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The Angry Red Planet

The Angry Red Planet

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Angry Red Planet
Review: A classic Sid Pink sci-fi ride.If you like cheap special effects then you will love this film.The giant spider-rat monster is cool but the man-eating blob thing steals the show!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Angry Red (Pink) Planet
Review: Absolute love. I barely remember seeing this movie when I was little on a Sunday afternoon. The rat-bat-spidermajigger sent me into my moms arms and under the blankets. Now I'm 33 and I just finished watching the dvd from MGM. The sound, print, and color are all fantastic! MGM is pretty consistant. If you are anal about your dvds then fear not. The movie itself is a hoot. Hollywood is still recycling this plot over and over, monthly it seems. Sci-Fi formula: A Bunch of dudes and one "token" (usually a girl but sometimes an ethnic) zoom off into space and find something spooky. In the 50's it only took 80 minutes to do this, now it takes 2.5 hrs (always with about 30 minutes of 'space' footage filler). The bottom line, If you dig theremin laced moody exotica soundtracks, creepy aliens, foxy 50's bombshells in tight space-suits, and wise-cracking jugheads (ala McHale's
Navy) then this is your flick. A bargain at twice the price.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: GREAT NONSENSE
Review: ANGRY RED PLANET was made in the grand old time of filmmaking where you didn't need to pay attention to logic, just as long as you had a fun story. A group of scientists embark on the first expedition to Mars and are immediately set upon by native beasts.

WHAT WORKS: The effects -- though cheap -- are quite fun. The giant germ is handled very seriously. The red tint to the film is actually kind of clever. The characters are good hokum fun. Surprisingly, this is one of the first films to feature a woman as the main heroine...though she still screams like a banshee and faints at the sight of an alien.

WHAT DOESN'T: Rather than the dessert it is, Mars is portrayed as a world full of lush fauna and bizzarre creatures. Some are good, most are cheap. The rocket is about twice as big on the inside as it is on the outside. None of the spacesuits have faceplates. And what's with that giant bat-rat-spider-crab?

Anyway, this is one of the great sci-fi films of the fifties. Not the best, just fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another bit of classic 50's Saturday matinee nostalgia
Review: At long last, resurrected from the oblivion it probably deserves, is the first in what could be considered the "Pink Trilogy" (the other two "gems" being "Reptilicus" and "Journey to the Seventh Planet", both of *those* being made in that world capitol of film, Denmark). Sid Pink produced this baby waaaay back in 1959, and made enough money for the distributor, American International, that he and the director Ib Melchior more or less had their collective tickets punched for the even more outrageous "Reptilicus". (But that's a different movie, and a really hilarious story behind it to boot.)

This one is soooo typical that it encompasses every cliche' known for the Saturday matinee feature: the cinematic "gimmick" (in this case "Cinemagic", which must have saved the studio a bundle, allowing them to shoot in black and white and simply overlay a red filter over the result), the now infamous rat-bat-spider monster (which gets sort-of recycled in "Seveth Planet"), the comic-relief tubby tough guy, who (yes, it's true) names his gun, the no-nonsense skipper, and the curvy redhead. (Her name is "Iris", but you can call her "Irish" through *most* of the flick.) Oh, and don't forget the giant amoeba, the three-eyed Martian, and the stock footage galore.

This, folks, is the real thing: no pretentions towards scientific accuracy or carrying any message whatsoever. (The very very first thing the crew does after disembarking on Mars is shoot the first plant life they see, then smash it into pieces. THAT'S the kind of message THIS film has!) Jaw-dropping in its guilelessness, ANGRY RED PLANET is the quintessential matinee flick. OK, ok , so maybe you weren't there, and watching this with a big tub of buttered popcorn is about as exciting a prospect to you as watching paint dry. But for those of us who remember the "gotta see!" movies of so many years ago, its a real treat. And if all else fails, you can use it for "MST"-style riffing - heaven knows there's plenty of material!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another bit of classic 50's Saturday matinee nostalgia
Review: At long last, resurrected from the oblivion it probably deserves, is the first in what could be considered the "Pink Trilogy" (the other two "gems" being "Reptilicus" and "Journey to the Seventh Planet", both of *those* being made in that world capitol of film, Denmark). Sid Pink produced this baby waaaay back in 1959, and made enough money for the distributor, American International, that he and the director Ib Melchior more or less had their collective tickets punched for the even more outrageous "Reptilicus". (But that's a different movie, and a really hilarious story behind it to boot.)

