Queen of Blood

Queen of Blood (1956)
AIP Production #6521

Jeff and Cheryl travel to Mars to bring home an otherworldly vampire in Queen of Blood.

Produced by George Edwards
Written and Directed by Curtis Harrington

John Saxon as Allan Brenner
Basil Rathbone as Dr. Farraday
Judi Meredith as Laura James
Dennis Hopper as Paul Grant
Florence Marly as Alien Queen
Robert Boon as Anders Brockman
Don Eitner as Tony Barrata
Forrest Ackerman as Farraday's aide

A Cinema West Production
An AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL Picture 

View the Queen of Blood trailer here 

Visit our website - https://aippod.com/ and follow the American International Podcast on Letterboxd, Instagram and Threads @aip_pod and on Facebook at facebook.com/AmericanInternationalPodcast 

Our open and close includes clips from the following films/trailers: How to Make a Monster (1958), The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962), I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), High School Hellcats (1958), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), The Wild Angels (1966), It Conquered the World (1956), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), and Female Jungle (1955) 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
When technology reaches the perfection of interplanetary commuting and daring astronauts are venturing beyond to far distant galaxies,

(00:08):
scientists will still be searching for the mysteries of the unknown.
We have amazing news for you. It turns out they landed on Phobos.
Who’s they? The astronauts are the other planet. The rescue ship landed here and one of them is alive.
You understand how important it is to keep her well and to bring her back with you safely.
What evil power pulsates the strange ovum the queen is trying to smuggle to earth.

(00:33):
We can't let these creatures breed on earth.
Alan, that's not for us to decide.
Queen of Blood.
A tantalizing, mystifying enigma.
She's gorged herself of fresh blood. She's a monster.
We have a good supply of blood plasma with us.
We’ll use that to feed her. And if we run out of plasma, Commander?

(00:57):
We're not talking about actors. We mean a real monster. I brought her back.
She'll live and I'll get her another body.
I’ know they’re gonna catch me, but don't let anyone see me like that! Please, Doctor! Help me!
Biologically speaking, it's a primary importance that man should want to mate.
Hey, that's right!
You don't get all your kicks from surfing, do you?

(01:20):
We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man.
And we want to get loaded.
You think you're going to make a slave of the world?
I'll see you in Hell first!
The American International Podcast.
Are you ready?
Welcome to the American International Podcast. My name is Jeff Markin.

(01:41):
My name is Cheryl Lightfoot.
And today we're going to mix a little horror in with our sci-fi as we discuss Queen of Blood from 1966.
Queen of Blood was directed by Curtis Harrington from a screenplay by Curtis Harrington.
Based on the film, A Dream Come True by Mikhail Karyukov and Otar Koberidze.
Produced by George Edwards and Stephanie Rothman for Cinema West Productions.
Queen of Blood stars John Saxon as Allan Brenner, Basil Rathbone as Dr. Farraday,

(02:06):
Judi Meredith as Laura James,
Dennis Hopper as Paul Grant, Florence Marly as the alien Queen.
It also stars Robert Boon as Commander Anders Brockman.
Don Eitner as Tony Barrata,
Virgil Frye as a control panel worker,
Robert Porter as another control panel worker,
and Terry Lee as the final control panel worker,
along with Forest Ackerman as Farraday's aid.

(02:28):
Queen of Blood starts with credits over a series of paintings.
The paintings are very trippy. There's colorful blobs that sort of resemble life forms of some kind.
And the credits tell us that those were painted by John Klein.
You'll see here some ominous music playing.
And then an announcer tells us the advanced year that we're going to find ourselves in 1990.

(02:49):
He goes on to tell us that the problem of traveling to the Moon has been solved for many years.
Space stations have been built there and authorized personnel come and go as they wish.
But the Moon is dead world,
and the great question about space still remains. Does life exist on other planets?
To seek an answer to this question,
the major powers of the world have been actively preparing at the International Institute

(03:11):
of Space Technology to explore the planets Venus and Mars.
And now we go there.
You see a bunch of people in puffy and airy jackets and off-white and century 21 gold milling about.
They're at the Institute and Allan Brenner is one such near-rue wearer.
He enters the institute to interrupt his girlfriend Laura's work,
deciphering and recording mysterious space noise.

(03:33):
He's ready to go to lunch.
This particular transmission she's working on has been assigned to her directly from Dr. Farraday
who seems to be the head of the Institute of Space Technology.
And it appears to have been picked up from beyond our galaxy.
It's different than anything they've picked up before.
And it's been coming for about three days.
Allan asks if it's a form of communication.
Laura's not sure.

(03:55):
Dr. Farraday and his team are in the process of trying to translate the tapes that she's made.
She gets up to leave and asks her assistant to keep an eye on her station.
She's auto recording now.
On her way out she says if it is an alien message,
this is the first contact man.
Yay.
And we find ourselves no longer on planet Earth.
We see strange alien landscapes and space station shots.

(04:17):
An alien vessel is man and prepares for a flight.
I call it woman because it's obvious that there's a woman in charge of this launch.
Speaking of launch, Laura is enjoying what appears to be a waffle.
And Allan is eating a banana split that looks like a stick of butter.
Not very appetizing all around.
And they bring bread and Paul grand join them at their table.

(04:38):
Well, they enjoy their beige lunch.
They joke about the terrible space child they'll be forced to eat once they launch.
Paul tells Allan and Laura that they're going to have to get used to this
because they're going to Mars, aren't they?
If and when says Allan,
Paul asks if there's been any news about that coming down.
Alan says he only knows what Laura tells him.
But she does get her info directly from Dr. Farraday.

(05:00):
And Laura says she has heard that excellent progress has been made on that radiation shield.
So they're just making small talk over lunch.
Then a voice comes over the loudspeaker.
Attention all personnel.
Please report to area one for an important announcement.
That means us says Allan.
Well, yeah, it would because all means all means all.
Yeah.
Now we're in some kind of courtyard, which is decorated by a giant stone Emmy award.

(05:23):
Dr. Farraday has a breakthrough to tell everyone about his team has finally decoded that alien message.
The aliens have dispatched an ambassador to Earth.
They believe that the atmospheric conditions will support their form of life, which is similar to our own.
Their launch or lift off should be happening right about now.
Everyone at the Institute is the first to hear about this, but soon the entire world will be awaiting their arrival with the keenest anticipation.

(05:47):
Then we're back on the alien ship for more views of what's going on in there.
Their admin music is playing and the spaceship is launched.
We don't spend a lot of time there, but it is really cool looking.
These visuals are outstanding probably the best thing in the whole movie.
Then we're back on Earth and the news is being reported to the rest of the world by a Big Giant Head.

