User Reviews

How come there are so many negative reviews about this one? It actually holds up better than many other sci-fi films of that period (wasn't "Teenagers From Outer Space" also made in 1959?), and if it's clunky at times, its clunkiness is part of its innocent charm. The effects and the matte drawings may not be perfect, but they're sure colorful and entertaining, and the movie's restrained approach (at least more restrained that the title indicates) is most welcome. The presence of a woman scientist is also worth noting; although her treatment by the ship's captain is often sexist, ultimately she proves to be quite intelligent and competent. (**1/2)

This is definitely one movie I grew up watching when I was a kid. The acting may be bad and the science may be convoluted, but it is still a fun ride. You know you are going to have a good B movie when Les Tremayne, who was in so many B's during the 60's, is one of the stars. Also, did you ever notice that the mail crew members were in wing tips? At least they flew in space in style. Also, the character of Dr. Ryan is supposed to have earned respect with her degree, but she is constantly referred to as the girl, but then again, this was the early sixties and what good b-flick doesn't have a female scientist that is all business until she's in peril and then she becomes the typical damsel in distress. This film isn't great, but it definitely is fun.

This sci-fi adventure is not the best and by no means the worst. I agree with the statement that bad sci-fi is comical. Bizarre pink tinting and unusual special effects make this a favorite for the late, late, late show viewers. Space explorers on the planet Mars fight off strange giant amoeba-like monsters and other strange creatures. Pretty cool.

The cast includes Les Tremayne, Naura Hayden, Gerald Mohr and Jack Kruschen. Get comfy and enjoy. Don't feel bad if you nod off for a moment. I agree with adding this to the list of cult classics to not miss.

"The Angry Red Planet" will be a treat for anyone who admires sci-fi flicks from the '50s and early '60s. Basically, a group of astronauts travels to Mars looking for life. They find an over-sized being which appears to be a cross between a rat and a spider. And the Munchkin mayor from "The Wizard of Oz".

I guess that there's nothing particularly unique about this movie; that era yielded many movies about people finding things in outer space. But like I said, if you have a special affinity for old-fashioned B-movies, then this is the movie for you. Watching the DVD with Spanish subtitles makes it even more interesting.

A spaceship returns from Mars; about a couple of months earlier, a 4-person expedition had been sent to the red planet. Most of the picture is a flashback to what transpired over there. The picture is saddled by inane, melodramatic dialog, typical of many sci-fi efforts of the fifties & sixties. Note, for example, how the ship's commander (Mohr) tells another crew member to 'stay there' for no reason; as if moving to another spot inside the ship will cause a problem. Later, the commander orders two of the crew to remain in the ship while he and another go outside. The two he ordered to stay say 'no way' and follow out; I didn't have high hopes for the expedition's success by this point. There's much talk of 'ears twitching' and hugging a freeze-ray gun named 'Cleo' (short for Cleopatra, of course). It would at least be pretty funny, unintentionally, if the story didn't drag.

There's a very slow pace to the whole thing; the astronauts spend as much time looking out the ship's window portals (which change color from red to blue), commenting on what they see, as they do outside actually exploring. The martian landscape, advertised as filmed in 'Cinemagic,' usually resembles animation cut-outs, or drawings, shot through an orange-red filter to give the illusion of interacting with the actors, who do take on an odd surrealistic appearance due to the process. But I don't think it fools anyone over 10 years old. The one clever mention I did notice was that the memories of the surviving astronaut would be tinged with unreality, so that would explain the unreal nature of the martian vista. Oh, okay...

I was amused by some of the astronauts' actions as they begin to explore; right off the bat, they test their freeze gun on a plant, killing it, just for the hell of it. Then the female member hacks with a machete at what she thinks is a tree but turns out to be the leg of the spider-rat monster. Nice going, lady. Look up next time. No wonder the 'intelligence' on Mars gets upset and doesn't mind that one of the lower lifeforms, a giant amoeba, attacks the explorers. The acting isn't too impressive. Mohr especially, had a very annoying technique, saying a line and then abruptly erupting into a huge grin which always creeped me out - reminded me of It! the Terror From Beyond Space. The ending is fairly anti-climactic; don't expect any huge revelations beyond the 'no more expeditions' with freeze guns named Cleo.

First off, I'd like to say that the user comments alone left me with tears in my eyes from laughing. One comment that bad SF movies become good comedies is right on the mark. MST3000 made it's living off that.

