I don't know why but I expected more from a movie called Queen of Blood. This 1966 American film, produced by Roger Corman and directed by Curtis Harrington, owes a lot to a Soviet film called Mechte Navstechu, including its screenplay and its best footage, which is ripped right from that film. But Queen of Blood does have Basil Rathbone in one of his last roles and Dennis Hopper in one of his first along with the always entertaining, and frequently underrated, John Saxon.
We meet Saxon in some lunar office space chatting up a coworker (Judi Meredith). The two go to lunch, where they run into Dennis Hopper and a friend, before they see a broadcast from Basil Rathbone, who plays Dr. Faraday, leader of this space exploration institution.
Around this time, we also start seeing footage from the Soviet movie of an alien ship. All the footage from Mechte Navstrechu is pretty gorgeous and ominous, filled with darkness and lurid colour.
The Sci Fi business of the humans investigating a crashed alien ship is developed decently enough and the plot turns out to be about an alien blood-sucker, played by a compellingly exotic Florence Marly. But mostly I came away from the movie wanting to see the Soviet original.
Both Rathbone and Hopper seem pretty checked out. For different reasons, of course.
Queen of Blood is available on Amazon Prime.
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The early rabbit thwarts the trusty knife.
At dusk, a dozen miles stretched ahead.
They gathered works for tea from flowers rife.
Remembered films would put the vamp to bed.
The bank was softer than the magma needs.
A sleeping dragon dreamt of vagrant beers.
Invention chained a row of random beads.
The dusty glen has cooled the demon's tears.
A flying nose rewrote the daisy bed.
With many nails the fingers painted touch.
It happens fate was little like we read,
Contracted hats were always billed as such.
For dames of green the fields of red were tilled.
With brews of black the hefty cups were filled.
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