukemia and wants to take him to an Earth doctor for treatment. They travel secretly to Mombasa but run into trouble with the army. The silly aliens think Mercury is a precious metal while diamonds are used like nails. After the army fails to capture the ship, Rhodan and Faber go looking for Dr. Haggard (Stefano Sibaldi) who they find after beating up some thugs. They take Hagar and his two assis-tants to help Crest. Meanwhile Arkin's gang infiltrates an army sector and captures Rhodan. It turns out Flipper is actually working for Arkin and Hagar and his nurses are imposers. The robots vaporize most of the bad guys except Arkin who sneaks on to the alien ship and is later set adrift in space. 

This Italian-West German co-production by director Primo Zeglio is more like espionage than space opera but also influenced by TV's Star Trek although the Perry Rhodan series of books (around 126 at this writing) started in 1961. 

Terrible sfx. Star Jeffries was born in Canada and in the early '60's was married to Rhoda Fleming. Essy Persson had been in the sexploitation blockbuster I, A WOMAN in 1965 and was later in CRY OF THE BANSHEE (1970) with Vincent Price.

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Unsold TV Pilot

DESTINATION SPACE-1959-In the future a space station nicknamed "Benedict's Billions" is ready to launch a manned rocket ship when it's hit by a meteor. No one is killed but this gives a headline seeking senator (Robert Cornthwaite) another reason to criticize it. Jim Benedict (Harry Townes) head of the project comes under a lot of personal criticism especially from Kim (Gail Kobe), the wife of the station's captain (Charles Aidman). John Agar is his associate Col. Matthews. Cecil Kellaway is the outspoken Dr. Andrews. Dr. Logan (John Lormer) is also aboard. After Jim gives a nice speech that kind of wins everyone over, a scientist Dr. Easton (Edward Platt) is sent along as an independent observer. Jim's girlfriend June (Whitney Blake) fits into a love triangle Jim gets caught in while trying to clean the ice build up preventing the launch. 

There's not a lot of info available on DESTINATION SPACE but now it's pretty much agreed this was actually an unsold pilot before it was released as a feature film. It certainly has that feel to it although former actor Joseph Pevney had directed many feature films (like THE MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES in 1957) by the time this was made he had already take “the leap” into TV (where he worked on many TV shows for many years to come). 

Producer/writer Rip Van Ronkel had written the screenplay for the excellent DESTINATION MOON in 1950. Much stock footage from 1955's CONQUEST OF SPACE was used too.

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Space Fungus

MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE-1965-Major Towers (William Leslie) and Captain Webber (Carl Crow) are two yobs returning to a space station after collecting samples on an asteroid. Head of the station is Cromwell (Richard Garland). The first 30 minutes is all talk then Webber dies after being infected by an unknown fungus. Towers wants to warn everyone but Cromwell wants it kept secret. Even after the fungus takes over the lab of Towers' girlfriend Faith (Dolores Faith) a botanist. It seems Cromwell is suffering from "space rapture" and won't see the truth. When Towers rebels Cromwell has him locked up as well as Faith and other crew members Dr. Hoffman (James Dobson) and Lt. Engstrom (Patricia Curran) but the crew turn the tables and sedate Cromwell. The deadly fungi eventually shows up everywhere, including outside the ship but on Earth Gen. Knowland (Glenn Langan, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) has a giant CO2 cloud created which destroys the stuff (like in The Blob). 

Francine York (CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE) appears in a few scenes as Knowland's aide de camp. I suppose an argument could be made that this talky cheap sci-fi space drama influenced 2001 and Star trek (and THE GREEN SLIME!) but I have my doubts ...Director Hugo Grimaldi made this cheap science fiction melodrama the same year as the much more entertaining THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (also with Dolores Faith)

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4609335177952045780/6758274239790318029

