Planet of the Vampires 4K UHD Review

Radiance Films

4K UHD Release: November 3, 2026

Video: 1.85:1/2160p (HDR10/Dolby Vision)/Color

Audio: English, Italian, and alternate English (Kendall Schmidt score) DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono

Subtitles: English, English SDH

Run Time: 89:28 (Italian cut), 87:32 (AIP cut)

Director: Mario Bava

In the outer reaches of deep space, the spaceship Galliott answers a distress signal from Aura, an unexplored planet. As the ship attempts to land, members of the crew inexplicably begin to attack one another. This is the start of a terrifying expedition into the unknown, one plagued by paranoia, possession and violent mayhem wrought upon the unsuspecting explorers by the planet’s mysterious inhabitants. (From Radiance’s official synopsis)

In the midst of the Cold War, prestigious, high-concept science fiction movies began to replace their low quality, zero-budget counterparts in Hollywood. By the middle of the 1950s, major studios were throwing their weight behind Technicolor and Cinemascope epics, like Byron Haskin’s War of the Worlds (1953), Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), and Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet (1956). Always on the lookout for a new bandwagon and experiencing their own post-WWII cinematic reawakening, Italian filmmakers set out to making their own, considerably cheaper sci-fi movies to sell at home and abroad, where they filled the bottom bills of drive-in double-features, often in conjunction with US studios, like American International Pictures (AIP). 

Science fiction films would never be as abundant as sword-and-sandal movies or spaghetti westerns were in their heydays, but there was still a notable contingent of Italian-made spacefaring adventures during the 1960s, including Antonio Margheriti’s Assignment: Outer Space (aka: Space Men, 1960) and Battle of the Worlds (Italian: Il Pianeta degli uomini spenti, 1961), Primo Zeglio’s Mission Stardust (Italian: ...4...3...2...1...Morte, 1967), and Pietro Francisci’s Star Pilot (Italian: 2+5: Missione Hydra, 1966).

Meanwhile, the Italian brand of horror also emerged in the form of Riccardo Freda’s I Vampiri (1957), a troubled production that was completed by cinematographer Mario Bava, who himself then set the tone for the entire genre with his solo directorial debut, Black Sunday (Italian: La maschera del demonio, 1960). Bava quickly established himself as a technical master and the go-to director of horror fantasy and, after the disappointing reception of his first western, The Road to Fort Alamo (Italian: La strada per Fort Alamo, 1964), he was excited to apply his unique Gothic sensibilities to science fiction. The resulting film was Planet of the Vampires (Italian: Terrore nello spazio; aka: Terror in Space and The Demon Planet, 1965).

Hot off of profitable collaborations with the director and producer Fulvio Lucisano on The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Italian: La ragazza che sapeva troppo, 1963) and Black Sabbath (Italian: I tre volti della paura, 1963), AIP heads James H. Nicholson & Samuel Z. Arkoff were also eager to get involved and paired Bava with Ib Melchior, writer/director of The Angry Red Planet (1959), cowriter of Byron Haskin’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), and author of the 1956 short story The Racer, which was the basis of Paul Bartel’s Death Race 2000 (1975). Melchior claimed to have been impressed with Bava’s work and tailored his script to accommodate the director’s proclivity for atmospheric horror.

The initial treatment, by Antonio Román, was based on a short story entitled One Night of 21 Hours (Italian: Una notte di 21 ore) by Renato Pestriniero that Bava had found in the 1963 anthology pulp Interplanet No. 3 (though the story was originally published in 1960). Pestriniero’s story itself seems to be inspired by John W. Campbell’s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, itself the basis for both Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World (1951) and John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), and generally considered ground-zero for alien bodysnatcher fiction. Melchior, Román, and Bava’s final script (also credited to Louis M. Heyward, Alberto Bevilacqua, and Callisto Cosulich) also drew liberally upon the aforementioned Forbidden Planet (the supposedly extinct alien species and initially invisible threat, for example)

The time and care put into developing the screenplay was worth the extra effort (and occasional behind-the-scenes tiff), because Planet of the Vampires puts a neat and eerie twist on the still emerging bodysnatcher template. Instead of podpeople traveling to Earth and infiltrating humanity, as is usually the case, these aliens are long-dead spirits that need the humans to come to them, so they may possess their corporal bodies (there aren’t actually any vampires in the film, the title was an AIP invention). The fact that they’re reanimating dead human husks is played for shock (arguably, this is the first Italian zombie movie), but there’s also an aura of deep melancholy to the situation.