If you look at THE ANGRY RED PLANET as the fever dream of a 10 year old comic book reader from 1959, you'll have the handle on this sucker. All the elements are there: the pseudoscience, occasionally logical, more often hilariously infantile. The adolescent boy attitude toward sex, with the "gigolo" captain (good call on that one, guys!) making eyes at the buxom "scientist" with hair so red it's a wonder it doesn't set off the fire alarms. The ridiculous conception of Mars as a planet so alien that everything glows red, yet one alien monster has a mouse face, and the blob alien has an eye that rotates like a kid's toy. The comic relief, an overweight astronaut (!) who sounds like he never finished the 8th grade in Brooklyn and has a psychotic fixation on his ray gun. And of course, the mere fact that alien = dangerously evil. If these people had met E.T., they would have roasted him in two seconds flat! "OW" indeed!

Don't get me wrong. I rated this movie low. Still, it's never boring (except when the scientist tries to explain everything - only to make it all sound more and more ridiculous), and you have to admit, in your little kid core, it makes you jump a few times.

Okay, then don't admit it. I guess you were never 10.

One of only two survivors from a Martian expedition is so traumatized she (Naura Hayden) does not remember the circumstances of the trip.

The film stars Gerald Mohr and is directed by American International Pictures regular Ib Melchior. Melchior was only given 10 days and a budget of $200,000 to make the film. All things considered, he did alright.

The New York Times wrote, "The Angry Red Planet solemnly warns its audiences not to go to Mars. Stubborn patrons who ignore the advice will discover that the planet looks like a cardboard illustration from Flash Gordon and is inhabited by carnivorous plants, a giant amoeba and a species resembling a three-eyed green ant." Well said.

Great film? No. Fun film? Yes.

This movie has it all. Terrible dialog, bad green screen, a person telling the story. Nothing original about the entire movie. I noticed that the characters are exactly the same as the Fantastic Four except they didn't get super powers. This movie does manage to have some bad edits that are funny. It's been a long time since I've seen something edited so poorly. The most interesting thing about this movie is that the monster from the cover of the Misfits record Walk Among Us is from it. It also had the best quote I have heard in awhile. The captain looks at the gauges and says " All the pins are glued to the top!". Classic stupidity. This is definitely worth watching once.

This movie scared the be jeepers out of me.

Well, I saw the original release, and I was eight years old. But it scared me good. There was all the red. There were the scary actors who had really bad five word lines out of a comic book.

There was always something OUT THERE.

There were all the kids crying and running for the exit doors.

and then the nightmares. Took me at least three days to get over this one.

This movie was made for kids. Why are there so many comments up here about this grade D flick?

And some of you are watching this thing as adults?

This movie is funny and painful at the same time. The "Cinemagic" almost gave me a seizure. Despite what they imply, "Cinemagic" is not some innovative technical procedure. It was "developed" as the result of an accident, and they used it because it disguised the fact that their "monsters" were so stupid-looking. I also don't think it's a coincidence that the writer is Sid "Pink".

This movie is good for a laugh, if you are really looking for a movie made in 9 days on 200,000 dollars. It is entertaining; at least I can say that about it. The bat/rat/spider is the highlight.

(edit 12/2021) I wrote this first review 20 years ago, and forgot about it until I saw the movie again, today! Well, I have to update my rating, because it's not really as bad as I thought back then. It still has entertainment value, which is better than plenty of movies I've seen.

I recently saw a nicely restored print of this film on the Showtime cable network. The color is not the best, but certainly very good, and the monaural sound is probably better than what one would have experienced in a typical 1960 theater.

A few visuals:

The mission clock on the spaceship bulkhead has a huge "BULOVA" on the face. The "day" numerals on the mission-elapsed time display look like they was made from black electrician's tape. They only show numbers of days that could be displayed with numerals that had no curved lines: "1", "17", and "47".

The female astronaut carries a stylish black purse on board.

There is a very large indicator on the spaceship bulkhead that says "Oxygen Consumption", with a green light indicating "Normal" and a red one indicating "Excessive".

The astronauts have oxygen cylinders on their backs while on EVA, but there is no glass on their helmet visors; their faces are completely open to the atmosphere.

The shots of the Martian exteriors are really pretty cool, quite innovative for the era and the limited budget. Not only is everything a monochromatic red, but there is an interesting solarization effect, which adds a bit of surrealism and makes the backdrops look less cheesy.

Memorable lines:

"You know, I can't say that I recommend spacesuits for beautiful young dolls. What happened to all your curves?"

and the classic,

"I know you think I acted like a hysterical female there back at the ship, but I can assure you I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

Warning, Mars is red. I mean RED. Between that and the piercing whistle laser, this is a migraine-inducing film.

Standard B film sf plot of its era. Astronauts (old guy, chick, leader, and comic relief) go to Mars, there are monsters, they barely make it home. The best thing I can say about it is that they didn't suffer the cliché "meteor storm," just one meteor. About 50 minutes of actual story (lame as it is), padded by a totally superfluous framing device involving military talking heads.

