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Queen of Blood (1966) Is Back and She’s Still Thirsty

Isn’t it reassuring when a DVD begins with a title that reads, “This film has been manufactured using the best source material available?” What does that mean? Does it refer to the screenplay, costumes, film stock, sets, and all the other things that go into making a film? Or does it refer to the plastic used in the manufacturing of the DVD and its case? Either way, isn’t it good to know that Queen of Blood was “manufactured using the best source material available?”
Noting that John Saxon stars, viewers are already tipped off that the best talent in Hollywood was not corralled for the making of the film. His presence, however, is offset by Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, and the redoubtable Forrest J. Ackerman who has been dead since 2008 but still maintains a presence on Facebook  and My Space, posting updates.
Queen of Blood is dated, but not much more than the original Star Trek television series. Wikipedia describes the plot as, “After aliens contact Earth via radio to inform humans of an impending visit, their ambassador spaceship crashes on Mars. Astronaut rescuers recover only one green-skinned survivor - a female with insatiably vampire-like appetites,” and that pretty much sums it up. One might add, though, that she is the prettiest green-skinned, exsanguinating alien ever seen on the silver screen.
Slow moving with laughable science and special effects, Queen of Blood doesn’t have a pulse until the vampire/alien (Florence Marly) begins sucking around, and then it's barely thready. Some of the best scenes are of Paul Grant (Hopper) attempting to communicate with and socialize the alien queen. To simplify production, the story is moved along with the help of newspaper headlines, eliminating the need to stage scenes more complicated than people standing around talking. To be fair, there are scenes of people sitting around talking, too.
Queen of Blood is not as sappily made as Plan 9 from Outer Space, much to its detriment. Ironically, the production values, acting, and screenplay are not bad enough to be good. It’s not unwatchable, but it isn’t exactly stimulating either.

 

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