Of course, Planet of the Vampires isn’t typically remembered for its story or melancholia, but for Bava’s moody artistry and creative ingenuity. Black Sunday is more beautiful and Black Sabbath is more frightening, but Planet of the Vampires might represent the director at his most inventive and resourceful. He achieves so much with so little – crafting convincing sets and miniatures with the cheapest available materials, creating mood with simple lighting gels and smoke, and pulling every in-camera trick he’d learned as a photographer, painter, and special effects artist to unnerve and awe his audience. Even unconvincing effects make for interesting shots.

It has long been alleged that Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) was inspired by Planet of the Vampires. While it does seem likely that Scott or, more likely, screenwriter Dan O’Bannon had seen Bava’s film (O’Bannon apparently admitted as much at some point) and tossed it into the blender alongside The Thing from Another World and It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958). The image of a giant alien creature’s petrified skeleton is the key similarity, but Alien is such a melange that it’s almost more challenging to name a sci-fi monster movie it didn’t borrow from. 

The similarities between Planet of the Vampires and the O’Bannon-less prequel, Prometheus (2012), however, are pretty intriguing. Consider that, unlike Alien which is largely set on a spacecraft, Prometheus takes place almost entirely on a planet haunted by the spirits of ancient aliens (metaphorically and via holograms in Prometheus’ case, literally in Planet of the Vampires). In both films, the protagonists are following what they assume are friendly invitations, only to learn that these dead societies were planning to destroy and displace humanity. A more convincing argument is found in Janty Yates’ costume design, which is striking similar to Gabriele Mayer’s Planet of the Vampires spacesuits**. 

* Bava had already co-directed (without credit) and shot Paolo Heusch’s The Day the Sky Exploded (Italian: La morte viene dallo spazio, 1958), which author/expert Tim Lucas considers the first ‘serious’ Italian science fiction movie. Also, prior to Planet of the Vampires, he solo directed the sci-fi/horror/adventure Caltiki: The Immortal Monster (Italian: Caltiki, il mostro immortale, 1959, co-directed with Freda) and fantasy/horror hybrid Hercules in the Haunted World (Italian: Ercole al centro della terra, 1961). 

** Prometheus wasn’t the first time a Hollywood blockbuster seemingly patterned their costumes on Planet of the Vampires – the uniforms Roger Mussenden designed for the X-Men 2 (2003) match right down to the yellow piping details.

Bibliography:

• Mario Bava : All the Colors of the Dark by Tim Lucas (Video Watchdog, 2007)

Video

Planet of the Vampires was released on North American VHS tape from HBO Video/Orion in the ‘80s, then Orion alone in the early ‘90s. MGM put out a barebones, non-anamorphic DVD in 2001 as part of their Midnite Movies line. Kino Lorber released the first stateside Blu-ray (along with an anamorphic DVD) in 2014, then reissued it in 2022 with a new 2K restoration and an additional commentary track with Kim Newman & Barry Forshaw (which remains a Kino exclusive). I only have the 2014 disc on hand for comparison, so, for the difference between those releases, see this caps-a-holic page.

