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Stars: Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ivan Rassimov, Ángel Aranda, Evi Marandi, Franco Andrei, Federico Boido, Mario Morales | Written by Ib Melchior, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Mario Bava, Antonio Roman, Rafael J. Salvia | Directed by Mario Bava

Mario Bava, often celebrated as a master of Gothic horror and Italian genre cinema, brought to life a diverse array of films that showcased his visual ingenuity and flair for mood and atmosphere. Planet of the Vampires, a standout entry in the realm of science fiction horror, epitomizes Bava’s commitment to stylistic audacity and thematic exploration. This review examines how this film fits into and enriches Bava’s oeuvre, highlighting the characteristics that align with his broader body of work.

Bava’s films are renowned for their distinctive visual style, characterized by deep chiaroscuro lighting, saturated colour palettes, and intricate set designs. Planet of the Vampires is no exception, showcasing these traits within the context of a futuristic,...

There’s no getting around it — Mario Bava’s one space opera is now confirmed as a classic. Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell must oppose invisible aliens that possess the corpses of their fellow space men. Bava’s ‘gothic’ Haunted Planet recipe just adds more weird colored lights and swirling fog to his supernatural Gothic formula. The designs are excellent and the results unique, from the odd spacecraft to the kinky costumes. The show is also genuinely influential, as should be well known to every fan of more modern sci-fi / horror films. The new HD remaster is an improvement, too!

Planet of the Vampires

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 88 min. / Terrore nello spazio, Planet of Blood, The Demon Planet / Street Date July 26, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ángel Aranda, Evi Marandi, Stelio Candelli, Franco Andrei, Fernando Villena, Mario Morales, Ivan Rassimov.

Cinematography: Antonio Rinaldi,...

Hello, everyone! As we get ready to head into December, we have one last round of home media releases for this month on tap first. If you haven’t had a chance to check out James Wan’s Malignant yet, Warner Bros. is releasing it on both Blu-ray and DVD, and A24 is finally bringing Saint Maud home this Tuesday, too. Both Summer of 84 and Ticks are getting the 4K treatment, and Severin Films is showing some love to Ruggero Deodato’s Raiders of Atlantis as well.

Other titles being released on November 30th include Wild Indian and The Last Matinee.

Malignant

“Malignant” marks director James Wan’s return to his roots with this new original horror thriller. In the film, a woman is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.

Raiders of Atlantis...

Years Of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973-1977 will be available on Blu-ray June 22nd from Arrow Video. The titles are: Savage Three (1975), Like Rabid Dogs (1976),, Colt 38 Special Squad (1976), Highway Racer (1977) and Highway Racer (1977),

The 1970s were a time of intense uncertainty and instability in Italy. Political corruption and widespread acts of left and right-wing terrorism, alongside a breakdown in social cohesion and a loss of trust in public institutions such as the government and police, created a febrile atmosphere of cynicism, paranoia and unexploded rage. Throughout this period, these sentiments found expression in a series of brutal, often morally ambiguous crime thrillers which tapped into the atmosphere of violence and instability that defined the so-called Years of Lead.

This box set gathers five films from the heyday of the “poliziotteschi” – the umbrella term used to describe this diverse body of films. In Vittorio Salerno’s Savage Three (1975) and...

If you've read Scott Drebit's Blu-ray reviews for Wax Mask, Paganini Horror, and The Peanut Butter Solution, just to name a few, then you know that here at Daily Dead, we're big fans of the eclectic physical home media releases from the talented team at Severin Films. The company is looking to continue their tradition of obscure and intriguing releases this spring, as they've announced three new Blu-rays for May that should please fans of multifaceted international horror.

Announced on their Facebook page, Severin Films' May Blu-ray releases include Satan's Slave (1980) aka Pengabdi Setan, a limited edition of The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971), and Horrors of Spider Island (1960). All three Blu-rays are scheduled to come out on May 26th.

You can check out the full release details, trailers, and cover art for the Blu-rays below, and be sure to visit Severin Films' website for more information, including details...

