The title Queen of Blood (1966) might induce the unwary viewer to expect a classic supernatural romp through the countryside – and they’d be wrong. Queen of Blood belongs in the horror-scifi genre. Featuring names John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, and a very young Dennis Hopper, it tells the story of a mission from Earth to save an alien craft from another solar system that has crashed on Mars. Sacrifices are made to finally discover the sole survivor – a green skinned woman who needs to drink blood to survive. She gradually destroys the crew on the return mission, draining each of them dry. The two remaining survivors finally destroy the green woman with a simple scratch across the back (what?), and deliver her eggs to Mission Control.
The acting was acceptable, the plot was quite restrained and even somewhat logical, although personally I would have chucked the green woman out the airlock after the first casualty. The characters were sketched in, and it was hard to become attached to any of them, an unfortunate problem which may be the most crippling problem in the movie – if you can get beyond some of the special effects.
But the real standout was the title sequence and scenery artwork, which had my Arts Editor commenting several times on its graphic nature and beauty. There’s little of subtlety, but it’s worth a quick watch if you enjoy gaudy scenery.
