johnblackkjr It hard for me to believe that this film is now in public domain. Because there is "No Rights Holder" anybody can show this film for free . That's too bad because this film is desperately needs to be restored.So what is with all the hate? This film in reality has a strange/weird vibe to it and it makes enjoyable. The story is simple. Martians kidnap Santa Claus. The martians need Santa to bring joy to their children. If this film gets remade it will be bad. For all the hate on this film it is not really all that bad. If you want to see a terrible film then watch "Christmas Grace" or "Salvation Street"

O2D This movie is considered one of the worst of all time.Although i don't completely disagree,I can honestly say it's probably the best movie I have reviewed so far. I can't find any definitive proof but I'm pretty sure this was made for TV.There are little breaks,it's 81 minutes and not rated and it's just very poorly made.All made for TV trademarks. The best part of the movie is Pia Zadora(who???) in the role of a lifetime as Girmar,the emotionless Martian child. So the Martians are advanced enough that they receive earth(American) TV and they understand and speak English. Yet they are dumb enough to think Santa Claus is what their planet needs. There's lots of terrible acting and plot holes. The Martians abduct Santa at gunpoint(the guns are hilarious and they never shoot anything),they also take 2 children so they won't be able to tell anyone what happened to Santa.Two seconds after they leave earth,the entire world knows Martians did it. They use stock US military footage for the space force that goes after the Martians,you know...the United States Space Force....... There are a couple Batman-esque "Bang,Pow" fights to counter the rambling dialogues.It's not enough to save the movie but it's something. There are apparently about 9 people on Mars,yet when one puts on Santa's spare costume,half of them think he really is Santa. The abducted children never cry or complain or ask for their mommy or to go home.They also quickly memorize all the Martians names,an amazing feat. Santa is happy and making really bad jokes the whole time and the name is a total lie.Santa Claus does nothing but make toys.At one point,the kids shoot bubbles at one Martian but that's it. At the end he just says goodbye and they leave. If you love terrible movies,you must see this. If you value your time, you shouldn't have even read this review.

Jonathon Dabell Oh dear! As misguided family movies go, they don't come much more misguided than Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. A meagre budget does not necessarily spell doom for a film (check out some of Mario Bava's films, for instance, which had little money behind them but still emerged pretty good on the whole), but in this case the lack of funding is evident in almost every frame. The whole film is a desperately sad attempt to make a movie for kids and adults to enjoy together – kids are likely to be hugely unimpressed by the lame comedy and boring story, while adults will be depressed by the woeful acting, production values and plot. One critic wrote: "frankly, I am ashamed to be from the same species as the people who made this movie". Which sums it up. Perfectly.On Mars, the Martian children are acting strangely. They seem lethargic and depressed; Martian leader Kimar (Leonard Hicks) notices that his own kids are especially gloomy, and wonders if their obsession with tuning into Earth TV programmes is affecting them. The Martian leadership council summon a wise old elder to ask what he thinks is wrong with the kids. The elder (Carl Don) says that the Martian kids are not allowed to play, to have fun, to be young-at-heart, etc, and this, coupled with the fact that it is almost Christmas time on Earth, is making them unhappy. By watching so many Earth shows, they are learning all about Santa Claus and festive spirit, and feel like they're missing out. Kimar decides to take a unit of men to Earth to kidnap Santa (John Call) and bring him back to Mars to cheer up the children. They accidentally end up capturing Billy (Victor Stiles) and Betty (Donna Conforti), a couple of Earth children, as well as old Saint Nick himself. Trouble beckons when Martian subordinate Voldar (Vincent Beck), who has been vociferously opposed to the plan from the word go, tries to sabotage the mission by doing harm to Santa and the two Earth children.The sets wobble and bounce, the outfits look ultra-cheap and unintentionally funny, the make-up is pitiful (towards the end the green Martian make-up must have almost run out as the Martians look nearly white… unless there's a whole racist subtext at work?), and the performances are roundly terrible. Don as the elder is so awful, adopting a croaky drawl which makes him sound like a constipated cockerel, that the audience is reduced to guffaws during his scene. The others fare little better (Stiles and Conforti are wooden as the Earth kids; Call chuckles away inanely as Santa; and Bill McCutheon as comic relief character Dropo is so irritating one wishes one could strangle him and quietly dispose of him in the space garbage!) At least Hicks and Beck try to give interesting performances as bickering Martians, although the dumb dialogue defeats their efforts. Worst of all is the utter deadly dullness of the film. I literally cannot watch this movie in a horizontal position – I attempted to view it twice in bed, and was sound asleep both times within mere minutes. In the end I stood up and watched the movie whilst ironing to make sure I stayed awake. That bad, you ask? You bet ya!

Rick Smith The title alone is ridiculous, but growing up in the 70's/80's this was one of those films shown during the holiday's every year and for some reason you watched it. The costumes, set design are very low budget. As an example, the martians are painted green (because that's what martians would look like from the red planet), and the clothing they wear is....you guessed it, green. Including the helmets, boots, etc...Tom Hatten subjected the youth on weekends to this I believe, as a way to prove that holiday films could only get better in the future. If you were a fan of this film when you were young, re-watch it alone before subjecting your children to it so you can remember just how 'good' it was. Unless of course, you wish to cause them pain and regret spending time with you. I suggest if you are a divorced parent, you choose one of the Rankin holiday animated classics if you want something that hearkens back to your childhood.