QUEEN OF BLOOD

US, 1966, 78 minutes, Colour.
John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, Florence Marly, Robert Boon, Don Eitner.
Directed by Curtis Harrington.

Released in 1966, it is one of those B-budget science fiction films from the 1950s and 1960s that have something of a cult following.

Perhaps its greatest significance is that its Dir and writer, Curtis Harrington, said that it was a strong influence on Alien. And, this is repeated in the documentary released on the 40th anniversary of Alien, memory: the Origins of Alien.

While the film was released three years before the moon landing, it is set in a futuristic (for 1966) time, 1990. By that stage, according to the screenplay, travel to the moon was comparatively easy and there were centres already built their. There are also voyages to Mars – and, the screenplay seems to digest that it was comparatively easy to pop up to Mars and back.

John Saxon and Jenny Mulgrave are the two central astronauts. Also in the cast is a very young -looking Dennis Hopper. And there is some gravitas at the space Centre with Basil Rathbone as the leader.

There is a lot of discussion about the space program at the time, the role of astronauts, the regimes, journeys to the moon, exploration tomatoes, being stranded on moon is beyond Mars.

Eventually, during a visit, the astronauts discover a spacecraft and a female alien. She is taken for observation and for the world to discover more about interplanetary life. However, Green in appearance, it turns out that she has vampire tendencies and savages some of the male crew. She has a very sinister smile – but, is destroyed after being scratched and her green blood leads to her death.

However, in Alien fashion, she has left a large number of eggs throughout the earth spacecraft and the final scene focuses on them – and the implication for the human race.