The year? 1990. 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 a dead world, and the great question about space still remains... does life exist on another planet?
Well, it turns out Queen of Blood didn't quite get that right. But it's always fun to see how the past viewed the future, now that it's the present. Or in this case, now that that particular present is the past. I guess. Whatever.
Queen of Blood is an interesting movie. Some of the visuals are amazing, and some of them look like crap. But there's some money behind the big shots of outer space - and while I am no film historian, I don't associate American International Pictures with big budget stuff. But after watching the film and doing a little research, I found that the good stuff is lifted from a couple of fancy Russian sci-fi flicks. AIP bought the footage, inserted their own cheap and convoluted story about Mars trip gone awry and a creepy alien race... and voila! One of the more inconsistent films I've come across... maybe ever.
The story? Again, it's 1990 (via 1968) - the IIST (International Institute of Space Technology) is super-stoked because they made contact with some form of alien life from a distant galaxy. The aliens were going to send representatives to earth, but their ship crash landed on Mars. The IIST sends a team up, and they get stranded on Mars as well - and they don't have any luck finding the aliens either. So, they send a second team up - this one has John Saxon aboard, so you know it'll work. They run into a solar storm (or something) and are forced to land on one of the moons of Mars. But conveniently, it happens to be the same place the aliens crashed! They go on board and find one survivor: an all green lady who seems to be in a comatose state. They bring her down to the main ship on Mars, and bad things start to happen to the crew. Namely, they get attacked and drained of all their blood. (None of this is particularly exciting or graphic, BTW.) Good times!
Fun things? There's some good production design - at least in the Russian flicks that Queen of Blood "borrowed" from. Some of the long shots of the IISL and almost all of the outer space stuff looks leagues better than what you get in most other 60's space travel movies. There are times when Queen of Blood feels *huge.* Also, you get a decent cast. Good old John Saxon (always a plus), a mostly normal Dennis Hopper, and Basil Rathbone as the IISL director (who pretty much just sits in the control room on Earth reading directions to the crew). None of them give a powerhouse performance or anything - not that the film lets them. Other than being kind of pointlessly convoluted (unless the point is to kill time - if so, Mission Accomplished), the script is unremarkable. And the last good thing? There's something kind of quaint and naïve about the film, watching it now. The future 1990, the alien just being Florence Marly painted green, the spaceship sets... it's got a cheesy sci-fi feel that is occasionally fun.
But it's just kind of unfortunate that the story isn't all that interesting... or at the very least, compellingly told. The structure for a good story is there, and it has some good ideas. Particularly when the astronauts first realize the alien is a bloodsucker - one guy presents an intriguing argument that "maybe that's just normal for her/she doesn't know she's doing anything wrong," whereas the others just want to kill her ASAP. It's an interesting question to explore: "what is the cost of scientific discovery?" But Queen of Blood just kind of asks that question and lets it lie. It doesn't help that things unfold at a pretty slow pace... the external shots of space keep things from getting too dull, but things aboard the spaceship kind of drag.
The story? Again, it's 1990 (via 1968) - the IIST (International Institute of Space Technology) is super-stoked because they made contact with some form of alien life from a distant galaxy. The aliens were going to send representatives to earth, but their ship crash landed on Mars. The IIST sends a team up, and they get stranded on Mars as well - and they don't have any luck finding the aliens either. So, they send a second team up - this one has John Saxon aboard, so you know it'll work. They run into a solar storm (or something) and are forced to land on one of the moons of Mars. But conveniently, it happens to be the same place the aliens crashed! They go on board and find one survivor: an all green lady who seems to be in a comatose state. They bring her down to the main ship on Mars, and bad things start to happen to the crew. Namely, they get attacked and drained of all their blood. (None of this is particularly exciting or graphic, BTW.) Good times!
Fun things? There's some good production design - at least in the Russian flicks that Queen of Blood "borrowed" from. Some of the long shots of the IISL and almost all of the outer space stuff looks leagues better than what you get in most other 60's space travel movies. There are times when Queen of Blood feels *huge.* Also, you get a decent cast. Good old John Saxon (always a plus), a mostly normal Dennis Hopper, and Basil Rathbone as the IISL director (who pretty much just sits in the control room on Earth reading directions to the crew). None of them give a powerhouse performance or anything - not that the film lets them. Other than being kind of pointlessly convoluted (unless the point is to kill time - if so, Mission Accomplished), the script is unremarkable. And the last good thing? There's something kind of quaint and naïve about the film, watching it now. The future 1990, the alien just being Florence Marly painted green, the spaceship sets... it's got a cheesy sci-fi feel that is occasionally fun.
But it's just kind of unfortunate that the story isn't all that interesting... or at the very least, compellingly told. The structure for a good story is there, and it has some good ideas. Particularly when the astronauts first realize the alien is a bloodsucker - one guy presents an intriguing argument that "maybe that's just normal for her/she doesn't know she's doing anything wrong," whereas the others just want to kill her ASAP. It's an interesting question to explore: "what is the cost of scientific discovery?" But Queen of Blood just kind of asks that question and lets it lie. It doesn't help that things unfold at a pretty slow pace... the external shots of space keep things from getting too dull, but things aboard the spaceship kind of drag.
Horror-wise? No alien creature design here (other than green paint) and not a lot of blood or anything. It's pretty tame, all things considered. It's the sort of deal where the attacks will just be the alien approaching the camera with an open mouth and sharp teeth... and then... cut to the next morning. Nothing much to report here.
Overall, it just never quite clicks. It's not bad, and the outer space stuff is really pretty cool. And the new footage has got a fun, cheap sci-fi feel that's good for a little nostalgia. But it just drags too much, and never really brings the terror you would hope for from a film with the (excellent) title of Queen of Blood.
I would probably not recommend this film.
Overall, it just never quite clicks. It's not bad, and the outer space stuff is really pretty cool. And the new footage has got a fun, cheap sci-fi feel that's good for a little nostalgia. But it just drags too much, and never really brings the terror you would hope for from a film with the (excellent) title of Queen of Blood.
I would probably not recommend this film.
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