(06:09):
It's kind of a dome with a television projection and no one can avoid looking at it or change the channel.
It's as big as a building.
Big Giant Head reports that a space telescope in California has spotted an unidentified object crossing the moon's orbit and heading to Earth.
But this isn't the craft.
The telescope device sent ahead by the aliens for reasons unknown.
A crowd watches it approach Earth and crash into the sea.

(06:31):
In a lab, a woman appears in a monitor asking a doctor if his report is ready.
He says yes and the alien ship had sent a visual log recording its entire flight.
So Dr. Farraday, followed by his aid, goes over to the lab where Laura is working.
And she plays back that visual recording.
We see the alien spacecraft crew look concerned.
And then put a helmet on a green woman sending her into some kind of escape pod.

(06:56):
Then their craft crashes into Mars apparently.
Message ends after playing the recording.
Laura asked Dr. Farraday if he thinks their ship was destroyed.
But Dr. Farraday doesn't think so.
He thinks there's an excellent chance that there were survivors.
Laura isn't so sure they haven't received any further messages in the last three days.
But Dr. Farraday attributes this to faulty equipment likely damaged in the crash.

(07:20):
They're probably up there just waiting for us to come and rescue them.
And Dr. Farraday is called to his office.
He says he has a press conference tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.
Not the press conference in front of the assembled United Nations of space.
Dr. Farraday announces that they must make every effort to help these aliens.
Farraday says they had scheduled a man flight tomorrow six months from now.
But now they're going to move that data to now.

(07:42):
So we also request the cooperation from all the other countries to help in making this possible.
To do that, they must get supplies to the moon.
So the next thing we see is a bunch of rockets launch and head out to well the moon.
And then we see some cool footage of people walking to the moon station lunar seven.
Inside we see more people are milling about.
This is the stock Russian footage that we get to see every once in a while.

(08:04):
But then we see some characters that we do recognize.
Laura James is there on lunar seven as well as Dr. Faraday.
Well, they get to come and go as they please.
So apparently it's no big deal.
Laura tells Farraday that she was hoping Alan Brenner would be on her flight.
But not this time.
The personnel for the flight has already been calculated by individuals weight and skill set.
And Allan Brenner will be sent over on a later flight on Oceano 2.

(08:27):
Dr. Farraday says that he did recommend Laura for this trip.
And Laura does her best to appear grateful.
Dr. Farraday as he always does gets summoned away.
And as he goes, he says he envies her.
Then Allan comes in and says that he just heard the news that he's not going.
Laura says she tried to talk Farraday into giving him an earlier flight, but no dice.
Brenner says that they knew that might happen in the two embrace.

(08:48):
Allan promises to take her dancing on Mars when he finally gets there.
Then Laura gets summoned away for a press interview and Allan expresses his pride in her.
Alan tells her to go out there and tell them who she is and where she came from.
Laura smiles as she goes out to meet her adoring public.
[Music]

(09:10):
As we see, a rocket is being prepared for lift off.
Dr. Farraday's control room, the countdown begins.
Some personnel with less to do than others, watch the launch through the window.
Alan is on the moon's surface and he gives a half-hearted salute as the rocket takes off.
Back to the control room, Commander Anders Brockman reports that,
Astronaut James, blacked out at launch, but was revived.

(09:32):
Dr. Farraday tells him to keep going as if he has a choice.
Paul, who we met at lunch, is also on this mission and he's recording into the log as Commander Anders Brockman looks on.
He commends Paul on a job well done.
Laura appears in the doorway and says in a southern accent,
"Maybe when we get to Earth, you can have that published and you'll be known as that famous Radar Astronaut fella."

(09:54):
Paul smiles, he'd never thought about that.
Probably because it was very dry and perfunctory log entry.
Then there's a loud buzzer and a blinking sign to announce that it's meal time.
Yay! Paul's excited, but only Laura wants to join him.
Commander Brockman is not hungry.
Paul and Laura start to leave, but an alarm goes off.
Commander Brockman says there's something wrong with the instruments.

(10:15):
Paul comes back and says he knows what this is. It's a sunburst.
The sunburst makes a sound like a Martian craft attacking in the 1953 film, "Wore of the Worlds."
But I mean, get a outside shot of the sun actually bursting, I guess.
The commander orders Paul and Laura to lower the visors on their helmets
and he does the same.
Paul is switching to auxiliary controls for some units.

(10:38):
Also, there appears to be lightning dancing on the surface of the ship.
Back in the control room on Lunar 7,
Dr. Farraday is getting antsy because they haven't heard from the crew in a while.
Alan is also there and he is concerned as well.
Half a second later, Laura's signal set.
She announces in a halting voice that they're trying to enter the orbit of Mars,
but their exterior instruments were damaged in the sunburst.

(10:59):
They're on emergency instruments only now, and then the line goes dead.
On the ship, Rockman checks on Paul. He's out.
Yes, if Laura's okay and she croaks out of yes,
Rockman calls for the oxygenation tablets and Laura has to fetch him some.
She takes a couple and shoves him in Paul's mouth with to revise him.
Paul says he's glad that the emergency equipment worked.

(11:20):
Rockman orders Paul to try to look for the alien ship and then he asks Laura to turn off the ultraviolet shields
and contact Lunar 7 to let them know that they survived.
As for the commander, he's going to check their fuel supply.
On Lunar 7, Faraday is concerned about that shuttle's fuel supply.
The accident took on more than they had accounted for.
They shouldn't have trouble landing, but the return trip will be touch and go.

(11:41):
Faraday tells Allan that they'll have to accelerate the launch of Oceano 2.
Just then, Laura's transmission comes through.
She tells Lunar 7 that they have located the interstellar vehicle and are readying to land.
They will transmit again when they reach the surface of Mars.
Now on Mars, Paul and Commander Brockman go out to explore.
They find the crash ship and the commander goes inside and looks around.

(12:03):
There are alien controls and they're in music.
There's always they're in music and space.
And he finds a dead being seated at the control panel.
News must have reached Earth because it's hit the papers.
Successful landing on Mars, alien spaceship discovered.
Single dead astronaut found on spacecraft, mystery deepens.
Tony and Alan go to see Faraday.
Alan wants to talk about the other aliens aboard the ship.

(12:25):
What happened to them? Where'd they go?
In an escape pod, blisters, Dr. Farraday, Alan's got a proposal.
They need satellites up there to find that other craft.
Yes, it's Dr. Farraday, but the Oceano 2 won't be ready for a what?
That's when Allan drops his bomb.
The spaceship meteor is ready now.
Tony and Paul want to take it up to launch those satellites.
Dr. Farraday says that the trip would use all the meteor's fuel.

