{ "id": "epqbbzmen3", "slug": "planet-of-the-vampires", "title": "Planet of the Vampires", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.science-fiction-horror-films", "label": "Science fiction horror films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.science-fiction-horror-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio) is Mario Bava's 1965 Italian-Spanish sci-fi horror film about astronauts on planet Aura whose dead crewmates are reanimated by disembodied aliens, based on Renato Pestriniero's story and a cited influence on Alien.", "snippet": "Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio) is Mario Bava's 1965 Italian-Spanish sci-fi horror film about astronauts on planet Aura whose dead crewmates are reanimated by disembodied aliens, based on Renato Pestriniero's story and a cited influence on Alien.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.science-fiction-horror-films", "markdown": "# Planet of the Vampires\n\n**Planet of the Vampires** (Italian: *Terrore nello spazio*, \"Terror in Space\") is a 1965 science fiction horror film directed by [Mario Bava](https://www.edgepedia.org/mario-bava), in which the crews of two spaceships land on a hostile planet whose invisible inhabitants take over human bodies to escape their dying world. It was an Italian-Spanish-American co-production, produced by Fulvio Lucisano, and it is best known today as a widely cited visual and narrative influence on [Ridley Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/ridley-scott)'s *[Alien](https://www.edgepedia.org/alien-film)* (1979).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) • [2](https://csi.asu.edu/calendar/events/history-of-the-future-planet-of-the-vampires/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Terrore nello spazio*; released in Madrid in April 1966 as *Terror en el espacio*; also known as *Planet of Blood*[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) |\n| Director and writers | Mario Bava; screenplay by Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Román, Rafael J. Salvia, and Ib Melchior, from Renato Pestriniero's short story \"One Night of 21 Hours\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) |\n| Lead cast | Barry Sullivan as Capt. Mark Markary, Norma Bengell as Sanya, Ángel Aranda as Wess[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/planet_of_the_vampires) |\n| Release | Opened in Rome in October 1965; running times of different versions range from about 86 to 100 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) |\n| Source | Bava bought the film rights to Pestriniero's story, published in the 1960 Italian sci-fi anthology magazine *Oltre il Cielo*, before any production deal was secured[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/) |\n| Box office | The US release as *Planet of the Vampires* recouped $251,000 against a budget of $200,000[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/) |\n| Legacy | Frequently cited as an important influence on *Alien* (1979) and later genre films[2](https://csi.asu.edu/calendar/events/history-of-the-future-planet-of-the-vampires/) • [5](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2024/07/planet-of-the-vampires/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nTwo sister spaceships, the Argos commanded by Captain Mark Markary and the Galliot commanded by Captain Sallas, travel to the mysterious planet Aura to investigate a strange distress transmission.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059792/plotsummary/) During the descent, gravity increases and the automatic controls fail; the Galliot crashes, and the crew of the Argos, after losing consciousness during landing, briefly turn violently on one another as if possessed by a will other than their own.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059792/plotsummary/) • [4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nA landing party from the Argos searches for the Galliot's crew and finds two of them dead, locked in a bloody embrace as if they had killed each other. The survivors soon discover that the same killing frenzy took hold of the Argos's own crew, and that the graves of their fallen comrades are opening as the dead are reanimated.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/) • [7](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/planet-of-the-vampires-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) Markary and his first officer Sanya track the repeating signal to a crashed alien ship of unknown origin, built to a larger-than-human scale, with the colossal skeleton of its pilot slumped at the central controls.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nThe explanation is that Aura is populated by disembodied beings who need host bodies so they can leave the planet and conquer Earth; like zombies, the dead crew rise and kill off the search team.[8](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/planet-of-the-vampires/umc.cmc.3navxn91ykczyfb1i0w7k41ew) The aliens are described in the film as a \"breed of parasites,\" and the takeover works not as biological infection but as a seizure of consciousness, with the aliens inhabiting the unconscious and the recently deceased.