In regards to the dark, the world of giallo is still one that I’m fumbling around in, trying to navigate my way through countless films and directors. As I settle in, I’ve started to make out shapes and patterns; that is, until I saw Sergio Martino’s All the Colors of the Dark (1972), a trippy, surreal head trip beautifully restored in an overflowing Blu-ray from Severin Films. My eyes are still adjusting to what they’ve seen.

I’m still fumbling around with Martino, though; other than this, I’ve only seen Torso (’73) and Screamers (’79), and I enjoyed the latter’s high adventure/splattery mermen over the straight ahead straight razor-isms of the former. Colors is easily my favorite of the three, as it offers a heady mix of hallucinogenic horror with a giallo backbone, all done with ferocious style.

Pity poor Jane (Edwige Fenech – The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh...

For this final week of home media releases in January, I hope everyone has prepared their wallets, because we have a lot to get excited about, especially if you’re a cult film fan.

Vinegar Syndrome is doing the dark lord’s work this Tuesday, as they are putting out four different titles, including Cutting Class, Splatter University, There’s Nothing Out There, and Uninvited. Severin is celebrating giallo filmmaking with their releases of All the Colors of Giallo and All the Colors of the Dark, Scream Factory is showing some love to Screamers, and if you missed it in theaters, you can also finally catch up with Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria on Blu-ray this week as well.

Other notable releases for January 29th include a new edition of Willow, Save Yourself, and Dead Silence (1989).

All the Colors of Giallo

'Giallo' is Italian for 'yellow', the color of the lurid...

The Cannibal sub-genre usually divides the viewer in to one of two camps: horror fans who deem it “necessary” as part of their schooling to watch the gut munchers of the decade from the early ‘70s to early ‘80s, and those who completely stay clear after hearing stories of real life animal mutilation and on screen rape, not to mention an anatomical eye for grisly (and gristly) detail in that uniquely unsubtle, very Italian way. If you choose to wade through the jungle, there are simply no better guides than the denizens at Severin Films, who offer up a superb new disc of Umberto Lenzi’s Eaten Alive! (1980). If you’re new to this fascinating facet of horror, you might as well jump in here – there is no shallow end.

Lenzi kick started the craze with 1972’s Man from Deep River, an unabashed “homage” to A Man Called Horse (1970), the...

It’s a quiet week of horror and sci-fi home entertainment titles, as there are only a handful coming our way this Tuesday. There’s a limited edition release for Umberto Lenzi’s Eaten Alive! that Severin Films has put together, and Scream Factory is giving William Castle’s The Night Walker the HD treatment as well.

Other releases arriving on February 20th include Mom and Dad, Headgame, Downhill, Cannibal Hookers, and season one of Midnight, Texas.

Eaten Alive!: Limited Edition (Severin Films, Blu-ray)

Eight years after he first unleashed the Italian cannibal craze, spaghetti splatter master Umberto Lenzi (Nightmare City, Cannibal Ferox) returned to the jungle for this "graphic" (Monster Hunter), "sordid" (Geek Legacy) and "extreme" (Horror News) gut-muncher that still packs the power to knock you over. EuroSleaze hall-of- famers Robert Kerman (Cannibal Holocaust), Janet Agren (City Of The Living Dead), Ivan Rassimov (The Man From Deep...

Review by Roger Carpenter

After the runaway international success of director Dario Argento’s freshman effort, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, he quickly followed that animal-themed film with The Cat O’ Nine Tails. The film is essentially a whodunit featuring a blind man with extra-sensitive hearing due to his blindness who uses his only family, a little girl, as his eyes. They overhear a mysterious snippet of conversation on the street and later meet a hard-bitten detective at the scene of a murder. Connecting the conversation with the murder, the trio become embroiled in a series of killings. But the closer they get to the killer’s identity the more danger they are in as the killer soon begins to target them as well.

Argento’s sophomore effort was also a success and, together with his third film, 4 Flies on Grey Velvet, are credited with not only creating the giallo film,...