(12:48):
There'd be none for the return trip.
Ah, Allan says we're not going to Mars.
We'll park on Phobos, one of Mars's moons, and launch the satellites from there.
And then we'll take the escape shuttle to the planet and fly home with the Oceano 1.
Farraday says it's clever, possible, but too risky.
Allan says they've made the calculations and he knows they can do it.
You read their fools or very brave men, says Farraday.

(13:11):
I'll see what can be arranged.
And it must have been arranged because the meteor is being launched.
On board the Oceano 1, Paul calls the meteor and asks if astronaut Brenner is available.
There's someone there who wants to talk to him.
However, Allan's busy releasing the observation satellites.
If you know what I mean, Tony recommends that they try again at 22:30.
From the console, Brockman excitedly calls Laura and Paul to come see the satellite.

(13:36):
And they go look as a tiny light circles a cartoon depiction of Mars.
They're impressed and I'm just wondering how they saw an exterior shot of the planet
that they are now sitting on.
They're seeing meteor touching down on Fobos by a reverse launching footage.
And Paul tells Allan that they'd better call Oceano.
Someone there wants to talk to him.
He videos asked for Laura James.

(13:57):
Laura answers that is an incorrect signal astronaut Brenner.
It seems to be the right signal for me astronaut James.
Allan flirtily replies.
Allan says that he thinks that they're fine, but they're going to go have a look around.
Brockman scolds them. They can't do that.
They have to leave Fobos in 32 minutes or they'll miss their launch window.
And the next one won't be for a week.
Laura says that there's a wind storm coming so that they really have to hurry.

(14:18):
Tony and Allan sign off, but Tony sees something outside the window.
Allan's not sure what that is, but says they better find out.
So Allan and Tony go out to investigate.
They find another craft and look around inside.
They see the same weird alien controls that the Oceano commander saw in the ship that he found.
And this time a female figure appears siloeted in a doorway and collapses.

(14:39):
Allan and Tony return to the meteor carrying the unconscious alien woman.
Laura's voice comes over the receiver.
She's been trying to reach them and they've only got 17 minutes left.
Allan and Tony set figure down in one of their chairs.
She's unconscious. She's also green.
Tony answers Laura's call with the amazing news about finding the alien.
They plan to load her on the rescue ship and bring her down.

(15:01):
Brockman reminds them that the rescue ship only holds two people.
Allan and Tony are startled by this, even though they already knew that.
Tony asked her a recommendation, but Alan kills the calm and tells Tony that they have to decide that.
And quick, it's now 16 minutes to go.
Alan says they have no other choice.
Only two people can ride the shuttle and she is the reason they came in the first place.
So Allan says he'll stay.

(15:22):
There's a chance Oceano to will make it in time for him.
Tony refuses to go, but Allan argues that they don't have time to argue.
If they miss the window, all three of them might die.
Tony says they should flip for it, but Allan only has paper moon money.
Luckily Tony has a lucky American coin.
He flips it. Allan calls heads.
Allan sees how it lands and gives Tony a look that tells us nothing.

(15:45):
On the Oceano 1, Laura is still trying to get through,
but Brockman tells her to stop and put up the radio.
Whoever is piloting that escape ship will need all their help to get through the windstorm.
You see the shuttle take off and fly towards Mars.
The winds are blowing fast on Mars' surface and the shuttle lands hard.
An astronaut carries the unconscious alien through the storm toward Oceano.
As he leaves, the ship is ready to go.

(16:08):
As he leaves, the shuttle explodes.
Classic.
On Oceano, we see the commander and Paul are suited up to go out and look for whoever is coming.
Even in the storm, he should be able to follow the Oceano's beacon.
They assure Laura they'll find them and be back soon.
We see Paul and Brockman onboarding on the Mars' surface.
Now we're back with whoever piloted the escape shuttle.
He lays down his alien cargo and falls into the dirt beside her.

(16:31):
Back on the Oceano one, Laura looks at the window as the storm rages.
The Oceano's hatch opens and Paul enters carrying the unconscious alien woman.
Laura is amazed.
She seems so human and yet not human at all says Laura.
"I know right," says Paul.

(16:52):
"It's like what would have happened to us if we had lived in another atmosphere."
He says the commander took her pulse and it's much stronger than humans would be if they were unconscious.
Then Laura asks who brought her.
The door slides open again.
It's Allan, followed by the commander.
Allan and Laura embrace.
Then Allan asks Brockman if he's sure there's not enough fuel to go get Tony.
But Brockman says no.

(17:13):
Brockman commands Laura to radio Lunar 7 and she does.
Brockman reports to Dr. Farraday that they have the alien astronaut.
Dr. Farraday says that they should be launching soon.
Brockman asks about Tony.
When will Oceano 2 be leaving?
Dr. Farraday says this week.
Tony will be fine if he rashes his food.
I looked up how long the trip from the moon to Mars takes.

(17:35):
It's 7 to 10 months.
Do you think they really brought that much food?
Well, it's currently 7 to 10 months.
In this 1990, their technology is somewhat more advanced than ours.
It doesn't mean that the distance is any less though.
It might mean they can go faster.
Through a wormhole, maybe.
And your planetary travel? Yeah.
Allan takes the comm and calls the meteor.

(17:58):
Tony isn't around to take the call though.
Alan becomes frantic.
But Tony eventually comes in and answers.
He was out gathering soil samples.
He's going to set up a lab and keeping himself busy while he's waiting to be rescued.
Alan tells Tony the good news.
The Oceano 2 will be launching soon to rescue him.
But not to eat too much in the meantime.
Tony says he won't.

(18:19):
Then Allan says that we got a blast off.
So over and out.
Tony resigns himself to his Matt
Damon-like existence.
Maybe he'll learn to grow potatoes.
On Oceano, the alien being is coming too.
This alien has blue eyes and a sliced smile.
She locks eyes with Paul and he smiles a little too.
She sees Brockman and smiles even more.

(18:41):
And sees Allan and her smile gets very big indeed.
Maybe she even drools a little.
Alan looks disgusted.
But when she sees Laura, she gets a very sour look on her face.
Brockman announces that they got a go.
He gives everyone their orders, but assigns Paul babysitting duties.
He was going to ask the woman to do it of course.
But he saw the alien's reaction to another woman.
So now the logical choice is to have Paul do it.

