QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966)

 

(a.k.a. PLANET OF BLOOD. Director/co-screenwriter: Curtis Harrington. Based on Mikhail Karykov and Otar Koberidze’s story/film MECHTE NAVSTRECHU.)

 

Review

1990. Ambassadors of a mysterious alien race, enroute to Earth to establish relations with humans, crash-land on Mars. On Earth, the International Institute of Space Technology, created to “explore” Mars and Venus, sends a rescue mission for the aliens, with whom communications are hazy at best (along with their general appearance).

The crew of the Oceano are on their way to Mars when multiple complications occur, starting with a sunburst, which damages the Oceano’s system. Upon reaching Mars, the crew members find a lone survivor (a green-skinned, exotic-looking, and mute Alien Queen (her character end-credited as “?”, played by Florence Marly, DOCTOR DEATH: SEEKER OF SOULS, 1973). Several men, especially Paul Grant (Dennis Hopper, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2, 1986), are dreamily, romantically drawn to her. After she drains one of her admirers of blood (offscreen), killing him, the remaining crew members decide to restrain, not kill her, because she’s a scientific specimen. . . an obviously bad decision, an opinion voiced by alarmed crew member Allan Brenner (John Saxon, TENEBRAE, 1982), who wants to destroy her.

QUEEN, with a fun, familiar twist or two, is a fast- and tightly paced (for its time) low budget movie, with an all-around solid cast and crew. Its look is sumptuous in an often color-drenched B-movie way (opening with John Cline’s exotic, science fiction-monstrous “title” paintings and stock spooky-theremin music by Ronald Stein, billed as Leonard Moran—Moran’s credits include SPIDER BABY, OR THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD, 1967). QUEEN’s look is further augmented (and made more atmospheric) by impressive special effects lifted from bigger budgeted and uncredited Russian films, BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, 1959, and MECHTE NAVSTRECHU, 1963), fitting because QUEEN is a remake of MECHTE, English translation DREAM TOGETHER. (MECHTE was also titled DREAM COME TRUE in some countries.)

 

QUEEN’s other notable players and behind-the-scenes crew include:

Basil Rathbone (SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1939) as Dr. Farraday, head of the International Institute of Space Technology;

Judi Meredith (THE NIGHT WALKER, 1964) as Laura James, scientist and Allan Brenner’s romantic interest;

Don Eitner (KRONOS, 1957) as Tony Barrata, one of the crew members;

Forrest J. Ackerman (THE HOWLING, 1981, and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD II, 1988) as Dr. Farraday’s assistant (“minus his trademark glasses”, according to IMDb’s QUEEN OF BLOOD “Trivia” page). Ackeman, then-editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, holds something in the movie’s last shot;

Virgil Frye (GARDEN OF THE DEAD, 1972) as “Control Panel” (Frye’s first feature);

Gary Crutcher (GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, 1958) as an uncredited spaceship crew member;

Leon Smith (VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, 1965, also co-directed by Curtis Harrington) was VOYAGE and QUEEN’s set designer, then billed as "set decorator".

and

Vilis Lapenieks (VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, 1965) was VOYAGE and QUEEN’s cinematographer.

QUEEN might be worth your time if you appreciate its above-noted qualities, particularly if you’re a fan of MARS ATTACKS! (1996; director: Tim Burton) and ALIEN (1979; director: Ridley Scott), the latter of which shares a similar, if darker, more primal, and feminist storyline.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb: though Ronald Stein’s spooky theremin music sounds like it’s mixed with Louis Barron and Bebe Barron’s FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) “tonalities” it’s not.

Florence Marly reprised her role of “?” (her character’s end-credit in QUEEN) in a six-minute, 16mm sequel, SPACE BOY (1973). In SPACE BOY, her character is named Velarna, and Marly is billed as Florence Marly von Wurmbrand.

QUEEN’s running time is an hour and eighteen minutes, a good choice if you’re looking for a shorter movie to watch.

HELLMASTER (1992)

(a.k.a. THEM; a.k.a. SOUL STEALER; Director/screenwriter: Douglas Schulze)

Review

Shot in a functioning mental institution, HELLMASTER is a fun flick if you don’t mind an often-nonsensical film about a malevolent scientist (Professor Jones, played by John Saxon), whose three-decade Nietzsche Experiment turns hallucinating human subjects into multi-symptomatic mutants who stalk more victims. 

It has entertaining, striking visuals (e.g., a white hallway that leads to red-lit rooms, conjuring up memories of Dario Argento’s 1977 film SUSPIRIA) and lots of melting ickiness.

