Spikeopath Is Mars Rocket Crew Alive?So screams the newspaper headline when it is found that the Mars expedition rocket is on its way back to Earth. When only two of the four original crew are found on board, one with a horrible fungus growth attached to him, the scientists and doctors desperately try to get to the bottom of what happened on the mission.It's a raging "B" schlocker, but a fun one. Filmed in "CineMagic" in New Eastman Color 5250 no less! It essentially pits the crew, three men and one woman, in a situation where they land on Mars, gel in various ways, then start going out onto the Red Planet itself to gather information etc.The art designers bathe everything in red, using a whole ream of interesting paintings to project an alien planet, and then the fun really starts. The creatures arrive, including one legendary rat/spider hybrid that is an absolute riot. Suspense exists, even though the acting is distinctly average, and et voilà! Story has unfolded and the big message ends the pic.Nutty sci-fi movie for sure, but the makers kinda get away with the cheapness of it all, and that is something that not all "B" schlockers can say is that! 5/10

Coventry From the glorious 1950s – THE golden decade for unhinged Sci-Fi and monster movies – comes this wonderful but sadly obscure gem with a dark atmosphere and deeply melancholic morals, and yet delightfully silly and inept special effects and set designs! This is, in fact, the most entertaining combination possible because it means that the stern actors are citing their lines about mysterious unknown planets and deadly alien lifeforms with a straight face and a serious tone of voice, while at the same time the landscapes and monsters look preposterous, cheap and downright ludicrous! And it has to be said that the team behind "The Angry Red Planet" really did their best in order to provide an intense and overwhelming Sci-Fi/thriller, however the budgetary restrictions made it quite difficult to succeed and the film didn't pass the test of time very well. Still, for admirers of '50s Sci-Fi flicks and cinematic oddities in general, this film definitely comes with my highest possible recommendation. The story opens captivating and suspenseful enough, that's for sure! The NASA space-center on earth suddenly receives automated radio messages from the Mars expedition rocket that was considered lost for more than 60 days already. When it lands back on earth, it turns out that two of the four crew members have survived their journey, but the male commander Tim O'Bannon is unconscious from an unknown disease and the female biologist Iris Ryan has no recollection of what happened. At the hospital, doctors and scientist try to revive Iris' memories and she gradually narrates their horrific encounters on planet Mars through flashbacks. The scenes that are supposedly taking place on the "Red Planet" are just stupendous! You may take the planet's nickname very literal, as the explorations on Mars are filmed through a reddish/orange filter attached to the camera's lens. The landscapes and flora on Mars actually exists of drawings and sketches, massive amphibious monsters and carnivorous plants included! Our protagonist heroes also face a humongous rat-creature on spider legs, which is undoubtedly one of the most imaginative Sci-Fi creatures ever designed! But, as said, the overall tone of the film is deadly serious and thus features "The Angry Red Planet" a philosophical climax about the Martians being vastly superior to us and they do not want us to come and wreck their planet like we do with ours. In other words, Martians are intolerant racists but can you blame them? In spite of being the target of sexist jokes and disrespectful behavior ("I can't see your lovely curves in that spacesuit"), Nora Hayden depicts a strong female lead character. Ib Melchior's directing skills are somewhat pedestrian, but he certainly deserves all our respect for also being the writer of other terrific genre gems such as "Planet of Vampires", "Reptilicus" and "Robinson Crusoe on Mars".