By Adrian Smith

Julie Wardh (Edwige Fenech) is a woman who needs some time off men: she attempts to escape her sado-masochistic relationship with Jean (Ivan Rassimov) by marrying Neil Wardh (Alberto de Mendoza), an ambassador at the Italian embassy in Austria. But things are not that simple. Julie suffers from erotic nightmares, wherein she makes love to Jean whilst being showered in broken glass, but continues to proclaim her hatred for him to anyone that will listen, including jean himself. At a friend’s party, where women tear paper dresses from each other and wrestle naked, Julie meets the cool George (George Hilton) a man determined to seduce Mrs Wardh, regardless of her husband or complicated romantic history. He seems kind and he rides a motorbike, so it does not take Mrs Wardh long to fall for him.

Of course, this being a giallo, in the middle of this...

Well, horror fans, we have only a few releases on hand for November 29th. So this Tuesday, get ready for the Blu-ray and DVD arrival of Fede Alvarez’s latest excursion in terror, Don’t Breathe.

Vinegar Syndrome will also be releasing the kung-fu horror film Death Machines on home media this Tuesday, and Raro Video USA will unleash Umberto Lenzi's cannibal film Sacrifice! on Blu-ray as well.

It looks like the horror Blu-ray and DVD front picks back up again on December 6th, so be sure to keep an eye out for more titles next week.

Death Machines (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack)

Madame Lu has created three 'Death Machines', a trio of martial arts experts who have been injected with a special serum, turning them into mindless zombies, capable only of murder, at Lu's command. Tasked with eliminating her enemies,...

Norma Bengell dead at 78: Iconic (and controversial) Brazilian film, stage, television, and recording star made history as the first actress to be seen naked (full frontal) in a mainstream film (photo: Norma Bengell and John Herbert in ‘As Cariocas’) Norma Bengell, a sort of Brazilian Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Fonda rolled into one, died of lung cancer in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro on October 9, 2013. She was 78. Best known internationally for her leading-lady roles in several Italian-made cult classics of the mid-’60s, Norma Bengell was known in Brazil as a controversial show business veteran and for being the first “name” actress (purportedly anywhere in the world) to be seen fully naked — full frontal — in a mainstream film. Note: Hedy Lamarr, then billed as Hedy Kiesler, does swim and run around in the nude in Gustav Machaty’s 1933 Czech drama Ecstasy. However, Lamarr’s naked swimming was disguised by the water,...

An ambassador, Neil Wardh (Alberto de Mendoza), and his wanton wife, Julie (Edwige Fenech), arrive in Vienna for business in the midst of a vicious killing spree that has everyone in a panic. Julie's return to the city rouses memories of former lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov) and their sadomasochistic relationship. It also helps that her husband is utterly dull, busy, and inattentive. The restless Julie has a dark secret that only Jean knows about: blood frightens her, but it also arouses her unimaginably. Julie's cruel ex-boyfriend stalks her and sends unnerving love letters, but she finds comfort at swinging parties and in the arms of another man, George (George Hilton). As the city's body count begins to rise, and a mysterious caller threatens to expose her adulterous and kinky secrets, Julie suspects she's next and that Jean is behind the murders and madness. She escapes to Spain with George for a fresh start,...

It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a jam-packed week, with plenty of movies waiting to take you money, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, October 29th 2012.

Pick Of The Week

The Five-Year Engagement (DVD/Blu-ray)

Judd Apatow-produced romantic comedy starring Emily Blunt and Jason Segel. Anglo-American couple Violet (Blunt) and Tom (Segel) fall in love and soon after decide to get married. But the wedding is repeatedly delayed by the various intricate and perplexing circumstances in which they find themselves, to the point where both parties – and their families – start to wonder if they are doing the right thing after all. The Five-Year Engagement Review

And the rest…

Brake (DVD/Blu-ray...

