VividSimon Simply Perfect

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

christopher-underwood Great title for a film, but just not this one. Over ambitious project inevitably leading to it becoming pretentious, silly and unforgivably, dull. It starts promisingly enough with a disparate group of dignitaries all masked at sat about a banqueting table as pretty girls in diaphanous gowns prepare to submit to their every whim in the name of the Marquis de Sade. Some of us will wish the film continued in this vein instead of lurching into post apocalyptic Twilight Zone territory, with blindness, zombieness and the threat of radiation and the end of the world. Paul Naschy is fine but looks a little more awkward than usual. I find he is usually better when working for himself.

John Seal Ever wanted to see Paul Naschy shoot clay pigeons? Look no further than The People Who Own the Dark, a superior nuclear holocaust thriller from under-appreciated director Leon Klimovsky. Naschy plays Bourn, a military officer who joins several other men at a remote château for a night of depraved debauchery with a group of five beautiful women (one of whom is played by Maria Perschy). Just as the film threatens to head into Jess Franco territory, however, it takes a 180-degree turn when a nuclear explosion damages the house and knocks out the power. Now our group of de Sade wannabes are faced with the greatest challenge of all: surviving the radioactive fallout that's inexorably heading their way--and to make matters worse, the residents of the nearest town have all been blinded as a result of the explosion and have developed some disturbing, zombie-like tendencies. The original Spanish-language version of this film is apparently twelve minutes longer than the English-dubbed cut, but good luck finding it. Presumably the early scenes involving Lenin and Marx make more sense in the uncut version. Then again, maybe not.

Joe 25 Well, don't get me wrong, this has a nice plot, the acting is better than most films of its type and the direction is nice. But that can't disguise the fact while the movie was good, the ending was just atrocious. I definetely would have given this movie three and a half stars, but due to the lame ending, gave this one only two.

Richard_Harland_Smith Forget the reference books (including the IMDb) - PLANETA CIEGO was directed by Argentinian filmmaker Leon Klimovsky, also responsible for WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN, VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES (both with Paul Naschy, who co-stars here, too) and THE VAMPIRE'S NIGHT ORGY. A group of prominent business and military men enjoying a weekend debauch in the cellar of a rural bordello are spared when a nuclear attack devastates Europe. Finding the locals blinded, and drawing hatred upon themselves for looting the village stores, the survivors board up the villa and prepare for an attack by night. PLANETA CIEGO, which is also known as THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK (a shortened version that played in America) and ULTIMO DESEO is an exciting and disturbing (if non-graphic) reworking of themes found in George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The cast includes Alberto deMendoza (HORROR EXPRESS) and Maria Perschy (also in Klimovsky's VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES). This film has for too long been attributed to Amando de Ossorio, probably because he directed the well-known "Blind Dead" films. Well worth seeking out.