Oh, and guys, two pickup lines to never use: 1) I'd like to take you into a dark alley and 2) When I use your name, you'll know it.

It's telling that as of the entry of this comment, NO females have submitted a vote of any kind for this movie. Not surprisingly, cheesy science fiction doesn't appeal to them quite as much... If you like a good "B" movie, and especially if you like to satirize them as you watch, you will like this. If you don't have fun watching bad movies, this one's not for you.

Hopelessly inept and dull movie in which the characters stand around in rooms or a rocket ship and talk endlessly. You might think things would perk up when they explore Mars but these scenes are filmed through a heavy red/orange filter which makes everything very murky. The Martian landscape/vegetation consists mainly of drawings and the monsters are entirely unconvincing. There are echoes of 'Bride Of The Monster' when the heroine carefully winds the octopus like tentacle of a flesh eating plant around her before weakly thrashing about, the difference being that the Ed Wood film is a hundred times more entertaining. Better wear earplugs when watching otherwise the 'sci-fi' music score, repeated endlessly, will drive you insane. If you find yourself unable to sleep one night just slip this one into the VCR and your insomnia will be cured in no time.

THE ANGRY RED PLANET was theatrically released on July 1960 however this movie was actually filmed in September 1959 and was given its early preview screenings the following November. The film strongly embodies the 1950s sci-fi visual form and styling and is an important artifact of this colourful and sadly bygone era. Generally this project was a little too ambitious for the budget and resources allotted to it and much of the scenic effects involving views of the Martian landscape, environment and civilization are basically sketches courtesy of a talented comic book illustrator (and one-time son-in-law of Moe Howard of the The Three Stooges) Norman Maurer. But this artwork is so representative of the distinctive style native only to this particular decade that while its inclusion was probably considered embarrassingly amateurish and shoddy during this film's original release Maurer's illustrations can now be viewed with a more historical perspective and appreciation.

THE ANGRY RED PLANET was filmed in an experimental process developed by Norman Maurer referred to as Cinemagic and the intent behind this proposed technique was to give everything in the Mars sequences a uniform appearance so that when Maurer's drawings and sketches were employed for visual reference their insertion would not be apparent to the movie audience. Problems with the film processing lab developers arose from their lack of understanding how to properly utilize the special lenses and components supplied in connection with Cinemagic. The final result on film was a reddish and yellow tinting coupled with an irradiated glow effect to the planetary sequences and a complete failure to camouflage Mr. Maurer's interesting but obvious artwork.

Technical limitations not withstanding THE ANGRY RED PLANET achieves an uncomfortably tense and threatening mood during the spacecrew's tenure on the weird and alien world which is largely conveyed through the quartet's total isolation in their spacecraft surrounded by an apparently dead and motionless terrain devoid of even sound that seemingly inscrutably lies in wait for the earthlings to exit the comfort and security of their spaceship. Moments where the three-eyed Martian intelligence peers through the rocketship's large observation porthole (one of Maurer's drawings coupled with a superimposed ripple effect) and is seen only by the female crew member are genuinely startling and memorably haunting. The different life forms which make an appearance (the carnivorous plant, the bat-rat-spider-crab and the giant amoeba) while not the most convincing incarnations crafted are still inspiringly creative and original manifestations and help impart to this cinematic recreation of the red planet an appropriately nightmarish quality and the unearthliness of a frontier totally beyond human ken. Film composer Paul Dunlap's novel and engaging score which blends conventional musical instrumentation with electronic orchestrations suitably complements the varied moods and events of this most extraordinary adventure.

The strong focus placed upon the female biochemist crew member Iris as someone much more than a mere token figure or romantic interest is an impressive distinction for a sci-fi film of the period and worthy of attention. The events on Mars are revealed in flashback reconstructed from Iris's subsconscious recollections through drug-induced hypnosis (due to her suffering from a traumatized mental block and the inability of the other surviving crew member to be questioned). Upon liftoff from the inhospitable red planet, Iris has the thankless, unpleasant task of disposing of the elder Professor Gettell's body after he suffers a fatal heart seizure (presumably releasing it out the airlock into the vacuum of space) while also caring for the incapacitated Colonel O'Bannion. Later it is Iris who resourcefully comes up with the solution to the truly horrible amoebic growth on the mission commander's arm saving his life while her male colleagues at the space centre hospital remain ineffectually stumped and merely assist Iris in her anxious research for a remedy.

