QUEEN OF BLOOD

1966/Director: Curtis Harrington/Writer: Curtis Harrington

Cast: John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, Florence Marly, Forrest J Ackerman

ALSO KNOWN AS:
Flight to a Far Planet
Planet of Blood
Planet of Terror
Planet of Vampires
Space Vampires
The Green Woman

At first I was a little disappointed when I read that some of the stylistic and stunning space scenes from Curtis Harrington’s 1966 Queen of Blood were taken from a couple Russian sci-fi films made a couple years earlier, one being Meshte Nastreshu (1963) and the other Nebo Zovyot (1960). I have never seen either film and understand they are pretty hard to locate in stores or online, though Nebo Zovyot was released in some sort of edited fashion by producer Roger Corman and then fledgling director Francis Ford Coppola. But I cannot find that version of the film either. Harrington as well was working for Corman as an upcoming director and writer when Queen of Blood was released and the copy/paste type technique of filmmaking, “borrowing” scenes from obscure, foreign films, was a common practice for films produced by Corman at AIP at the time. Other filmmakers, some mentioned here at the Café like Al Adamson, also used this technique in patching together film projects. Adamson often pieced together fragments and sections of his own films made over a period of years but sometimes, as with Horror of the Blood Monsters, did something similar as was done by Harrington and Corman with Queen Blood, and used footage from an unknown Filipino film. The difference is that Horror of the Blood Monsters looks like crap basically and Queen of Blood appears almost seamless in the way the films merge together. I admit that while watching it, before reading any reviews which is how I usually watch films and avoid sites like my own brimming over with spoilers, I noticed a few odd moments but never thought I was seeing more than one film. I think the film looks marvelous really and the sets have that stylized science fiction look and feel of the sci-fi pulp paperback covers of the period.

MORE QUEEN OF BLOOD WITH THUMBNAIL GALLERY >>

DOCTOR OF DOOM

(Las Luchadoras Contra el Médico Asesino)

1963/Director: René Cardona/Writer: Alfredo Salazar

Cast: Lorena Velázquez, Armando Silvestre, Elizabeth Campbell, Roberto Canedo, Sonia Infante, Chucho Salinas, Chabela Romero

Also Known As:

Rock ‘N Roll Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Ape

Sex Monster

I Tigris Tou Catch (Greece)

Doctor of Doom (Las Luchadoras vs el Médico Asesino/The Wrestling Women vs. the Murderous Doctor) was one of six lachaodra (wrestling women) films produced by Guillermo Calderon that were directed by Rene Cardona and written by Alfredo Salazar. The last two films, Las Luchadoras vs. el Robot Asesino and El Horripilante Bestia Humana (both from 1968) were loose remakes of Doctor of Doom. El Horripilante Bestia Humana is also known as Night of the Bloody Apes and was reviewed only a few posts ago here at the Café. Of the six films three would be translated into English by the legendary K. Gordon Murray, those being Doctor of Doom, Night of the Bloody Apes and the second of this post’s double feature Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy. Lately I have managed to get my little hands on quite a few Mexican horror films and a small number of luchalibre (wrestling) films with Santos (or Samson as his name is translated by K. Gordon Murray and crew) and have to admit that for the most part these are all entertaining little films. I think about a 3rd of the films though are not subtitled or dubbed and that can be a hassle for me. While I can watch a film in another language and get some pleasure from it I really cannot review or the film or comment on it. At the most I could get some screen captures and promote the film that way but how can I comment on a story that I really do not understand except on a most basic level. I will say, as I have said before, that these films do not suffer from being dubbed into English unless you are a purist. I find the dubbing to be fun really and all the colloquial errors only add to the enjoyment.

