... arguably the best of the Corman-produced recycling jobs and as fun a haunted spaceship film as there was until Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires.

Chalk this one up to a campy title that's worth getting for the Hopper factor and the laughs--all unintentional.

Even though it drags its feet through most of the voyage, it still manages to deliver some chills come climax time.

**_Eerie sci-fi from the mid-60s with the help of footage from a few Russian flicks_** In the near-future, when Earthlings have a moon base and can travel to nearby planets, a radio transmission is received from Mars wherein an alien craft has crash-landed and needs assistance. Two spaceships are sent on the rescue mission, but serious problems manifest on the return voyage. The cast is headed by John Saxon, Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper. “Queen of Blood,” aka “Planet of Blood” (1966), is an interesting movie in that it uses stock footage from a few Russian films (cited below) as ‘frosting’ on the cake of an entirely different story, resulting in a moody, slow-burn sci-fi experience. People compare it to the Italian "Planet of the Vampires” from the year prior, but this has a more compelling story. Both of these flicks obviously influenced superior future films, like “Alien” and “Lifeforce.” While I suppose the two women in “Planet of the Vampires” are superior (a blonde and a redhead no less), Judi Meredith isn’t exactly a slouch and Florence Marly is effective as the mysteriously seductive green-skinned extraterrestrial. The movie was released the same year that Star Trek debuted. If you appreciate serious Star Trek episodes from its first season, you’ll appreciate what “Queen of Blood” has to offer. I’m talking about episodes like "The Cage," "Where No Man Has Gone Be…