A number of American films were made in the 60s using footage from Russian science fiction movies. This was one of the best ones, mainly because they made a decent attempt to create a new film. It also has a pretty good cast, including Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper and John Saxon, and a great credit sequence with some weird music over some odd paintings.
This really is a two parter – part one is a mission to rescue a foreign space ship on Mars, involving two expeditions. Part two has them find one survivor and take them back to Earth – only to realise that survivor lives off human blood (just like Alien). The second part is the strongest and is genuinely spooky, especially the discovery that she has left eggs all over the ship.
I recognise this isn’t the best movie in the world – all those awkward segues to cover major plot points (eg discovery of life on another planet), all that set up to get the people to Mars (there's an incredible amount of plot in order to justify John Saxon and his mate joining the expedition) – but it has a unique atmosphere; there’s just something about it. Florence Marley has genuine creepiness as the alien, the eggs are effective, there's surprising feminism (the lead women is a scientist and full part of the expedition and the other cast members don't go on about it incessantly and/or sexually harass her constantly).
NB I saw this again on DVD at one in the morning – it’s totally the way to see it. In a quiet house, flicking image on a television, no one to judge you for watching it…
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