Dec 13 *
I saw this on Tubi (I think), the other day.
I am pretty sure, although not certain, that it was one of the inspirations for Lifeforce (1985). It's about people in the future (which was still 1990, in 1966), finding signals from an alien civilization that was trying to reach us. The aliens seemed to be having some kind of technological problems, but they managed to get a spaceship to Mars. It crashed there...
Probably half or two thirds of the movie is full of logistical stuff about getting our rocket ships to Mars and back, and whether they have enough fuel for certain maneuvers, etc. It's a lot like watching a 1966 version of The Martian, in that way. I had to keep reminding myself that, obviously, rockets and space travel were still very exciting and new at that time. It was sufficiently compelling drama, for many viewers, to just talk about the basics of what space travel would involve, in a (mostly) scientific way.
Anyway, somewhere along the line the astronauts pick up an alien survivor of the alien spaceship crash. She had gotten herself to the Martian moon Phobos, somehow... some kind of lifeboat or rescue craft from another alien spaceship got her there, I think.
For the next twenty minutes or so, we see the astronauts trying to maintain an objective, detached, scientific, perhaps somewhat benevolent interest in the female alien, while it become more and more obvious to us in the audience that she is nothing but a vampiric killing machine who will kill off the entire crew if she is not stopped. Soooooo that's fun.
You can guess more or less how things go. There aren't too many huge surprises, although right at the end they find a way to go out on a cliffhanger. So that was cool.
The female alien vampire is never seen naked, by the way. I probably should have stated that immediately after I compared the film to Life Force. She is kind of sexy, in a dark, hypnotic way, but she is always demurely clothed.
One interesting thing about this movie is the cast. It has Dennis Hopper, John Saxon, and the famous Basil Rathbone, from many decades in the past. That alone is interesting. If you watch this movie, you are seeing actors who have been in movies in practically every decade from the past ninety years.
Basil Rathbone's character is named Farraday. I found myself wondering if the Fallada character in Lifeforce might have been inspired by him. Their names are roughly similar, and both characters are sort of the Voice Of Science in each film, and both are played by more senior actors. Not sure about this, but it did feel that way to me.
Some of the art toward the very beginning of the film is really cool. Just art of aliens and their space stations and spaceships. It is in the style of the time of course, but I still enjoyed it.
There is a female Earth astronaut. She is cute, and her role is interesting to watch. She does have some responsibility, and gets some respect, but in other ways... well, this is just a Mad Men era space story. She does get treated a bit like a secretary at times.
So, anyway, you could do worse, if you felt like watching a sixties space/horror movie. I would say it's worth a watch. Kirk out.
I am pretty sure, although not certain, that it was one of the inspirations for Lifeforce (1985). It's about people in the future (which was still 1990, in 1966), finding signals from an alien civilization that was trying to reach us. The aliens seemed to be having some kind of technological problems, but they managed to get a spaceship to Mars. It crashed there...
Probably half or two thirds of the movie is full of logistical stuff about getting our rocket ships to Mars and back, and whether they have enough fuel for certain maneuvers, etc. It's a lot like watching a 1966 version of The Martian, in that way. I had to keep reminding myself that, obviously, rockets and space travel were still very exciting and new at that time. It was sufficiently compelling drama, for many viewers, to just talk about the basics of what space travel would involve, in a (mostly) scientific way.
Anyway, somewhere along the line the astronauts pick up an alien survivor of the alien spaceship crash. She had gotten herself to the Martian moon Phobos, somehow... some kind of lifeboat or rescue craft from another alien spaceship got her there, I think.
For the next twenty minutes or so, we see the astronauts trying to maintain an objective, detached, scientific, perhaps somewhat benevolent interest in the female alien, while it become more and more obvious to us in the audience that she is nothing but a vampiric killing machine who will kill off the entire crew if she is not stopped. Soooooo that's fun.
You can guess more or less how things go. There aren't too many huge surprises, although right at the end they find a way to go out on a cliffhanger. So that was cool.
The female alien vampire is never seen naked, by the way. I probably should have stated that immediately after I compared the film to Life Force. She is kind of sexy, in a dark, hypnotic way, but she is always demurely clothed.
One interesting thing about this movie is the cast. It has Dennis Hopper, John Saxon, and the famous Basil Rathbone, from many decades in the past. That alone is interesting. If you watch this movie, you are seeing actors who have been in movies in practically every decade from the past ninety years.
Basil Rathbone's character is named Farraday. I found myself wondering if the Fallada character in Lifeforce might have been inspired by him. Their names are roughly similar, and both characters are sort of the Voice Of Science in each film, and both are played by more senior actors. Not sure about this, but it did feel that way to me.
Some of the art toward the very beginning of the film is really cool. Just art of aliens and their space stations and spaceships. It is in the style of the time of course, but I still enjoyed it.
There is a female Earth astronaut. She is cute, and her role is interesting to watch. She does have some responsibility, and gets some respect, but in other ways... well, this is just a Mad Men era space story. She does get treated a bit like a secretary at times.
So, anyway, you could do worse, if you felt like watching a sixties space/horror movie. I would say it's worth a watch. Kirk out.