(19:04):
And then the alien sprinkles us into a fade out.
So later, Paul is sipping water from a hamster bottle,
trying to teach the visitor how to drink.
Brockman and Allan are playing battleship.
She's a quick learner.
When he takes a straw from his mouth,
she has no qualms about putting it into hers.
Gross woman, that's Dennis Hopper.
And he tries to teach her to eat.
He bites into a liver snap to show her how it's done,

(19:26):
but she turns her head like a stubborn toddler
when he weighs it in front of her lips.
Paul tells Brockman that eating isn't working for her.
And Brockman reminds Paul that she likely has a very different physical structure than theirs.
She may only be accustomed to liquid nourishment.
He goes on to note that her skin has a greenish hue
and she may be more plant-like than animal.
Brockman says he'd like to get a blood sample from her
to examine under a microscope

(19:47):
and hypodermic needle is prepared.
Paul takes her arm and while she's distracted,
preps the syringe.
But the second she sees it, she reacts violently.
When he comes out of her a second time,
she smacks it out of his hand.
Laura volunteers to go get another hypod,
but Brockman says no.
She's not just afraid of needles.
There's something else to play here.
Perhaps she has a very low threshold for pain,
or perhaps any trails off.

(20:10):
Then he says she's the most valuable scientific specimen ever.
And we've got to keep her safe until we get her to earth
where their scientists can poke at her.
The sleep buzzer sounds and everybody but Paul gets to go.
Paul is going to mind the controls,
but Brockman tells him to leave out some milk bones.
She may be hungry enough to eat them later.
So Paul is at the controls, leaving a log entry.
He says he's noticed something about their visitor.

(20:32):
She has, and he stops.
Did he see something down the corridor?
He looks again.
There doesn't seem to be anything there.
Paul runs out into the room where the visitor had been left
and the chair is empty.
He looks around the ship.
Laura is asleep in her bunk.
Suddenly, the visitor is behind him.
She grabs it and he turns around and finds himself staring
into her glowing eyes.

(20:54):
After sleep period ends, Brockman wakes and calls out for Paul.
He notices him asleep in a chair and goes to wake him,
but Paul's unresponsive.
Brockman shakes Paul and Paul slumps over in the chair.
Brockman cries out for Alan and Laura.
Paul's dead.
How?
Ask Alan.
Brockman sends Laura to check on their passenger.
Then Brockman lifts Paul's arm and finds a gaping open wound on Paul's wrist.

(21:18):
Laura goes into the other room and screams.
Alan and Brockman drop Paul back into his chair and run to Laura.
They abandon Paul and run to see the alien asleep with a tiny dribble of blood on her lips.
Brockman declares that now they know how she feeds.
Alan says she's a monster.
Brockman notices how deeply she sleeps.
She's digesting all that blood, the way a bow constrictor digests an animal that has swallowed.

(21:42):
And she may remain this way for two to three days.
He channels Spock and declares this fascinating.
Fascinating?
It's horrible, says Alan.
We ought to destroy her right now, but Brockman says no.
She's much too precious for that.
Besides, how can we expect her to conform to our ideas of proper behavior?
She's not necessarily aware that she's done wrong, wrong from our point of view that is.

(22:04):
So much for a crew solidarity.
Laura says, but she's from a highly evolved planet.
Technologically, yes, says Brockman, but their social structure may not be as enlightened.
Perhaps she's sociologically more akin to an insect, one that kills human beings, growls Alan.
Brockman says that they wouldn't feed on human beings on their planet.
They would probably feed on lower life forms the way that humans do.

(22:28):
And if there isn't such a difference between blood and rare beef steak.
That kind of is.
So what are we going to do, ask Alan?
Take turns being fed upon.
Brockman suggests feeding her their stash of blood plasma, and maybe that will keep her from eating them.
Back on the moon, lunar seven is receiving Laura's message on the death of Paul Grant.
Dr. Faraday wants details and Laura tells him that the cause of death was loss of blood,

(22:50):
and it appears the passenger had bet on him.
Dr. Faraday inquires into how they are proceeding.
Laura tells him the passenger is sleeping and appears to only eat in intervals.
And the F plasma ready for her when that time comes.
And Laura reminds her that bringing the specimen back alive is a fun most importance.
And Laura says that Commander Brockman has already made that abundantly clear.

(23:13):
Faraday says to use protocol 82 to dispose of Paul's body and to call back in a day.
After the transmission ends, he strolls around the room and tells the man that the story doesn't leave the room.
He assigns one of them to notify Paul's next of kin that he died in the line of duty.
Cause or causes unknown.
Paul is being removed from the ship.
He's wrapped in a blue hefty bag.

(23:36):
The hatch opens and Brockman dumps the body in the airlock.
Laura reads some scripture.
Amen.
Brockman nods at Alan and Alan blows the body out the airlock.
And Brockman says, "Into the waste of outer space.
It's a fitting grave for an astronaut."
Brockman sends Laura off to check the autopilot.
And then confesses that the pilot is in the airlock.

(23:57):
Brockman sends Laura off to check the autopilot.
And then confesses to Alan and then he needs some exercise.
Alan wants to tie the alien up, but Brockman insists that she'll not be a danger if she doesn't get hungry.
He starts pulling some spring-loaded strap things off the wall.
The mildest form of exercise that I can imagine.
Alan wonders if they shouldn't restrain or lock up that thing.
But Brockman doesn't think it's necessary.

(24:19):
Alan says he's concerned that there was no sign of a struggle.
Brockman, who can't resist an opportunity to speak authoritatively on something he knows nothing about,
she probably attacked him in his sleep.
Alan thinks he would have waken to defend himself.
Brockman says Vapire Bats release a kind of anesthetic in their saliva when they bite.
He suspects she has a similar process.
Anyway, drained of blood, Paul could do nothing.
Alan looks stupified, but knows better than to argue anymore.

(24:42):
Later, Brockman and Laura are providing the passenger some plasma from their health rations.
The passenger sips it up.
Brockman says that they have enough to keep her happy for a while.
His crew will be safe and they'll bring back a healthy specimen for examination.
Laura asks what happens if they run out of plasma.
Brockman says in that case, they shall each have to take turns in contributing to her well-being.

(25:04):
Laura looks astonished.
Brockman admits that this sounds ghoulish, but is it so different than a passenger who needs frequent transfusions?
Meanwhile, the alien is gulping down her crystal blood.
And now some time is passed.
Captain's log.
They've been okay so far, but the plasma supplies are now expended.
From now on, it'll be necessary to...

(25:25):
He trails off when he sees the passenger standing in the corridor, or does he?
Yes, he does. No.
Brockman picks up a gun, but drops it when he finds himself looking into the passenger's glowing eyes.
Well, three years, she was wearing a red bodysuit when they found her.
And now she's wearing a glittery green bodysuit, which is meant to signify that she's naked,

(25:46):
but she's not. We'll talk about that more later.
She turns on her high beams, and he is lost in her glowing eyes.
Next, we see Alan tying up the passenger to a bunk.
Having fed she's back in her deep sleep phase.
Look at it, says Alan, gorge with human blood.
Disgusting. Makes me sick even to look at her.
Laura doesn't understand how Brockman could have fallen asleep while working the controls.

