Radiance Films: Planet of the Vampires (1965) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Radiance Films

Back in 2017 up until the release of Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant, I did a review for Mario Bava’s seminal 1965 science-fiction horror odyssey Planet of the Vampires.  A visually stunning little engine that could directly influencing the 1979 space horror epic Alien right down to the jockey in the derelict ship, haunted corridors and creepy looking planetary rock lava formations.  At the time, the copy of the film I reviewed came from Scorpion Releasing and only consisted of the English dubbed version rather than the Italian language version.  While scratchy here and there, it looked fine if not a little bit on the brighter side revealing matte lines in miniature effects shots.  My personal favorite Bava film whose reputation began further percolating in the West in the wake of Dario Argento and more recently Nicolas Winding Refn, the film was rereleased again in 2022 by Kino Lorber this time in a newly minted 2K restoration.  Though an improvement upon previous releases, the director’s son (and original assistant director) Lamberto Bava oversaw a new 4K digital restoration conducted in Rome with the original Italian release version and its subset of opening credits for the very first time.

 
In 2024, Radiance Films sought to finally do on Blu-ray disc the definitive home video release of Planet of the Vampires utilizing the new 4K scan from Fotocinema in Rome and with the support of Nicolas Winding Refn in the correct aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in maybe one of the boutique label’s most extensive packages yet.  Featuring the film in the best it has ever looked on Blu-ray disc, the set also includes the English dubbed version for posterity with both tracks in uncompressed monoaural audio which still packs a punch here and there.  There’s a new documentary film called Transmissions from a Haunted World about Mario Bava’s fusion of the gothic horror fable with science fiction into a new kind of fear of the unknown.  There’s an entire Super 8mm version of the film, a running audio commentary with Tim Lucas, interviews with Lamberto Bava, Joe Dante and Josh Olsen trailer commentaries.  But most of all, in the hardbound box there’s an 80 page booklet featuring original essay writings, six postcard reprints and a 20-page booklet including Renato Pestriniero’s original short story influencing the film.

 
Not even two years later, Radiance probably feeling the heat from fans asking why they couldn’t also get the film in uncompressed 4K UHD is back with more or less the same package design and extras as the 2024 edition with one caveat: it’s got a 4K disc with Dolby Vision HDR encoding included.  For those like myself who bought the previous Radiance set, this will now officially be the fourth time I’ve replaced and upgraded my set for this particular film.  No matter, the amount of times I replaced and upgraded Alien over the years far exceeds it.  What really stands out in this 4K UHD disc edition over the Blu-ray are the colors and black levels with some shots of the ship landing having an authentic patina to them and expressionistic looking brightness levels that further illuminate the film’s armada of feuding colors.  Grain levels are crisp with no visible print damage thank to the meticulous restoration but having the Dolby Vision HDR gives the film an added chemical boost not present on the Blu-ray edition.  If you’re worried about getting rid of your Blu-ray copy, no matter, Radiance Films have included the disc from that release in this set also. 

 
Probably the best home video release of this film we’ll likely ever see, this new 4K edition raises the question for some buyers just how many times one is willing to indulge again and again in a particular picture.  While Radiance’s editions indeed look the best in terms of carefully curating the brightness and contrast levels so effects shots aren’t wrecked by over lighting the footage, most viewers who just bought the Blu-ray box will probably just want to hang onto what they have and not fall into the trappings of double dipping.  However, if you don’t own this film in any iteration, the new 4K Radiance box is surely the way to go for having that extra bit of uncompressed imagery and color ranges on your 4K television being pushed sometimes to their visual limits.  For my money it represents another fantastic release for Radiance Films but again I can understand why buyers who got the previous Blu-ray edition made from the same restoration might be leery about rebuying it once more two years later.  Colors and grain levels are slightly more pronounced on the 4K edition but both releases are hard to go wrong with.

--Andrew Kotwicki