[9](https://www.horrorweekly.com/p/hw364) • [10](https://www.outoflives.net/2025/01/21/how-sixties-italian-film-planet-of-the-vampires-influenced-alien/) Despite the English title, the film contains no vampires in the traditional sense; reviewers have noted that \"Planet of the Body Snatchers\" would have described it more accurately.[11](https://letterboxd.com/gahannajd/film/planet-of-the-vampires/)\n\n## Production\n\nMario Bava was so impressed by Pestriniero's story *Una notte di 21 ore* that he bought the film rights directly from the author before any production deal had been secured. By 1964 he was developing a script under the title *The Shadow World* with the American writer Ib Melchior, who had written and directed *[The Angry Red Planet](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-angry-red-planet)* (1959). The script then passed across the desks of half a dozen writers during development.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nThe film was shot in Rome at Cinecittà Studios, on what was then one of the largest soundstages in Europe, with interiors of the spacecraft and part of the planet's surface constructed there. Because of budget constraints, all the visual effects were mechanical or achieved in camera. The single spaceship model used for both the Argos and the Galliot was designed by Bava and built by his special effects technician Carlo Rambaldi; the descent through Aura's thick atmosphere was filmed by submerging the model in a large aquarium and releasing colored powders under colored lighting. The bubbling mud of the planet's surface was created with pots of polenta cooking on hidden camping stoves.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nRambaldi also constructed the film's extraterrestrial skeletons; he later created the greys for *Close Encounters of the Third Kind* (1977) and won Academy Awards for his work on *King Kong* (1976) and *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* (1982), as well as designing the head of the xenomorph for *Alien*.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/) The score by Gino Marinuzzi Jr. combined manipulated real-world sounds, electronic tones, white noise generators, and traditional instruments used unconventionally, so that the ambience of the ship interiors and the planet's surface became part of the music.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nThe production was funded as an international co-production among Castilla Cinematográfica Cooperativa, Italian International Film, and American International Productions, with [American International Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-international-pictures) as distributor. The key cast members did not share a common language; lines were delivered in English where possible and all were dubbed in post-production, which contributed to the sparse, functional dialogue.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) • [4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/) The film also marks the first collaboration between Mario Bava and his son Lamberto Bava, who served as assistant director.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059792/)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe film opened in Rome in October 1965 as *Terrore nello spazio* with a running time of about 100 minutes, and in Madrid in April 1966 as *Terror en el espacio* at 88 minutes; the American release ran 86 minutes according to the AFI catalog, and the Cannes festival record lists 90 minutes for the restored version.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) • [13](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/terrore-nello-spazio/) On initial release it was not a major hit in Italy, fared marginally better in Spain, and recouped its meager budget in the United States.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nCritical attention later focused on the film's visual style rather than its script. Reviewers describe Bava's use of vibrantly colored lights, evocative set and model designs, and in-camera effects as giving the low-budget film more atmosphere per frame than many larger productions; one academic assessment concludes that its compelling visuals and atmospheric mise en scène triumph over a banal script and primitive special effects.[14](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/planet-of-the-vampires-blu-ray-review-mario-bava/) • [15](https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/12966/1/Triaging%20the%20Academy%20%28Reassessment%20April%202023%29.pdf) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 71% Tomatometer from 14 reviews against a 52% audience score, a split in critics' favor.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/planet_of_the_vampires) • [16](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/17921)\n\n## Influence and restoration\n\nThe film is frequently cited as an important influence on Ridley Scott's *Alien* (1979). The parallels are concrete: both feature a spaceship responding to a signal from an alien planet, and both feature strange dead aliens and their derelict spacecraft; in Planet of the Vampires, Markary escapes with Sanya and Wess, then realizes his companions have been vampirized by the Aurans, who prepare to land on Earth, an ending not shared by Alien.