Arrow Video are scraping the bottom of the Euro-sleaze barrel with their latest releases out on Monday – Super Bitch (aka Blue Movie Blackmail) and The Night Child (aka The Cursed Medallion). Directed by Massimo Dallamano (Venus in Furs, What Have You Done to Solange?) the films star two Us TV superstars: Stephanie Beachman (Dynasty), Joanna Cassidy (Falcon Crest) and two Italian horror stalwarts: Richard Johnson (Zombie Flesh Eaters) and Ivan Rassimov (Eaten Alive).

Super Bitch

Stars: Ivan Rassimov, Stephanie Beacham, Patricia Hayes | Written by Massimo Dallamano, Sandy MacRae | Directed by Massimo Dallamano

Blue movie blackmail and sexual depravity are at the heart of a wicked scam to manipulate rich, perverted men in this softcore pasta crime classic from Massimo Dallamano, cinematographer on A Fistful of Dollars and director of Giallo favourite What Have You Done To Solange? Italian trash cinema icon Ivan Rassimov is a police inspector working undercover to...

Super Bitch aka Blue Movie Blackmail (Arrow Video DVD)

Think Twice Before You Hire Her

Blue movie blackmail and sexual depravity are at the heart of a wicked scam to manipulate rich, perverted men in this softcore pasta crime classic from Massimo Dallamano, cinematographer on A Fistful of Dollars and director of Giallo favourite What Have You Done To Solange? Italian trash cinema icon Ivan Rassimov is a police inspector working undercover to expose a London escort agency where the frequently naked Stephanie Beacham is being filmed in sexually compromising situations with her moneyed clients. These poor chumps will soon be smuggling drugs across international borders for her and her shadowy associates. Wallow in the sleaze and enjoy the depravity of Super Bitch, a film with all the car chases, murder, sex and moral ambiguity a cult movie fan could possibly want.

Special Features:

New widescreen transfer in the...

During this month of ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and zombies, it is important to remember that there are other sub-genres of horror films that still make essential viewing. Unbeknownst to a lot of horror fans, there was once a style of film made mostly in Italy during the Seventies and Eighties known as The Third World Cannibal Film, or simply The Cannibal Film genre.

These films gained a certain notoriety for their savage imagery (most notably the onscreen killing of animals) and brutal conventions (predominantly white people being set upon by primitive tribes and being summarily eaten). Due to this, a lot of otherwise intrepid horror audiences shied away from this sub-genre, thinking the filmmakers “out of their minds.” When certain governments caught wind of what was going on, these films soon found their way onto banned lists. Despite the efforts of “morality watchdogs,” the movies are just as much a...

Sergio Corbucci's Django revolutionised the Spaghetti Western genre in many ways. The low-budget retelling of Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars – itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo – ramped up the violence, the amorality, the bloodletting and the insanity factor to an unprecedented scale, spawning a glut of rip-offs, cash-ins and unofficial sequels of varying degrees of quality. It also, quite unintentionally, began a trend for titular heroes whose names ended in the letter 'o' and when said quickly enough could possibly be mistaken for Django.

There was Anthony Steffen - the Spaghetti Western standard-bearer, himself no stranger to playing Django - starring as the main man in both Garringo and Shango. 'Sword and Sandal' star Brad Harris as the fast gun in Durango is Coming, Pay or Die. Montgomery Clark (Dante Posani) as the gambling gunslinger in Djurado and Ivan Rassimov in this, 1967's Cjamango.

One of the many disadvantages of living in a place like New Hamsphire is that you have to live on the edge vicariously through the lives of people who live closer to the action through correspondence so it was a while before I got into the depths of crazy horror movies. Though I'd been watching horror for years, we never had the convenience of one of those video stores that bought one of everything from their distributors and the horror sections around these parts were woefully understocked. If you wanted to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 6, you could find it just about anywhere but if you wanted to go out on a limb and see something wildly exotic, you were screwed. Getting your hands on stuff bearing names like Lenzi, D'Amato and Deodato you had to drive into Boston and pay premium prices on factory pre-records and overpriced bootlegs.