MORE LUCIDORA ACTION IN DOCTOR OF DOOM AND WRESTLING WOMEN vs THE AZTEC MUMMY >>

Lots of personnel changes over the years for this prog rock band initially influenced by bands like King Crimson and early Genesis. I am not sure who is who in the picture above (expect for Dario Argento in the front of the color picture of course) and if anyone can help clear it up I would appreciate it. There are lots of pictures online but most did not help to sort out the mystery for me. I will try to figure it it out by the time I do another post on them as I have drafts on Profundo Rosso, Suspiria and Tenebre, with complete scores, queued up. More information can be found at this official band site. This is the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack recorded by Goblin for the European version of the film, Zombi, and does not included any incidental music or stock film scores that other versions contain. A very listenable album of chilling music and one I have been using lately while surfing or reading blogs. The scores certainly helped some of the films they were made for, most definitely Dario Argento’s often meandering, chaotic works. In exchange for Argento’s assistance in the production of Dawn of the Dead George Romero allowed the more explicit European version to feature the Goblin score more predominantly. Goblin often collaborated with Aregento and did some of their best scores for his horror and giallo films. To make things a little easier on myself the songs are grouped together in small batches of about four rather than one link per song. Enjoy and more Goblin coming soon.

MORE DARK PROG ROCK WITH GOBLIN AND THE COMPLETE ZOMBI SOUNDTRACK >>

TODAY’S FEATURE: TOKYO GORE POLICE

(HORRIBLY DUBBED IN ENGLISH)

MORE TOKYO GORE POLICE >>

Tom Chantrell is one of those people in the film industry whose influence is far reaching and you are familiar with his work even if you are not familiar with the man’s name. A prolific and hard working illustrator Chantrell’s career spanned a half century and literally thousands of posters, the bulk being British Horror films (most notably his work for Hammer studios) and American horror and exploitations films. His career all but came to a halt in the 1980’s and then ever more so in the 90’s when digital designs became the preferred method of “creation” for movie posters, CD covers and paperback book jackets. He would begin to gain some degree of well deserved cult status before his death in 2001. The man could produce three or four posters a week and  had a keen commercial instinct. His posters were often used to sell a movie before the film had even been completed. He was a British gentleman with a wry wit and sense of humor who never took himself or his work too seriously. As well the man served his country heroically in WWII disarming landmines, a duty that typically had a fairly short life expectancy. Luckily he survived the war and went on to a long and happy life as a great illustrator and family man.

I look at his stuff then look at the posters and paperback covers of today and my heart simply aches for a time when an artist could be an artist and produce actual artwork. I am not saying I hate all the poster artwork of today or that I detest good Photoshop works. But it seems that is all there is anymore and it all lacks grand designs and vibrant colors. His posters (as can be said of many great horror and exploitation posters) were often more thrilling than the movies they tried to sell. I included what might be his most well known image, one of his Star Wars poster designs (Hong Kong version) and it is a much imitated layout and design, as well it should be. The bottom line is they don’t do posters and artwork like this any more and those days are not coming back. That is a sad thing in my little book.  Here is a link to a page on his career with Hammer with some photos and a short interview.

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TODAY’S FEATURE: A WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS DOCUMENTARY

SEE AN INSIGHTFUL WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS DOCUMENTARY HERE

Some films I purvey here are of such an eclectic variety (a euphemism for bad and forgotten) that it can be difficult sometimes to find a decent poster to represent the film here on the Uranium Café. For example though I tried as hard I could never find a decent poster for The Creeping Terror and for that I am sorry.  Also I often  like to place a foreign poster next the American covers because sometimes the art can be more striking or even outlandish. I have taken to watching more foreign films than I had previously in my movie watching career and while searching for a reasonable poster for Mexican horror film Night of the Bloody Apes I came across a VHS cover for the film that was just simply perfect. And it struck me suddenly how different VHS covers were from DVD covers. I am not here to do a comparison post, that one is better or worse than the other, but they are certainly different in the style and effect they have on the person doing the browsing. In my early video renting days in San Antonio I usually hit the local ma and pa video stores back in the time when the Ron Jeremy style porno was often publicly displayed along side Burt Reynolds movies. The glory days of video before the chain stores like Blockbuster set the mundane standards. Not to say I did not rent some fine features from Blockbuster. But usually the ma and pa store let you take the cover home with the tape, while at Blockbuster you had that drab generic plastic box.

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