This one is soooo typical that it encompasses every cliche' known for the Saturday matinee feature: the cinematic "gimmick" (in this case "Cinemagic", which must have saved the studio a bundle, allowing them to shoot in black and white and simply overlay a red filter over the result), the now infamous rat-bat-spider monster (which gets sort-of recycled in "Seveth Planet"), the comic-relief tubby tough guy, who (yes, it's true) names his gun, the no-nonsense skipper, and the curvy redhead. (Her name is "Iris", but you can call her "Irish" through *most* of the flick.) Oh, and don't forget the giant amoeba, the three-eyed Martian, and the stock footage galore.

This, folks, is the real thing: no pretentions towards scientific accuracy or carrying any message whatsoever. (The very very first thing the crew does after disembarking on Mars is shoot the first plant life they see, then smash it into pieces. THAT'S the kind of message THIS film has!) Jaw-dropping in its guilelessness, ANGRY RED PLANET is the quintessential matinee flick. OK, ok , so maybe you weren't there, and watching this with a big tub of buttered popcorn is about as exciting a prospect to you as watching paint dry. But for those of us who remember the "gotta see!" movies of so many years ago, its a real treat. And if all else fails, you can use it for "MST"-style riffing - heaven knows there's plenty of material!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It sure is red
Review: Awful acting and silly monsters make this film a fun watch. Those that gave it anything less than a 5 stars aren't playing fair. It's a bad movie for certain, but it's still a great example of the sci-fi flicks that were being spit out of Hollywood in the '50s. So just sit back, pop yourself a beer, and enjoy the spectacle of angry Martian monsters chasing the actors around through red filtered scene after red filtered scene.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A possibility of what is to come.
Review: Do not forget that with all of our sophisticated stuff, no one has gone to Mars yet. The year 1959 low budget and high hopes. The greatest threat to earth is a One Eyed, One Horned, Flying, Purple People Eater. (ASIN: B00001ZSWV) and that sure seems strange to me.

However a ship Rocket M-1 was sent to Mars. On its return it must be guided by ground control. Only two survivors. One with a nasty growth and the other Dr. Iris 'Irish' Ryan (with angry red hair.) Now get out your popcorn and hear her tail of what happened on "The Angry Red Planet"

This is a warning to us all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just Plain Fun
Review: Fans of classic science fiction should love this. People who are just casual fans may not appreciate the film, but for people like myself who enjoy the classic sci-fi movies of the 50s and early 60s ,this movie was very entertaining and just plain fun

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Curiously overrated, but still fun
Review: Hey, I'm all about some nifty 50's and 60's cheesy sci-fi flicks. Heck, I LOVE 'EM! But I have to say I think ANGRY RED PLANET is a bit overrated. I never saw "Cinemagic" displayed on the Big Screen, but it's fairly headache-inducing on my 27-inch t.v.

The plot has one decent gimmick, the framing device of using flashbacks (used to better effect in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE) to tell the story. But really, the acting is atrocious, even for a B-grade sci-fi/monster flick.

On the plus side, the "batratspidercrab" thing is one of the more memorable beasties, strings and all. And the sets, though obviously painted backgrounds, are imaginative and just plain weird.

Picture and sound quality are what we've come to expect from MGM's Midnite Movies line: superb. So if this kind of film is your thing, you could do worse than ANGRY RED PLANET. But. . .you could also do a lot better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Curiously overrated, but still fun
Review: Hey, I'm all about some nifty 50's and 60's cheesy sci-fi flicks. Heck, I LOVE 'EM! But I have to say I think ANGRY RED PLANET is a bit overrated. I never saw "Cinemagic" displayed on the Big Screen, but it's fairly headache-inducing on my 27-inch t.v.

The plot has one decent gimmick, the framing device of using flashbacks (used to better effect in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE) to tell the story. But really, the acting is atrocious, even for a B-grade sci-fi/monster flick.

On the plus side, the "batratspidercrab" thing is one of the more memorable beasties, strings and all. And the sets, though obviously painted backgrounds, are imaginative and just plain weird.

Picture and sound quality are what we've come to expect from MGM's Midnite Movies line: superb. So if this kind of film is your thing, you could do worse than ANGRY RED PLANET. But. . .you could also do a lot better.


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