(26:08):
Alan is convinced he didn't fall asleep, and neither did Paul for that matter.
Alan thinks she's doing something.
He doesn't know what a kind of hypnosis, some strange mental power that humans don't have.
Laura is for the first time afraid.
Alan tells her not to worry.
They'll make it back to Earth with their loaded tic specimen.
From Lunar 7, Dr. Faraday is informing the remaining crew of Oceano of the plant.

(26:33):
The air to keep Commander Brockman's body on board has they may want to perform an autopsy later.
No fitting grave in the waste of space for astronaut Brockman.
Faraday tells him that they shall head to Earth and set up orbit there.
Upon arriving, they should change frequency to that of the space institute.
Faraday will head to Earth almost instantly to meet them when they arrive.
He ends communication and turns to control panel.

(26:56):
Faraday tells his control panel crew member that things are going very badly on that ship indeed.
Back on the ship, Alan is alone reading.
Once again, Laura is asleep.
The queen awakens.
She sees that she's tied down. She uses her laser eyes to set fire to the ropes confining her.
She passes by Laura who wakes from the smell of burnt rope maybe.
Laura starts looking around and sees that the controls aren't being manned.

(27:18):
She spends an agonizingly long time looking around.
She further looks around and after hearing sucking noises, finds the visitor huddle over Alan's body.
The visitor turns to look at Laura, licking the blood from her lips.
Laura grabs the visitor and pulls her up.
The queen, now back in her glittery green bodysuit, stands to grab for Laura.
Laura bats her hands away.

(27:40):
The queen gasps and reaches for her neck.
There's a few drops of green blood on her fingers.
Ow!
She turns and we see a shot of her now naked back with three scratch marks, all bleeding.
The creature screams and runs off to another part of the ship.
Alan moans and Laura tends to him.
She got to me, didn't she?
As Laura wraps his arm, she tells Alan what happened.

(28:01):
Alan ensures Laura he's fine, he's going to go look for the alien being.
He finds her in her bunk, face down.
Those three scratches have left a small green puddle on the floor next to her.
It looks like she has a leaky radiator.
Alan tells Laura not to come closer, she's dead.
And now, you know why she didn't want to give a blood sample?
All Laura did was scratch her and she bled to death, so she must be a hemophilia.

(28:24):
Then Alan surprises that perhaps she was some sort of royalty, but she came from a queen maybe.
Big leap there, but okay.
We see Oceano approaching Earth's orbit.
Alan and Laura are in their full space suits.
Alan's pleasantly surprised that they had enough fuel to get there.
Laura looks around and is unpleasantly surprised to see some glistening red eggs pulsating in a storage shelf.

(28:45):
This all makes sense to Alan.
Maybe this is how their society is set up, he says.
A queen who does all the breeding, he wants to destroy the eggs.
But Laura says the whole purpose of the mission was to bring back something alive and well, they'll keep them under control.
Oh honey.
Laura opens a caravan says well, it's too late anyway.
Just as Laura suspected, the alien had hidden the eggs all over the ship.

(29:06):
Alan supposes they'll have to take this ship apart piece by piece and have it fumigated.
They opened the door to the shift and Dr. Faire Day rushes in, followed by Fory.
Alan breathlessly tells Faire Day about the infestation of eggs.
But Faire Day is delighted.
Alan says they must be destroyed.
And Faire Day says they'll make that assessment after they see what they've got here.
Alan continues to try to warn Faire Day that they're deadly and Faire Day appreciates the warning,

(29:30):
but asserts to Alan that he's a professional.
And he has his men start to remove the samples.
Well, I tried says Alan.
They're scientists Alan.
They know what they're doing says Laura.
Alan says let's go touch Earth and feel the sunshine on our faces.
And the two are cheered as they exit.
And Faire Day's men start hauling out their specimens.
One has the creature's helmet and uniform.

(29:52):
Another carries out the queen's body.
And Faire Day's aid comes out with a tray of alien eggs served in a bed of lime jello.
And then we see another credit scene complete with video images of the main cast.
Informing us that Florence Marley played question mark.
And that's the end.
This is the American International podcast where we're discussing queen of blood from 1966.

(30:21):
Roger Carmen hired Curtis Harrington to write and direct queen of blood.
According to Harrington speaking to video watchdog,
Carmen's name is not attached to the film because Harrington used a non-union crew to produce.
So his contract with IETSE meant he couldn't associate his name with the film.
Harrington said Carmen made quite a few films this way.
We know blood was made using special effects from the Soviet films.

(30:42):
Match day, not stretching a dream come true and Nebo Zoviat battle beyond the sun.
Harrington says Carmen, quote, "Why didn't me to write a completely new framing story to use all that technical footage of a rocket flying through outer space landing on another planet and all that.
I then proceeded to write a script and created the idea of an outer space vampire light creature."
All the special effects footage, the rocket, the landing on the planet Mars, people from another planet,

(31:07):
hurtling through outer space in a very strange spaceship, came from that Soviet film.
My story was totally different to the Soviet story.
Harrington estimated that 70% of the film was his. Many years later, he said it was 90%.
I think that's about right. Harrington said he the source films very carefully so he could exactly match the spacesuits worn by the American actors to those worn in the Russian films.
He also scouted the outdoor location to find a building in Los Angeles that most closely matched the exterior seen in the original film.

(31:34):
Harrington used some of his friends to help populate the shots filmed outside the International Institute of Space Technology.
We know blood was shot in major studios in downtown Los Angeles, back to back with foys to the prehistoric planet, also a reworked Russian film.
Basil Rathbone starred in both films, shooting for a total of two days and splitting his $6,000 fee between the two.
Harrington said that Queen of Blood had a budget of $50,000.

(31:57):
We're getting all this from the same video watchdog interview.
Harrington says the sets were not ready on the first day of filming because, quote, "Roger had hired a bunch of hippies, set set decorators and they were stoned all the time."
Harrington said that they were talented, they were just high.
When Basil Rathbone arrived for the first day of filming, producer George Edwards had to use his body to shield the unfinished sets from Rathbone as Harrington tried to distract him with an offer of lunch.

(32:19):
Harrington wanted to add some shiny silver accents to the panels and columns on the control room set.
But rather than glue the back of the wallpaper before applying it, the crew mistakenly applied the glue to the columns and walls before adding the shiny silver paper.
It was impossible to get all of the air bubbles smoothed down. They showed up in some shots.
Yeah, I saw those.
In another giveaway, we saw some Russian imagery on the side of the rockets being used.