This UHD was beaten to the market by German company Plaion Pictures in 2023, though Radiance is utilizing an exclusive 4K restoration of the original negative that was supervised by Bava’s son (and filmmaker in his own right), Lamberto, who acted as assistant throughout the film’s production (according to the included booklet, director Nicolas Winding Refn also assisted in supervising the restoration). This is the same restoration that Radiance used for their UK exclusive Blu-ray (included here as the source of my screencaps), but in full 2160p with HDR/Dolby Vision upgrades. Again, I don’t have the 2022 disc and the 2014 release is significantly weaker than either remaster (and misframed), so I decided against including comparison sliders with this review.

Overall, I can’t really imagine Planet of the Vampires looking any better than it does here. It’s possible that some fans will take exception with the higher color saturation, but the palette generally matches previous releases and I want to trust that Lamberto knew what his father intended. The super-vibrant reds, blues, purples, and greens are truly beautiful and the new grade, coupled with the HDR boost, helps support the bright colors with deep, but not oppressive black levels. Details are crisp without oversharpening edges (which was a problem for the 2014 disc) or causing noise problems throughout the foggy backdrops. Grain levels are fine and consistent, even during darker, smoke-choked sequences.

Note that, while only the Italian cut opens with a restoration description and the English credits are definitely less bright than the Italian credits, the two transfers are otherwise the same. Here’s a handy guide to the differences between the two cuts.

Audio

Planet of the Vampires comes fitted with three audio options – the original Italian dub, the original AIP English dub, and an alternate version of the English dub with a soundtrack by Kendall Schmidt – all in uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio. Tim Lucas explains in his book that AIP initially approved of Gino Marinuzzi Jr.’s score and included it with their dub, but, when Orion acquired and reissued the film on video and television in the ‘80s, they brought on Schmidt, who ended up re-scoring a number of AIP acquisitions for the studio. Schmidt’s mix is the way I initially experienced the film, but I’ve definitely come to prefer Marinuzzi’s score.

As per usual, the film was shot without sound and all language versions are dubbed. In this case, the cast included American Barry Sullivan, Brazilian Norma Bengell, Spaniard Ángel Aranda, Greek Evi Marandi, and a myriad of Italians and other Spaniards. Everyone was speaking English on set, so the English dub better matches the lip sync, even when the performances don’t. The paradox is thus: the English dub with the Marinuzzi score has the best overall audio quality by a hair, but the Italian cut is the slightly better version of the film.

Extras

Disc 1 (4K UHD):

• Italian and AIP cuts of the film

• Commentary with Tim Lucas (AIP cut) – This track with Bava’s biographer was recorded for Kino Lorber’s release in 2014. It’s essentially the Planet of the Vampires section of his book in audio form and covers minute details about the production, release, cast, and crew.

Disc 2 (Blu-ray):

• Italian and AIP versions of the film

• Commentary by Tim Lucas

• Transmissions from a Haunted World: Mario Bava and the Space Gothic (41:00, HD) – A 2024 retrospective documentary co-directed by Kat Ellinger and Dima Ballin that includes interviews with critic/historians Guy Adams, Xavier Aldana Reyes, Alexandra Benedict, Johnny Mains, and John Llewellyn. Subject matter covers Bava’s broader career, Planet of the Vampires’ place in his filmography, production, the cast, Antonio Román’s original story, special effects and style, other Gothic sci-fi stories, and the film’s lasting legacy/connections to Alien and its imitators.

• Shadow World: Lamberto Bava on Planet of the Vampires (13:09, HD) – This is a reedited version of an interview with Bava’s son and assistant that was originally recorded for the Plaion Pictures Blu-ray.

• Recreated Super 8 version of the film (17:10, HD) – English and Italian versions of the drastically shortened 8mm German home viewing version of the film from before the VHS era.

• Trailers from Hell featurettes:

• Joe Dante: Planet of the Vampires (3:49, HD)

• Josh Olson: Planet of the Vampires (2:30, HD)

• Trailer

• Image gallery

I don’t always mention physical extras, but want to make a special mention of this limited edition release, which includes one booklet with essays about the film and a second one that includes the entire One Night of 21 Hours short story. 

The images on this page are taken from Radiance’s remastered BD – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.