Kingkitsch ..is Gerald Mohr's chest hair. Really. It's all out there in color and takes up a lot of room in the spaceship. Initially peeping out of the neckline of his spacesuit, and finally once completely revealed, it becomes as memorable as the famous bat-rat-crab-spider monster, and can match that beast follicle for follicle. Gerald gets infected by a giant amoeba, which means he has to wander around the spaceship with his shirt open for the last third of this supersaturated red solarized trip to a very unfriendly Mars. I think the Martians wanted him to get off their planet before he started to shed."Angry Red Planet" is about what you'd expect from an outer space adventure filmed in 1959. It has some big ideas that weren't served well by a small budget. A single low grade set serves for the spaceship interior and of course there's "Cinemagic", a process using red/pink filters which accounts for the eyeball blasting red sequences on Mars. Some surprising local creatures wander around creating havoc, among them are the bat-rat (everyone's favorite) and a fairly sexy carnivorous plant that looks like a huge vagina. Yes indeed. It must have been related to another lady parts monster seen a few years later in "Battle Beyond the Sun". Still, this features an ahead-of-its-time performance by Nora Hayden as a very smart scientist, a female who manages to upstage the men by coming back alive with Gerald Mohr and his chest hair.Nostalgic fun for a rainy afternoon.

Paul Andrews The Angry Red Planet starts as the US spacecraft the X1 returns to Earth after a 60 day radio silence, the top brass at the US military are particularly interested in X1 as it was the first manned mission to Mars. Only two of the original crew that left Earth have returned alive, female scientist Dr. Iris 'Irish' Ryan (Nora Hayden) & the Captain Col. Thomas O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr) who has a strange green fungus like growth on his arm. It is quickly discovered that all the tape logs have been erased so the top Dog's have no idea what happened, the only chance of finding out what happened & to possibly find a way of saving Col. O'Bannion is to hypnotise Iris & unlock the secrets of her mind & provide the answers that their bosses want. As Iris is put under & starts to recount the expedition some of the things that she says may not make for easy listening as various encounters with martian aliens threaten the very existence of Earth itself...Co-written & directed by Ib Melchior this is one of those 50's sci-fi 'classics' that many people to seem remember for various reason & still enjoys a somewhat cult following even today, personally I think there are better sci-fi monster films out there from around the same period (It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) to name one I much, much prefer) but for what it is I suppose it's watchable enough. The script is your basic space adventure in which a team of astronauts find themselves on an alien planet battling native dangers including killer plants & three eyed Martians. Despite the potential for a cracking sci-fi adventure I found the majority of The Angry Red Planet quite dull, it takes ages to get to Mars & then not that much really happens, the crew walk around a bit, talk a lot & finally leave. As for Col. O'Bannion back on Earth infected with alien fungus I am surprised they just didn't cut his arm off, hell limbs have been amputated for a lot less that the potential threat of wiping out all mankind with an alien disease before! At 80 odd minutes it's not too long but again not that much happens, its hardly exciting & it just felt a little underwhelming to me. The final moral message about mankind destroying itself & becoming a threat to everything else in existence is a well used one & comes as no great surprise, it was clichéd even back in 1959 when The Angry Red Planet was originally made & released. I guess the word 'classic' can mean different things to different people but it's hardly a term I would endear The Angry Red Planet with.While watching The Angry Red Planet you have to bear in mind the period in which it was made, it goes without saying that the scientific & technical aspects of the film are laughably bad. From huge computers to the clichéd cylindrical rocket ship to the fact the US military seem to be pulling all the strings & making the decisions rather than NASA or any proper scientists to the idea that plants grow on Mars to the fact that the crew seem to enjoy perfect Earth gravity throughout their entire journey including in the X1 & on Mars itself. The makers advertised they had used a new filming process called 'Cinemagic' which was apparently supposed to blend hand drawn paintings & monster puppets with the live action actor's seamlessly, it failed although it does hide some of the cheapness of the effect since the whole screen is just tinted an annoying orange colour. The process was also used in The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962) a few years later & looked just as bad.Shot in about ten days on a budget of about $190,000 a lot has actually ended up on screen to be fair, maybe with a bit more time & money The Angry Red Planet really could have been a classic. The effects aren't too bad considering when it was made although it's hard to believe none of those scientists saw that Rat-Bat-Spider monster in an open clearing! The acting is pretty wooden here.The Angry Red Palnet is alright for a few laughs & a bit of light Saturday afternoon fun, it's an innocent enough sci-fi adventure that doesn't really hold up to inspection & hasn't dated that well but it'll pass 80 odd minutes harmlessly enough I suppose.