(32:44):
In the film, the space vampire paralyzes her victim with her glowing eyes.
Harrington told an interview that the effect of the vampire's glowing eyes was achieved by directing pencil thin beams of light into Florence Marley's eyes.
Harrington had cast Dennis Hopper in his film Night Tide and chosen for Queen of Blood because it would be one less problem it had to deal with on a six day schedule.
And it was an easy way for a struggling young actor to make a little money for a couple days work.

(33:07):
John Saxon said in an interview with Ungawa Magazine that, quote, "He took the film seriously, at least while on camera. Then it's had a hard time doing even that."
Roger Korman had to be talked into using the 40-something Chekkel's Valkyrie and actress Florence Marley as the Queen. He had envisioned a much younger woman.
Korman said that after he saw the finished film, he agreed that Harrington was right about Marley.

(33:29):
A.P.s press book for Queen of Blood gives a name to the alien Queen, Valana, which has not heard it any time during the movie.
Queen of Blood was released in the United States in March 1966 on a double bill with Bloodbath.
A.P.s press book recommended staging a Queen of Blood contest with women dining lipstick and pressing the lips to a special entry form provided by the theater or a local radio station.

(33:50):
The judges would then pick the most evil-looking set of lips based on their own criteria, I assume.
And award the winning Queen a list of prizes that they suggested include a blood transfusion or a black cat.
The people just randomly get blood transfusions back on the 60s.
It's my lucky day.
I wouldn't mind getting a black cat book.
To promote the double feature, A.P.s suggested Tyance focusing on the word blood shared by both titles.

(34:15):
These could include checking the blood pressure of all the attendees to make sure they were healthy enough to view both features, organizing a blood drive and dressing the theater in blood red lighting, lettering and dripping blood accents.
Tagline's trick Queen of Blood include a new high in blood chilling horror.
From outer space she came seeking blood.
A woman from another world and a secret she carried with her.

(34:37):
Hittiest beyond belief with an inhuman craving.
A space-aged story, chilling as nothing you've ever seen.
The review on box office magazine said the film admirably contains a combination of outer world drama and horror that should make it a must-see for audiences known to appreciate both entertainment elements.
And said the pate color tones elevate this release out of the ho-hum category.

(34:58):
The reviewer also had high praise for Basil Rathbone's performance, saying he makes every moment he's on screen count in the accepted tradition of the leading man performance.
Renata Adler of the New York Times didn't review the film until 1969 when she saw it on a double bill with three in the attic saying we know blood had a much more likely plot.
Sam Hoffman's review in the Springfield Massachusetts Republican spoiled the ending of Queen of Blood and said.

(35:21):
The film isn't the best science fiction to be seen but it does have some entertainment merit.
Performances and other production values are all good and the use of color helps highlight the scenes.
Richard Hammrich in a Springfield union said we know blood shows a relatively small amount of blood though one of the central characters not only lives on blood but also is a hemophilia he concludes saying science fiction fans may enjoy the tricky ending which while satisfactorily bringing the plot to a conclusion opens the way for a sequel.

(35:50):
Bill Hayden in the Wilmington Delaware News Journal reviewed both movies on the bill saying.
The blood twins come from American international studios which should know better they are reminiscent of the studios early days when it was grinding out grade X quickies and scrambling for money since that time it is apparently acquired coo and set up its repertoire company to make lavish harmless color beach party pictures for the team market.

(36:11):
In a letter written into video watchdog in 1993 by the director Fred Olen Ray claimed that Queen of Blood producer George Edwards was in possession of a script for a sequel to Queen of Blood written by Robert Aiken titled Blood Creature.
In the early 1970s a 16 millimeter sequel to Queen of Blood was produced was written by Florence Marley and called space boy the film was directed by Austrian artist Renata Drugs and was nominated for a grand prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

(36:37):
Stuart Thompson played the title character and Marley returned as a Vellana.
The film was then remade by Columbus Ohio filmmaker Mike Olenick in 2009.
Maybe we should get a hold of that. Queen of Blood has been said to be one of the sci-fi films that influenced alien Chris Harrington said the similarities in Queen of Blood are actually much stronger than those in other films the way the alien is found the fact that it's a female eating off the crew laying eggs in every hidden area throughout the ship.

(37:05):
I once mentioned a whole list of similarities to Roger Corman and he's smile inside to me Curtis if you ever get a lawsuit rolling I'd be happy to make a statement on your behalf.
No suit was ever filed.
Errington said he had nothing to gain from such a procedure.
Errington said that Roger Corman promised him a $1,000 bonus at the film went into profit and the producer honored this albeit after some prompting on December 1st 2003.

(37:29):
We know blood was featured at the such as film festival in Spain.
Well Cheryl we've discussed with some of the critics thought of Queen of Blood.
I'm interested to hear your take on this film.
Are you really?
I enjoyed this movie.

(37:50):
I thought visually it was very stunning and a lot of that came from the Russian footage which at some point made me more interested in the Russian movie than this movie.
However, I thought the concept of a vampire and outer space was really interesting and I think at the time it was something that hadn't been seen a lot.
Pretty serrington said that he never saw the movie Planet of Vampires by Mario Bava so he didn't steal it from him.

(38:11):
I don't think.
And that was more of a zombie outbreak than a vampire outbreak wasn't it?
Yeah well maybe he just picked up the title.
I don't know.
I don't know which one came out first honestly.
There's not a lot of blood in Queen of Blood but what there is is used really well.
That shot when she turns around to Claire at Laura when she's caught sucking Alan's arm.

(38:33):
And there's blood on her teeth.
That's pretty graphic for what we see in these type of movies.
Yeah and it's genuinely eerie for that reason.
She looks delighted to be consuming this person.
However, when Laura first found her with blood on her mouth and screamed.
I mean there's literally like two little dribbles out either corner of her mouth.
It didn't seem worth screaming about.

(38:56):
No she might have just bit her tongue.
She didn't succumb to that hyper-demo-natal so they didn't know her blood was green.
Right.
It could have been her own blood.
Maybe the atmosphere is really dry in space and her lips dried out.
And that gashing Dennis Hopper's hand was done pretty well too.
It's pretty gory.
It is.
We just get a glimpse of Alan's of John Saxons wound but we get a good close up of Dennis Hopper's.

(39:19):
We never even see Brockman being attacked.
We just kind of see the part where it leads up to it.
And then he's dead and she's digesting.
The scenes on the ship and in the control panel were a little rote sci-fi.
It's just the element of having a vampire at play that made it more interesting than it would ordinarily be.
And I think a lot of that comes down to Florence Marley's performance.

