(aka: Planet of the Vampires)
And I don't say that lightly because I've seen a number of them such as "I Criminali della galassia" (Wild, Wild Planet), "Diafanoidi vengono da Marte" (War of the Planets) "Il Pianeta degli uomini spenti" (Battle of the Worlds) etc... Cheesy, boring epics, usually directed by the likes of Antonio Margheriti that have crummy atmospherics, bad plots and horrible dubbing.
But "Planet of the Vampires" has something else. Something mysterious and original that even Ridley Scott would pick up on 15 years later. A little known fact except to viewers of this film.
Plus they got some hot looking Italo-babes in this one. Yumm...
This beats them by far, and is certainly original in it's execution, in my opinion. The DVD is a vast improvement over the old Thorn/EMI videotape, transferred from a stunning, original master print that has the AIP logo at the beginning of the titles.
I don't think there was really anything that combined both the Sci-Fi element with the horror element before this film. If someone can come up with one that escapes me, then I'd appreciate hearing about it.
7 out of 10 for originality (for it's time) on the imdb meter...