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES) The image of a colossal alien skeleton at the controls of a vast derelict ship was later reused for a similarly memorable moment in *Alien*.[5](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2024/07/planet-of-the-vampires/) • [4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/) Commentators have also traced its impact on [Tobe Hooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/tobe-hooper)'s *Lifeforce* and on later films such as *Inseminoid* and *Titan Find*.[17](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Planet_of_The_Vampires/Review) • [5](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2024/07/planet-of-the-vampires/) The film is also an early example of the zombie as an alien contagion, predating the suggestion in [George A. Romero](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-a-romero)'s *Night of the Living Dead* (1969) that a space probe brought back the plague.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\nA restoration by CSC-Cineteca Nazionale, made in collaboration with Italian International Film, was presented at the Torino Film Festival in November 2015, and the film was shown in the Cannes Classics restored-prints program in 2016.[18](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/il-restauro-della-cineteca-nazionale-di-terrore-nello-spazio-di-mario-bava-e-stato-presentato-il-27-novembre-al-torino-film-festival-e-replicato-il-28-in-versione-accessibile-a-non-vedenti-e-non/) • [13](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/terrore-nello-spazio/) A later 4K restoration scanned from the original 35mm Eastmancolor negatives was overseen by Lamberto Bava, the film's assistant director.[4](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Planet of the Vampires (1965), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22873-PLANET-OF-THE-VAMPIRES)\n2. [History of the Future: Planet of the Vampires, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University](https://csi.asu.edu/calendar/events/history-of-the-future-planet-of-the-vampires/)\n3. [Planet of the Vampires, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/planet_of_the_vampires)\n4. [Planet of the Vampires (1965), Frame Rated, Remy Dean, 15 May 2024](https://www.framerated.co.uk/planet-of-vampires-1965/)\n5. [Planet of the Vampires, Blueprint: Review, Justin Richards, 4 July 2024](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2024/07/planet-of-the-vampires/)\n6. [Planet of the Vampires (1965), Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059792/plotsummary/)\n7. [Planet of the Vampires (1965) Film Review, Eye For Film, Jennie Kermode](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/planet-of-the-vampires-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)\n8. [Planet of the Vampires, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/planet-of-the-vampires/umc.cmc.3navxn91ykczyfb1i0w7k41ew)\n9. [Planet of the Vampires (1965), Horror Weekly](https://www.horrorweekly.com/p/hw364)\n10. [How Sixties Italian Film Planet of the Vampires Influenced Alien, Out Of Lives](https://www.outoflives.net/2025/01/21/how-sixties-italian-film-planet-of-the-vampires-influenced-alien/)\n11. [Planet of the Vampires review by Jim Dooley, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/gahannajd/film/planet-of-the-vampires/)\n12. [Planet of the Vampires (1965), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059792/)\n13. [Terrore nello spazio (Planet of the Vampires), Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/terrore-nello-spazio/)\n14. [Planet of the Vampires Blu-ray Review, Slant Magazine, Budd Wilkins, 15 August 2022](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/planet-of-the-vampires-blu-ray-review-mario-bava/)\n15. [Triaging the Academy (Reassessment April 2023), University of Worcester](https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/12966/1/Triaging%20the%20Academy%20%28Reassessment%20April%202023%29.pdf)\n16. [Planet of the Vampires (1965), Horror Movie Tracker](https://thehorrormovietracker.com/movie/17921)\n17. [Planet of the Vampires/Review, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Planet_of_The_Vampires/Review)\n18. [Il restauro della Cineteca Nazionale di \"Terrore nello spazio\", Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/il-restauro-della-cineteca-nazionale-di-terrore-nello-spazio-di-mario-bava-e-stato-presentato-il-27-novembre-al-torino-film-festival-e-replicato-il-28-in-versione-accessibile-a-non-vedenti-e-non/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Science fiction horror films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Planet of the Vampires\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Planet of the Vampires](https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires](https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Planet of the Vampires\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/planet-of-the-vampires. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Planet of the Vampires is Mario Bava's 1965 Italian-Spanish sci-fi horror film about astronauts on planet Aura whose dead crewmates are reanimated by disembodied aliens, based on Renato Pestriniero's story and a cited influence on Alien." }