‘Neuro-Vegetative Imbalance’…? Have No Fear, A Serenity Drug Is Here

In the 1930s French pharmaceutical company, Laboratoires Lobica, introduced the drug Sérénol. Sérénol was developed to treat ‘Neuro-Vegetative Imbalance’ – symptoms include: anxiety, emotionalism, nervous dyspepsia, etc.. From 1935-1940 Lobica ran a print advertising campaign to promote the serenity drug in medical journals and magazines. The theme was fear. Below are a few illustration details from the adverts – they’d have worked just fine in mystery/horror promotions as well.

Lobica Sérénol 1935

Lobica Sérénol 1937

Lobica Sérénol 1939

Lobica Sérénol 1940

Advertisements via Jerome Dubois collection.

In Which Italy’s Kirlian Camera Splashes The ‘Queen Of Blood’ With A Dark Wave

Italian dark wave ensemble, Kirlian Camera, pays tribute to the 1966 sci-fi horror classic, Queen of Blood.

 

Song: ‘The Path Of Flowers’ – From the 2005 album release, Invisible Front).

Queen Of Blood was released in 1966 by American International Pictures. The film is considered one of ‘the best of the “Corman Cut-Ups” – the spate of films produced during the sixties by cobbling together footage pirated from Russian science fiction films and new material shot by [any one] of Roger Corman’s stable of up-and-coming film-makers, in this case Curtis Harrington.’*  In Queen Of Blood, Harrington uses footage from the Russian film Meshte Nastreshu, ‘A Dream Comes True’.

The Plot: (Set in the year, 1990) After aliens contact Earth via radio to inform humans of an impending visit, their ambassador spaceship crashes on Mars. Astronaut rescuers recover only one green-skinned survivor – a female with insatiably vampire-like appetites.*

The film features John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, and Czech actor Florence Marly as the Alien Queen.