HELLMASTER quickly becomes a tiring succession of stalk-and-attack scenes around the college (actually a sanitarium)─they have A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET-esque feel (appropriate, given Saxon’s presence). Another noteworthy actor is David Emge (DAWN OF THE DEAD, 1978; BASKET CASE 2) as Robert, one of Professor Jones’s key nemeses—he, like Saxon, imbues his character with enough depth to make this C-flick worth watching at least once. Unfortunately, the rest of the actors, whether through inexperience and/or bland character writing, are not memorable.

The climax─Professor Jones’s comeuppance─is underwhelming. long overdue and lasts less than a minute, although Saxon channels Vincent Price's Dr. Phibes-like sense of grievance. And the ending furthers the Argento/giallo-meets-1990s-video-fare feel.

BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)

 

(a.k.a. SILENT NIGHT, EVIL NIGHT; a.k.a. STRANGER IN THE HOUSE [television/NBC retitle for its initial airing on May 14, 1978]. Director/uncredited co-screenwriter: Bob Clark. Co-screenwriter: Roy Moore.)

Review

BLACK, along with Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO (1960), Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM (1960), Mario Bava’s A BAY OF BLOOD (1971) and Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974), is credited with creating and refining the slasher subgenre, and rightfully so─each of these films contributed their own quirks, filmmaking tricks and twists to the soon-to-burst subgenre.

One of the slasher-expansive aspects of BLACK was Clark and Moore’s fleshing-out of its characters, particularly the collegiate sisters. Clark felt that previous higher-learning films only showed young women as pretty, peppy types without any depth, so he and Moore set out to create women with their own personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. (Also, according to IMDb, Clark set and abided by the rules that the female characters should not be objectified, nor were they to do nude scenes.) 

BLACK is also the first holiday season-themed slasher flick made, featuring some of the most creative kills of the subgenre (a plastic bag, a crystal unicorn, etc.).

Shot in forty days and set in the fictional town of Bedford (an homage to Frank Capra's 1946 movie IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE), BLACK was inspired by the real-life crimes of Wayne Boden, a Canadian serial killer who murdered four women between November 1969 and spring 1971 (he was caught soon after that). Moore mixed Boden’s murders with the urban legend of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs.

The story: while the sisters of Pi Kappa Sig (ΠΚΣ) prepare for the winter holiday break, a crank-calling, distorted-voiced serial killer who secretly resides in their house stalks them and those around them.

Everything works in this film: the dark, viewer-immersive cinematography (courtesy of Reginald H. Morris, billed as Reg Morris); the offbeat, unsettling soundtrack (composer Carl Zittrer said he tied combs, forks and knives to his piano strings to warp the music); the tightly penned, often-humorous screenplay and no-shots-wasted film.

Of course, all of this would have been for naught if BLACK‘s cast had not been worthwhile─and what a stellar cast it was!

Olivia Hussey played Jess. Keir Dullea (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a film Clark loved) played the high-strung pianist Peter. Margot Kidder played the razor-tongued, alcoholic Barb (Clark later said Kidder drank real alcohol for her character’s inebriation scenes). Andrea Martin played Phyl (Martin appeared in the 2006 BLACK remake, playing a different character). Lynne Griffin played Clare Harrison. Marian Waldman played the hilarious secret-inebriate house mother Mrs. Mac (a character based on Bob Clark’s real-life aunt).

Art Hindle played Chris Hayden─Hindle later played Ted Jarvis in Clark’s PORKY’S (1981) and PORKY’S II: THE NEXT DAY (1983). Doug McGrath, billed as Douglas McGrath, played Sergeant Nash─McGrath also became a PORKY’s cast member, playing Coach Warren in the first film of the coming-of-age sex-comedy trilogy.

John Saxon played Lt. Ken Fuller (Saxon was a last-minute fill-in actor, replacing  Edmond O’Brien, who had to bow out because of his Alzheimer’s and his physically frail health). Saxon saved the film by taking his role days before BLACK was slated to begin production; if he had not, the movie would not have been made.

A holiday season perennial for this cineaste, BLACK is one of my all-time favorite horror flicks, a landmark work that elevated the genre with little, if any, gore, strong character-based writing and equally believable acting, a dark but humorous tone and cinematography, and twisty ending (which later became a cliché, but in 1974 was a fresh plot-pretzel finish).

Lee Hays wrote a now-out-of-print novelization of BLACK, published in 1976. I read that it delved deeper into the characters and had more plot development. If you find it at a reasonable price, you might want to consider purchasing it.

IMDb says that Elvis Presley supposedly loved BLACK and made it an annual tradition to watch it every Christmas. (Cool, if true.) Presley died in August 1977.