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*Sadly, she died of a heart attack at only 59. A brief bio can be found here.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Long Live the Queen
Using footage taken from higher budget Soviet sci-fi productions and combining them with newly shot low budget footage, Queen of Blood is a little wonder of a movie. Cheap, ill-paced and flatly written, it nevertheless has something about it. Something ethereal, intangible. And while it's got everyone from Basil Rathbone and John Saxon to Dennis Hopper and Forry Ackerman (yes, that Forry Ackerman!) it's Florence Marly*, as the Queen of Blood, that gives it that something special. Director Curtis Harrington gives her a nice intro, pulling the camera in close as she comes to on the American ship, after being found unconscious on the Martian surface. As she's gawked at by Hopper, she slowly opens her eyes until she spies him and gives him a smile. Later, she kills him for his blood but honestly, she's the sweetest villain you're ever likely to see.
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*Sadly, she died of a heart attack at only 59. A brief bio can be found here.
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*Sadly, she died of a heart attack at only 59. A brief bio can be found here.
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12 comments:
I love "Queen of Blood" - especially the ending. I remember thinking when "Alien" premiered that it was just trying to match - on a purely visceral level - what "Queen of Blood" had pulled off through sheer audacity.
There's a part of your brain that screams "Fake! Cheap! Obvious green grease paint" while the other part, the meatier, stringier part of your gray matter, hisses "Shut up, I'm watching this."
Robert, I love Ackerman's fanciful look as he holds the tray of eggs, grinning with an implied wink to the camera. It's a shame the film was so low budget because it's a good scenario that plays fairly well. And they did a pretty good job matching with the Soviet films, using the same helmet for the queen as the woman (who of course, looks nothing like her) in the Soviet footage.
All in all, an enjoyable movie.
Arbo, I put together lots of clips from it for a video because it is very interesting visually, and I'm talking about the actual parts made for this movie, not the culled footage. It has a very sixties look to it, one I unashamedly love.
there is nothing quite like!...Queen of Blood"!...I keep forgetting about this one..need to check it out again..it is.. way out!
Christopher, it is indeed! She's great too!
I'm glad I didn't see this as a kid..I was terrified of monster women.
and even now..I'm not sure whos more DISTURBING..Alien or Florence Marly..
I've never seen this, but she reminds me of the Queen of the Moon in THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.
Is it almost like she's a stand-in for her? Kind of like she's the Queen of the Moon in Munchausen by proxy?
You just couldn't wait, could you?
The face absolutely looks terrifying!
Oh, but she's so sweet. She only kills because she needs blood to survive. She's like a lost puppy throughout the movie.
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