That should be "zombies" rather than "vampires", but American International picked the English title.
When responding to a distress beacon, two spacecraft make forced landings on an unknown planet. The crews become psychotically murderous until punched around a bit. They discover a derelict alien spacecraft with large calcified Space Jockey remains. The worst thing? Dead crew members won't stay dead, and come back changed.
Let's get the bad out of the way first:
- Pointless and incoherent techno-declamations waste the first 10 minutes.
- Lots of running around and screaming to no purpose.
- We only get to know a few of the crew members; the others are kind of anonymous. (They swap one actor midway through; I didn't notice).
- As I mentioned for Barbarella (1968), there's something painful about Italian science fiction.
- I don't know whether to complain about the costumes or not. Maybe spacemen will want strangely detailed motorcycle leathers. (Actually neoprene wetsuits, I think).
- The limited budget and rudimentary effects might take us out of the story, but I would argue for accepting those restrictions in this type of film.
- Mario Bava completists.
- Those interested in the history of the SF/Horror genre.
- Anyone with a fondness for old pulp magazine rocketship adventures.
- Fans of Alien (1979) who want to see the remarkable parallels for themselves.
It has other good features as well:
- A persistently ominous and creepy tone. No humor or cute mugging at all.
- Lovely color and better than expected composition and camera work.
- The pulp magazine cover vibe is strong in this one. We see more retro-SF these days and it fits into that revival.