Amazon.com: Although widely admired among longtime science fiction fans, The Angry Red Planet is merely a substandard entry from the genre's 1950s heyday. With wooden performances, atrocious dialogue, and some monsters that would scare only very young kids, it's perfect fodder for a rainy- day marathon of cheesy movies, as long as you keep your expectations low. Following the standard plot of its day, the movie tells (in flashback) the story of four astronauts who land Rocket M-1 on Mars, only to find the "angry red planet" lives up to its nickname. The plants are carnivorous, there's a gigantic "bat-rat-spider-crab" that can snap humans in half with its pincers, and a slithering Jello-beast with a rotating eyeball that threatens to dissolve the rocket ship into a pile of digested goo.
Naturally, there's an onboard flirtation between shapely space-gal Nora Hayden and astro-hunk Gerald Mohr (who inexplicably spends the last half-hour with his hairy chest exposed), while Les Tremayne and Jack Kruschen play the stock characters (respectively) of elder scientist and blue-collar engineer--the latter toting an "ultrasonic freezer gun" that forces attacking monsters to chill out. If that's not enough to whet your schlock-movie appetite, the scenes on Mars were filmed in a gimmicky pink-hued process called "Cinemagic," which resembles a negative image covered in Pepto-Bismol. Is this any way to spend 83 precious minutes? Look at it this way: When an angry Martian warns humans to stay away ("you are technological adults, but spiritual and emotional infants"), you may be laughing enough to make it all worthwhile. --Jeff Shannon
BAD MOVIE! This movie is really, really, really bad. Cardboard was never considered in movie history as a viable monster threat, however in this movie everything is cardboard! The one eyed monster (not cardboard) that is slimy and scary that infects humans turning them into slimy one eyed monsters is scary, it will make you want to scream and run in agony! why? Because the movie is filmed in everybody's favorite Red and White film- yes red and white not black and white film, so it is impossible to really see what is going on in the movie(the light on Mars is red). When you compare the acting to the backdrops and cardboard sets, the acting is good, you actually start to get attached to the characters, for example the fat guy with the freeze ray gun that he talks to, the doctor who is amazed that there would be a giant cardboard spider on Mars and a lake of pure ammonia. The plot of sending folks to Mars in a rocket ship was a popular theme back then, but this movie could not come up with its own variant, so the writers pulled from the other movies hoping that the moviegoer would not notice. If at all possible get some other movie to watch - like something done by High school drama club would be better! Did I mention the cardboard monstes!
angry red planet angry red planet is a really good sci-fi movie. i first saw movie on tv when i was a little kid and i thought movie was scary because of all the monsters in movie. this movie is a real roller coster ride.
Scared the bejezuz out of me when I was a kid... ...and I still look back on that with fondness. That giant rotating eye thing sent me scurrying for the covers! It may be tame by today's standards but it does evoke a time when you pretty much knew a monster when you saw one.
Lounge Lizard Goes To Mars Yes it's true, Gerald Mohr(with slicked back hair and jumpsuit zipper pulled down to show his manly chest hair) looks and sounds like a Vegas lounge act that got booked for a trip to Mars. Using a red filter that makes everything look like a Pepto-bismol bottle that broke, this silly but fun blast from the past is an alright time killer. The plot, a ship sent to Mars crashes upon it's return and one of the survivors has to explain what happened. As this is done we flash back and see everything unfold. Space Bats(or at least that is what they look like ) and other creatures await our group. Like I said nothing Earth shattering, but campy fun to be had if you can get into it.
This kind of reminds me of something you could see on Mystery Science Theater 3000 It's cheaply enough made, but it's actually above average from what I expected. This was about a trip to Mars in which the rocket is 3 weeks late returning, and when they do return there's no recording of the experiences of the trip, and one returns with a green growth on his hand and arm. It's left to the memory of the female person on the trip to tell the story of thier experiences on Mars. The idea of using an unpainted, or undrawn background, and placed under a red light may have been sounding like a cutting of the corners, but it's made impressive with close-ups. The music by far was the best especially at the end. I don't know if Paul Dunlap has any albums out, but if he does I'll look into them. This is a assembly line written story, and cheap special photographic effects, but somehow it works, and works pretty well here. Not necessarily an Oscar movie, but it'll make for some interesting memories. I know I'll wonder if I have a nightmare about a Batratbabyspider tonight.