NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Radiance Blu-ray (April 2024): Radiance have, also, transferred Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "4K scan of the film from the original negative under the supervision of Lamberto Bava and carried out at Fotocinema in Rome in collaboration with CSC Cineteca Nazionale". A text screen, in Italian states "The digital restoration of Terror in Space was created from the original negative 35 mm Kodak Eastman Color, made available by Italian International Film. The processing was carried out by comparing the colorimetry from a 35mm positive copy of the time, preserved at the National Film Library.
The Color Correction was carried out under the supervision of Lamberto Bava, assistant director of the film.
The processes of scanning, digital restoration and return to film (filmrecording) through the Digital Intermediate 35mm KODAK polyester process and related 35mm color positive copies were carried out by the Fotocinema factory in Rome in 2015."

We compared two DVDs of Planet of the Vampires to two Blu-rays (Kino's 2014 and 2022 1080P upgrade), HERE - and to screen captures of Radiance's 2024 Blu-ray below.

This new Radiance Blu-ray package has both Italian and English language cuts of the film. The latter is two minutes shorter and was the only one available on the previous Kino Blu-rays. This is done with seamless branching exporting the image quality to the same level for both versions on the dual-layered Radiance Blu-ray.

No doubt about it that this new 4K restoration is the best yet. It shows more information in the frame, has richer colors (greens, reds) and black levels are more pitch. Flash tones warm and sharpness improves. Fans of the film - and Bava devotees will be very pleased with these two versions, 4K restored, and transferred with a max'ed out bitrate. 

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Radiance use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono tracks (24-bit) in the original Italian or English language DUB. Barry Sullivan being the only English-speaking performer, Norma Bengell did her dialogue phonetically. Sullivan's lines were spoken in English, Bengell's in Portuguese, Evi Marandi's in Italian and Ángel Aranda's in Spanish. There is also a third option - the English version with a synthesizer Kendall Schmidt score (sampled for 20-minutes as part of the Blu-ray supplements on Kino's previous edition,) that is in DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel at 16-bit. I like those segments reminding me of Gil Melle (The Andromeda Strain.) Kendall is currently a member of the boy band Big Time Rush. Planet of the Vampires has aggressive moments - space ships, laser-style guns - mostly accentuated post-event by some grisly Bava-esque still visuals (see below.) The original eerie score is credited to Gino Marinuzzi Jr. - notable for conducting The Rome Symphony Orchestra for selected works of Antonio Vivaldi in Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach (also genre films Mars, God of War, Hercules and the Captive Women), sounding delightfully campy in the lossless transfer. Radiance offer optional English subtitles (Italian translation or English SDH - samples below) on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Radiance Blu-ray offers the 2014 (July 30th - which would have been Mario Bava's 100th birthday) commentary by Tim Lucas (author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark) for the English-language version. Tim informs us of the budget of only $200,000 for Planet of the Vampires, that the film is a particular showcase for Bava's use of live and in-camera special effects which he created with the assistance of his father; sculptor, cinematographer and special effects pioneer Eugenio Bava - and Carlo Rambaldi. He describes an early shot that does not appear at all in the Italian version, the film's large sound stage, and details of many of the space effects (lighting, framing, dollying, matte-ing etc.), the cast / crew (with many quotes), the DUB'ers, and so much more. Its a must-listen. Radiance include a new (2024) 40-minute documentary feature, Transmission from a Haunted World Mario Bava and the Space Gothic, which explores Planet of the Vampires, Mario Bava and the connection between gothic and science fiction. It is co-directed by Dima Ballin and Kat Ellinger (What the Blood Moon Brings: Messiah of Evil, A New American Nightmare); featuring interviews with Guy Adams (A Few Words For The Dead), Xavier Aldana Reyes (Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Film at Manchester Metropolitan University), Alexandra Benedict (co-author of The Christmas Murder Game), Johnny Mains (Bound in Blood: Stories of Cursed Books, Damned Libraries and Unearthly Authors) and John Llewellyn Probert (FrightFest Guide to Mad Doctor Movies). Many of the photos used are in Tim Lucas' book Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark with permission. Included is a 1/4 hour archival (Summer 2022) interview with Lamberto Bava - in Italian with optional English subtitles. He talks about the experience of making Planet of the Vampires, his father and the sci-fi genre in Italy. Also as a supplement are two, 17-minute, Super 8 Versions (Italian and English) - a reconstruction of the cut-down version distributed as Planet der Vampire. repeated from previous releases are Joe Dante and Josh Olsen trailer commentaries TFH) where the filmmakers provide a short overview of the film - together they run a total of almost 7-minutes. Lastly is a film trailer and a press and image gallery from the Tim Lucas / Alan Y. Upchurch collection. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by 'Time Tomorrow' and a limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Kyle Anderson, Martyn Conterio (Black Sunday - Devil's Advocates), Barry Forshaw (author of Historical Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to Fiction, Film & TV), George Daniel Lea (The Horror Collection: Sci-Fi Edition) and Jerome Reuter plus archival materials. A collection of six exclusive postcards featuring promotional material is included.

Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires was co-financed by AIP (wanting to co-produce rather then simply obtain distribution rights) and Italy's Fulvio Lucisano for Italian International Film. The English-language script was written by Danish-American Ib Melchior (The Angry Red Planet, Reptilicus, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Journey to the Seventh Planet). The Planet of the Vampires story involves two space vessels, the Galliott and the Argos, trying to land on a mist-shrouded planet. The crew eventually become hypnotically possessed driving them into a murderous state by an undetermined alien force. There are many influential comparisons to Ridley Scott's Alien. Bava's remarkable use of color, lighting and effects (utilizing miniatures, mirrors etc.) are miraculous for the budget constraints. It seems as if he could make an effective genre film with a broken lava-lamp. Planet of the Vampires has a desirable pulpy feel that may be hard to intentionally duplicate. It's quite a thrill to own the Radiance Blu-ray with its upgraded 1080P image, both versions, essential Lucas commentary, new documentary, booklet and exceptional packaging. For many a must-own treasure of physical media.

Gary Tooze