QUEEN OF BLOOD

Released by AIP in March 1966, Curtis Harrington's QUEEN OF BLOOD (aka PLANET OF BLOOD) was a science-fiction/horror film starring Basil Rathbone, John Saxon, Dennis Hopper, Judi Meredith and Florence Marly. Forrest J Ackerman also has a bit part. Roger Corman contributed to a large portion of the film, but his name was left off the credits because his was a union member at the time participating in a non-union film.

Florence Marly was a personal friend of Harrington's and starred as the titular character, a vampire sporting an alien beehive hairdo. Harrington had a rough time getting her cast in the role, because she was an older woman (she was 46 at the time), but he won out. "I'm sure he [Corman] had some bimbo in mind, you know? So I fought for Marley because I felt she had the required exotic quality that would work in the role." He later describe her performance as, "Eerie, intense and otherworldly."

The script was written by Harrington and partially based on a Soviet science-fiction film. He recycled footage from various sources to cut costs.With a reported budget of a paltry $60,000, it grossed over $17,000,000 at the box office.

A novelization of the screenplay was written by Charles Neutzel and published by Greenleaf Classics in 1966 with a sexy cover by Robert Bonfils. Commonly referred to as a "hack" writer, Neutzel was a friend of Ackerman's and painted several early covers of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND.

In 1973 Florence Marly made a 16 mm follow-up to QUEEN OF BLOOD titled SPACE BOY! with an electronic soundtrack that reportedly Frank Zappa played drums on.

In an interview with Harrington he recalled: "Some years later, it was very flattering to realize that I had created the prototype for a whole series of science-fiction movies dealing with monstrous creatures from outer space."

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