(39:43):
She doesn't say a word in this entire movie but she conveys so much with her eyes in her weird smile
that it is genuinely scary.
At least to me it was.
Well she does come across as something not human while looking extremely human except for having green hair and.
Sort of shapes like a bulb of garlic.

(40:05):
Green at the top and white in the middle.
Apparently naked she has glittery green skin with a zipper in the back.
Unless you need a close up of her actually bleeding and then we see green makeup on her back.
They couldn't go full nude I guess.
Well how did you like it?
I wonder if the script wasn't unnecessarily complicated.

(40:26):
I what in the number of ships they have coming in going.
Possibly we never do find out what happens to Portoni stranded on the moon of Mars.
Well it's kind of a point they send up the meteor as a second attempt.
And then they have to get the Oceano to ready right away which I don't know that they were going to I guess that mission could have been scrubbed except for the fact that it left Tony behind.

(40:49):
True and why did they have enough fuel to get the fobo spin not to Mars aren't they basically the same general vicinity.
If they just had Tony and Alan both land on Mars we wouldn't be missing the dramatic tension of is Laura's boyfriend coming back.
But there would have been one more victim for the vampire to feed on before it was just Tony and Laura left behind.

(41:10):
Yeah I can't see the proposal of.
Let's send out the smaller ship because we can get it out there faster working because the plan was to sacrifice that ship and that's a lot of paper moon money.
Maybe in 1990 in the future money doesn't matter speaking of paper moon money why would Alan even bring money on this trip.

(41:31):
What was he could have what was going to spend it on well what if there's a Martian casino or something.
It could have changed currency and got some Martian money I'm glad he did that was my favorite line in the whole film all I have is paper moon money.
I was going to say speaking of 1990 in 1965 they imagine that we'd be so far advanced in is that 25 years well they said that they first launched 20 years ago so they got that almost right if it was 1990.

(41:59):
Right but they say now by 1990 back and forth travel to the moon is so common that it's not even thought of they were a little more optimistic than we are today.
Yeah because it's now 35 years beyond that and we're still nowhere near that.
In fact it might be going backwards for reasons.
So it's always interesting to me what movies from the 50s and 60s deem the technological future that they're aiming for in some movies is not till the 2000s here is 1990.

(42:31):
But it seems like if I were predicting right now I would give it at least 200 years I'd be like Star Trek and put it like so far in the future that no one who's watching in this century is going to be able to look at the movie and say wow that just such an unrealistic prediction.
Well I think the idea is to put in so much in your prediction at least some of it can come true.

(42:52):
Well what part of that can you true in this nothing shuttle maybe but there wasn't a lot in this there wasn't a lot in this but I was think we were talking the other day about back to the future celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and that movie went 30 years into the future which was 2015 which is 10 years in our past which is now 10 years in our past but they predicted.
Last screen television is hanging on the wall they predicted and these are examples of things that happened because of the science fiction that was presented that inspired the actual products like the track order in Star Trek the flip phone was developed because of the communicator from Star Trek.

(43:29):
And I think the cell phone all the technology available to us on smartphones came from the track order.
Trying to establish something like that but we have let us a horror movie with sci fi elements so there's not really a whole lot of.
Projection of what the future will be other than just presenting it it's rockets going to and from and it's science man.

(43:51):
People strolling around the moon going from station to station there's lunar seven there must be lunar one through six is just their job.
They commute just a really long commute. I didn't look up how long it takes to get from the earth to the moon but.
You know there's a significant amount of time you don't just get there in two hours.
It takes a little while and so the haste with which they can perform these rescue missions is necessarily slowed down by the distance between any two planetary bodies in the solar system.

(44:23):
I thought the funniest part of the movie was commander Brockman basically assuming so much and being wrong so much of the time.
Had he insisted that the alien be tied up after the first kill he'd be alive and yet he was so confident that he was right about everything that they could just let her sip on plasma.
And plasma's not blood by the way they're not the same thing I think that a lot of the nutrients that she was getting from blood would not be available in plasma but I digress.

(44:52):
All the assumptions that he and actually Alan did to made about the queen she's a hemophilia she's royalty she has vampire that saliva that anesthetizes her victims.
They didn't do any science on this they just assumed and they based all this on the snap judgment that they made and a lot of them ended up dead because of it.

(45:13):
Yeah Alan snap judgment is tended to be correct she's evil she's a monster tire up and destroy those eggs because I think.
That was eggs because I think that destroying those eggs would have been a really smart idea.
I don't know for a look really happy to be holding them.
He was so happy he was quaking shaking the tray so I thought that was kind of a cartoonish end to a horror movie rather than an ominous one.

(45:39):
I thought I was interesting that one of the reviews said it set up a sequel because it technically could.
I did we just haven't seen it well not an official sequel.
But a movie ending like that we're just so used to seeing that the end question mark and sure that could be a sequel but why well there be queens of blood.

(46:00):
Spawning all over earth now because of all these eggs they'd overrun this institute of space technology and spread out into the greater Los Angeles area right the story continues but do we need to see it.
We didn't so no.
When this movie aired on TV it was aired under the title planet of blood as part of the amazing adventure 67 syndication package.

(46:26):
And I don't know that that title is improvement I think it's not.
No I think queen of blood is better because you're focusing on the main character.
Yeah planet of blood is kind of generic and also they weren't on a planet of blood.
I mean the sequel could be called planet of blood if all those eggs hatch start mauling people but no planet of blood doesn't really make sense and seems like an unnecessary change.

(46:52):
I'll just confuse people who might have seen the original.
No but you're right if they're going to do a sequel planet of blood is a good name for a sequel.
In that space boy that makes no sense at all.
Do you think it inspired alien you think there's a chance it did I think there's a lot of parallels.
But I don't think it was a direct inspiration.
No it does have differences obviously there's a humanoid creature not it.

(47:16):
Xenomorph the movie it the terror from beyond space has been cited as an influence on alien and that one seems to follow a lot closer to how the story plays out.
I haven't seen that.
Oh it's good it's another Edward L. Confilm.
I'm not sure if he was acting it was part of his character but.
John Saxon looked like he did not want to be there for most of this.

(47:37):
You always has this disgusted look in his face but it might just be his character disgusted by what's happening.
Well of course he is his crewmates are getting eaten.
But yeah John Saxon always has a sort of haughty look to his face and everything that he's in.
And I've seen him in Mitchell and well he was a nightmare on Elm Street.
And he does kind of always have the same expression exasperated little unhappy with what's going on never really experiencing joy.

(48:03):
And that kind of fits here.
But Basil Rathbone on the other hand he seemed to be very joyful and I'm sure he was acting.
Of course he was acting and he's probably joyful at getting $6,000 for working two days.
We did review the other movie in that two days shooting spree the voice to the prehistoric planet.
And I think he was a lot better in this movie and he had a lot more to do here.