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Burtgordonus Rex

KING DINOSAUR-1955-The Earth sends a manned rocket to the newly discovered planet Nova. Narrator Marvin Miller explains the tests, plans and preparation that goes into sending a human into space. The crew includes anthropologist Richard Gordon (Douglas Henderson), geologist Nora Pierce (Patti Gallagher), Dr. Ralph Martin (Bill Bryant) and Prof. Patricia Bennett (Wanda Curtis). They discover Nova has the same atmosphere as earth and is home to a lot of stock footage Earth animals. Nora is intrigued by a smoky volcano and the island it's on. No one else shares her enthusiasm. At night Ralph and Pat leave their camp to be alone as they are apparently more than science colleagues. Ralph is mauled by a crocodile. Then he and his honey encounter a giant insect. Later while Ralph recovers Richard and Nora (and their pet lemur Joe) investigate the island. Richard is slashed by a giant iguana saving Joe. Then the giant reptile fights a giant alligator. 

Of course since Mr. BIG Burt I. Gordon directed this they are just small animals blown up by the magic of film. The group sets off an A bomb to destroy the nasty monsters who never did anything to them and return home. 

This was Burt Gordon's directing debut and started him on a career of fondly remembered, enjoyable horror/science fiction junk (THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and it's sequel, THE SPIDER, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE). Executive producer Al Zimbalist produced ROBOT MONSTER (1953).

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Mexico Monsters

SHIP OF MONSTERS-1960-This lunatic Mexican sci-fi musical comedy features Gamma (Ana Bertha Lepe) & Beta (Lorena Velazquez), 2 alien women from Venus who comb the solar system in search of males to breed with after a war has destroyed their male population. A clunky blinking robot Torr assists them.  Before coming to Earth they pick up some doozies! There's the short big head Tawal, Prince of Mars, who's brain seems to be on the outside of his head. Demonic Ogre Muppet like Uk, king of the fire planet. Giant Crassus of the red planet (isn't that Mars?). Plus a marionette like bag of bones whose name and planet are not mentioned. 

The girls freeze them and hide them in a cave when their spaceship has trouble and they are forced to land on Earth. They meet the loud smiling Lauriano (Eulalio Gonzalez) and his much younger brother. Almost immediately he and Gamma fall in love and he sings a couple of songs! Later Beta is jealous and reveals that she is a vampire from the vampire planet Uranus and plans to drain Earth of its blood. She turns into a bat and kills a farmer. Gamma rats her out to their boss and Beta is condemned to be disintegrated. Beta double crosses Gamma, locks her up, makes Torr her slave and convinces the captured male prisoners help to her terrify and conquer Earth. She and Tawal seem to have a thing for each other! Lauriano encounters all 4 of them in the forest. Since he’s a big mouth braggart no one believes him. He manages to get to the spaceship but Beta catches him and makes him sing her a love song. While they are kissing Lauriano steals the control box Bets uses and frees Gamma (and his little brother) but sends the rocket into space. With the help of the robot the aliens are destroyed and Beta is impaled. Gamma stays on Earth. 

This is so nutty and dumb it's very entertaining! Vampire alien Lorena Velaquez was later in some Wrestling Women movies. Director Rogelio A. Gonzalez made many more movies in Mexico but unfortunately was killed in a car accident in 1984.

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The Wild Wild Review

THE WILD WILD PLANET-1965-In this crazy Sci-Fi space adventure from Italy, a mad scientist (Massimo Serato) is conducting mysterious experiments using human beings while strange aliens disguised as humans kill scientists (and little kids). Most are women have beehive hairdos but one is a bald headed guy with a killer trench coat! American born Tony Russel is Commander Mike Halstead in charge of the Gamma One space station where the action takes place. Lisa Gastoni is Lt. Connie Gomez, Halstead's kind of girlfriend. Franco Nero is Jake, another Lieutenant who helps Halstead go after the mad doc (who has some weird plan to create his own race) and rescue Connie who has fallen into his clutches. It's all very funny with toy cars and rockets, people turned doll sized, female aliens beating up men and lines like “You Helium head”. 

Directed by Antonio Margheriti, it's part of the Gamma One series of space movies. Ruggero Deodato (CANNIBAL HOLOHAUST) was an assistant director.

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