PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES On Blu-ray From Radiance

 

About ten years ago, Kino Lorber came out with a special edition of one of my favorite movies, Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES. I thought so much of this release that I believe I even put it on my Top 5 Blu-rays of the Year list. 

So why did I buy PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES on Blu-ray again?? 

A British company called Radiance Films has now released this movie on a Region Free disc, with plenty of extras. The main reason to get this disc is that it contains the Italian version of the film, with an Italian voice track (along with English subtitles). 

The Italian version of PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES is about a minute or so longer than the American cut, but from my point of view there are no major significant differences. The dialogue is also basically the same between the two versions. The Italian version has different beginning and end titles. 

Radiance states that this release features a 4K scan from the original negative, and it was supervised by Lamberto Bava, Mario's son (and assistant director on the actual film). The colors on the Italian version are a bit deeper, and the sound design comes off a bit bolder at times. From my perspective, the Italian version looks a bit better than the American cut, but both versions now have excellent picture & sound quality. 

The many extras on this disc include a 41 minute featurette called "Transmissions From A Haunted World", in which various genre aficionados discuss the film, and how it blends Gothic and science fiction elements. It's a decent look at Bava's career up to the point of PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, and the film itself, although it rambles at times. (I must admit I was not familiar with any of the main speakers on this program.)

There is also a 13 minute interview with Lamberto Bava, who goes out of his way to state that the DP on the film, Antonio Rinaldi, truly was in charge of the camerawork. He also mentions that his grandfather (and Mario Bava's father) Eugenio created the spacecraft model used for the movie. 

A "reconstruction" of the Super 8 version of the film is also here (this is essentially just a 17 minute cut of the story). There's also a couple of "Trailers From Hell" programs featuring Joe Dante and Josh Olsen, along with a photo gallery and the film's original American trailer. Tim Lucas' excellent audio commentary from the 2014 Blu-ray release is carried over here, and on the American cut of the film, one can choose to listen to a music score by Kendall Schmidt, which was created for a VHS release. (The original music score by Gino Marinuzzi is much more effective.)

The disc sleeve has reversible artwork on each side, and included in the disc case are six postcards, each with images of various posters for the film. There's also a booklet that contains the entire short story that PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES was based on--"One Night of 21 Hours". The story is translated into English. 

And...(if that isn't enough)....there's an 80 page illustrated booklet, that has five different essays on the film, along with cast, crew, and disc credits. The essays are interesting, but once again I have to admit I was unfamiliar with the writers who penned them. (One thing that all the extras seem obligated to mention is that ALIEN has a lot in common with PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES.) The disc case and the booklet come in a special sleeve with new artwork. 

This is a very impressive package, and if you are a super fan of this film (as I am), you'll want to pick this up, even if you already have it on Blu-ray. I must point out that the extras lack the heavy-hitter names film geeks expect to encounter on these types of special releases, but there's plenty to dive into here.