(48:27):
His character was definitely more interesting in this film.
Voice to the prehistoric planet is kind of dry all around.
Especially the American parts.
Yeah.
I think we saw a lot more of the Russian film or actually was Czechoslovakian film in that movie.
And here we only get tiny glimpses of the Russian movie where it's just basically a space travel.
The money shots it's all the effects shots.

(48:48):
I can see why Korman would have been interested in that because these are good looking effects.
But gorgeous.
It's so colorful.
We've got the green, the red, the gold.
Everything looks so amazing in this.
And it's so well rendered artistically.
And the films that he was derived from were made in 1959 and 1963.
So that's even more impressive.

(49:09):
Well what we saw was that Russia and basically the Eastern block had all of a sudden an interest in sci-fi
and somehow they managed to do it better than the United States had with all the Hollywood machinery behind it.
They made these extremely good looking films that were really interesting as it invoiced to the end of the universe.

(49:31):
That movie not quite as beautiful.
It was black and white.
But the sets were just amazing.
And you don't really see that in American movies.
In this movie even the interior of the ship in the American part of the movie is pretty basic.
Like we said in the notes they had to slap it together silver wallpaper on columns and panels and it just doesn't look that exciting.

(49:55):
It might not look exciting, but I thought it worked rather well.
We see the Russian footage of the inside of the alien ship and it's just this kind of weird bubble control thing.
And it's dark in there.
It's not well lit and there's a lot of shadows and it's weird and alien.
So it works from that aspect.
But we don't really see anything.
We see a bubble in the American ship there got a pop of that again between them when they're sitting at the launch controls.

(50:21):
That's what I was saying.
They had these controls which I think worked because I was thinking back to when we watched we haven't discussed it on the podcast yet, but planted out of the vampires.
That ship is huge.
Right.
Everything is so spread apart.
It's all this open space.
It looks like they're in a soundstage with a panel set up in a corner.
They didn't even shoot it really tight to make it look like a capsule.
Everything is so expansive in that ship.

(50:44):
It takes you 10 minutes to walk across the floor of the bridge of the yeah, it's huge.
Yeah, I think that really took me out of the movie when we watched that just wondering like why do they make this so enormous.
We'll talk about that in another episode.
But yeah, it did look more let's say like a star Trek set.
Everything was in arms reach basically in the American part of the movie.

(51:07):
And it was a lot more expansive in the Russian part.
But it was also a lot better looking.
A lot more visually impressive.
Yeah, I guess the Soviets were more willing to put money into their productions and that's probably what the difference is.
It makes me wonder what the whole movie looks like the parts that aren't ships launching.
Apparently the storyline is not as interesting, but maybe the visuals make up for that.

(51:31):
So Cheryl, given what we've discussed, are you ready to rate peanut blood using our AIP scale where a is awesome eyes intermediate and he is pathetic.
No, I'm going to need another hour.
No, I'm ready to read it.
I think this was a good movie. I enjoyed watching it.
I enjoyed looking at it.
I thought conceptually it was more interesting than most sci-fi movies of the era.
The concept of a vampire in space.

(51:53):
I think that elevated the movie, especially given the performance like I said, if you learn smartly.
Who wordlessly exuded this menace.
And yet also sort of a sexuality.
You can see that Dennis Hopper's character was very attracted to her and probably didn't mind it first when he got attacked.
It looked like they were kissing from behind.

(52:14):
And that to me, along with the Russian visuals, elevated this movie to a status.
I enjoyed it and I think it's really worth a watch.
What did you think?
I think that the best feature of this film is the original Russian footage because it elevates everything else.
It makes this film look a lot better than it really should.

(52:37):
But the stuff that Curtis Harrington shot is good too.
It's a creepy movie.
I talked about it earlier when Laura comes across the monster sucking on her boyfriend's arm.
Gorging itself.
And that shot is just so creepy. There's shadows where they should be and she just turns around like an animal who's caught feasting.

(52:58):
Which essentially she is unless she's a plant.
Venus fly trap.
And she doesn't look guilty. She just looks caught.
Interrupted.
Interrupted, yeah.
And the blood on her mouth. That's just so effective.
She licks her teeth.
Yeah, her bloodstain teeth is don't usually see that vampires. You don't see that in vampire movies.

(53:23):
But maybe they should because it really kind of gave me the willies.
And her eyes too that affect with her eyes made her all that more menacing.
Yeah, and it was relatively simple effect, but very effective.
They did a lot with their budget.
I like seeing Dennis Hopper and things.
He didn't really get a chance to be much Dennis Hopper here.

(53:45):
He was a little goofy.
And I was sorry to see him go as quickly as he did.
But I think the stand put character was probably Dr. Farraday.
Just in his exuberance and everything that's going on.
People are dying, but isn't this wonderful?
We've discovered alien life.
My life has meaning again. That's dance.
We got the specimens.

(54:06):
And it was cool to see Forryy Ackerman in a small part.
He's much better here than he was in the time travelers, where his job was to deliver bad puns.
He hasn't speak in this one, but his character seems to be more memorable.
And like Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, it's just kind of amazing that they took all these pieces and put it together.
It made something effective.

(54:27):
So I too am going to give this one an “A." Definitely worth a watch.
I think they did a better job uniting the two sets of footage in this movie than they did in Voyage to the prehistoric planet.
Which was a lot more static and boring because all we saw was Faith Domeegue, basically sitting in a chair in front of a console for a lot of the movie.
Right. This one did have a lot more action within this ship.
The stakes were a lot higher too.

(54:49):
The scenes on the planet were a lot more interesting and voyaged to the prehistoric planet.
Well, I spent a lot more time out there.
Yeah. They were really cool.
So watch that one too.
And to look back at other movies that we've talked about on the American International Podcast, visit our website, AAPpod.com.
There you can find more information on all the movies we talked about, links to the podcast themselves, items of visual excitement like lobby cards, posters, etc.

(55:15):
And a contact form where you can get in touch with us and let us know what you like about the podcast, the movies we talk about, and anything else.
That's aippod.com.
So, Cheryl, I think it's time for us to leave the studio and go touch Earth.
Okay.
This is the American International Podcast and I'm Jeff Markin.
I'm Cheryl Lightfoot.

(55:36):
And we'll meet you at the drive-in.
Follow the American International Podcast on Instagram and Letterbox @aip_pod and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AmericanInternationalPodcast.
The American International Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Markin.
A man whose mind is distorted by hatred.

(55:58):
And Cheryl Lightfoot.
A girl hungry for too many things.
The American International Podcast is part of the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.
[Music]