The denouement where the seemingly malevolent Martians (who have monitored the evolution of life on Earth since the dawn of time) permit the survivors of the Mars mission to return to Mother Earth with a taped message denouncing mankind's propensity toward violence and destruction, referring to the human race as "technological adults but spiritual and emotional infants" and flatly prohibiting any further visitations to their planet "unbidden" is a genuine revelation and remarkably mature for a decade where it was a foregone conclusion that man's destiny was in an unbridled exploration and conquest of the universe. THE ANGRY RED PLANET takes the stance that before mankind boldly and hastily ventures into this final frontier it would be prudent to be conscious of the possibility that we might be encroaching upon someone else's domain and what is taken for granted as an ordained right of trespass may well prove to be a granted privilege instead.

THE ANGRY RED PLANET while pockmarked with shortcomings and compromises in production is a unique and imaginative work whose strengths and virtues far outweigh its weaknesses. This film is really the kind of project that should have been handled by the major studios or by master craftsmen like George Pal or Ray Harryhausen but quite often some of the most interesting and inspired ideas were usually tackled by the smaller independent filmmakers without whose significant contribution and involvement sci-fi cinema in general would be much poorer.

This one is wonderfully goofy, gimmick heavy fun, complete with a stylized, stifling atmosphere, hilariously ridiculous dialogue, and a couple of very distinctive monsters. The screenplay (by director / noted sci-fi writer Ib Melchior ,and Sid Pink, based on Pinks' story) tells a tale of a disastrous manned expedition to Mars. The spacecraft is brought back to Earth, and only two survivors remain. However, one of them is suffering a hideous-looking infection. It's up to scientist Iris Ryan (gorgeous, flame haired Nora Hayden) to dig into her memories in order for puzzled military officials to find out what went wrong.

"The Angry Red Planet" gets most of its entertainment value out of its visual approach. It combines sets, paintings, special effects, and the much ballyhooed "Cinemagic" process to create a memorable look. "Cinemagic" basically turns everything red for sequences set on the Martian landscape. It also has some weird and wonderful monsters, pulling out all the stops. We have a Venus flytrap type carnivorous plant, an enormous rat / bat / spider / crab (once you see this thing, you never forget it), and an even more vast one eyed amoeba. At about the 36 minute mark, when our heroes (Hayden, Gerald Mohr, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen) first set foot on the Martian landscape, that's when the fun really begins. Mohr is amusing because he's playing a rather cocky, smarmy guy who insists on calling the leading lady "Irish". Sci-fi icon Tremayne is solid as the obligatory professorial character, and excellent character actor Kruschen - an Oscar nominee two years later for "The Apartment" - supplies the generous comedy relief with his priceless lines.

Melchior gets right down to business: the action just starts immediately, with ALL of the credits, including the title, saved for the end. And those closing credits are supplemented by one of the grooviest tracks one might ever hear in this genre.

A most agreeable diversion for people who just want to put their brains in neutral for 84 well paced minutes.

Seven out of 10.

Surely no Saturday morning TV kids' show was ever done this poorly. After all, those producers had to count on the audience coming back. Well, in this awful offering, they could at least count the money they saved on sets. The script could have been a reject from some long-forgotten space opera serial, with a few smarmy lines added for cool-dude Gerald Mohr to murmur to Naura Hayden. No director could have done anything decent with such a loony storyline, so the action just plods boringly along. The spaceship props are absurd--a Bulova wall clock and portable typewriter, for example--but the planet sets have got to be some of the worst in cinematic history. Most are crude drawings, and it's all bathed in an often misfocused red light. Even Mohr's bare hairy chest is used as a prop. And it's a bad one--as rib-thin as the plot. Any viewer who can make it to the end of this movie will hear a message from the Martians--and will probably agree completely!

I saw this movie in the theater when I was 5 years old and it stayed in my memory all these years. By today's standards it comes up short, but I've seen movies with hundreds of times the budget that were a lot worse. Sure the acting is bad, but anything John Wayne did before 1939 could not be called good acting either. This movie does have some positives working for it. The female among the 4 astronauts is a biologist/zoologist and is not just window-dressing. The martian monsters and landscape/city are imaginative. They had some kind of 1g drive that allowed their rather capacious spacecraft to not need zero gravity effects, although they could have showed the turnover at the halfway point. All in all this is not the stinker some other viewers have labeled it. My score 6/10.

I gave this movie a 2, and though I consider myself a science fiction fan, I found this movie very difficult to take seriously. It was on AMC one late night, and I'm glad I saw it for free. This movie is probably good for a few laughs, but not much more.

The special effects are about average for the time period - not awful, but not great, either. Of course we know more about Mars now than we did back then, but we really can't hold that against this film. The main reason I did not like this movie is because of the story.

There were several parts of this movie that I wish would have been explored in a little more detail - the astronaut's injury/condition, the city on Mars, the creature in the lake, etc. Overall, the movie is much like a lengthy episode of the 1960s version of The Outer Limits - complete with a cheesy ending.