Mario Bava’s 1965 sci-fi/horror film Planet of the Vampires is considered by many to be one of the best that the genre has to offer. And at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film was presented in a restored 4K format for the first time with a special introduction from acclaimed director/producer Nicolas Winding Refn.
Gushing about the film, Refn proclaimed, “It is a truly great film. It’s melodramatic; it’s operatic; it’s campy; has great music; leather costumes; space ships; it has really wacky dialogue in Italian that does not make any sense.”
But something else he brought up was that the film was clearly an inspiration for Dan O’Bannon and Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi/horror masterpiece Alien. “‘Planet of the Vampires’ is the film that Ridley Scott and Dan O’Bannon stole from to make ‘Alien.’ We found the elements, we have the evidence tonight. This is the origin!” Refn exalted.
He explains that he means this with “…the highest respect,” but admits that when a viewer looks, “…at the two movies it’s not just similarities. It’s lifted structure, scenes, characters, dilemmas, themes that are very apparent.”
For those of you who have seen both, what are your thoughts? Does Refn’s argument hold water or is this a case of mistaken connections?
[H/T Variety]