Planet of the Vampires (1965)

As wonderful as the cover artwork is, it's not wholly accurate of the film it promotes, but Mario Bava's sci-fi horror still has something to offer fans of the genre. A full appreciation requires knowledge of the production, but it can be summed-up as being a Bava flick that achieves a lot with very little.
It's a tale of unknown terror and creeping unease set upon an alien planet that has an atmosphere of oxygen and dry ice, lit like a colourful pulp novel cover. The plot is slow but strangely tense, and sets are sparsely decorated but oddly claustrophobic. It works mostly because of the director's eye for artful composition and his ability to make cheapo look semi-costly. It's been suggested that PotV may have been a direct influence on Alien (1979), and despite Scott's claims to the contrary the evidence seems to be there.

3 strange signals out of 5