The Angry Red Planet
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with a night shot of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Next is an aerial view of the Pentagon Building during the day. A limousine is escorted to the Pentagon by police motorcycles. Two military officers exit the vehicle and walk briskly to a conference room. Major General George Treegar (Paul Hahn) introduces himself and convenes the meeting. He reports that the Rocketship MR-1 to Mars was detected in orbit around the Earth after being lost for 61 days. Treegar proposes to retrieve the rocket and return it safely to Earth. Brig. General Alan Prescott (Edward Innes) notes, "That's a tall order, George." Professor Paul Weiner (J. Edward McKinley) is asked about the chances for a successful retrieval, and voices his opinion. Major Lyman Ross (Gordon Barnes) is asked about establishing any communications with the ship and reports none. Treegar adjourns the meeting, telling all assembled they will leave for a base in Nevada immediately.A B-52 is flown to the Nevada Base. Inside the control room, the ship is spotted on radar. They are able to remotely return the rocket to Earth. Prof. Weiner leads the effort. Treegar orders Lt. Col. Davis (Jack Haddock) to compute and report the arrival time for the ship. The newspaper headlines inform us, "Mars Rocket Due Tonight, Landing in Nevada at 9:12 p.m.," but another asks, "Is Mars Rocket Crew Alive?" A TV newscaster (Don Lamond) informs listeners that the ship will be returned to a remote Air Force Base in Nevada. We are introduced, via earlier broadcast footage of the crew: Col. Tom O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr), Dr. Iris Ryan (Naura Hayden as Nora Hayden), Prof. Theodore Gettell (Les Tremayne), and Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen).The military men and firefighters wait for the landing and speculate on the crew's condition. The ship is spotted in the night sky. It lands successfully. A radiation detection crew is sent over first and reports that all counts are safe. The recovery squad is sent next. The door opens on the ship. Two Jeeps and an ambulance rush to the rocket. Dr. Ryan is alive, but must be assisted. O'Bannion is carried off on a stretcher. Prof. Weiner comforts Ryan and tells her everything that can be done for O'Bannion will be done. Her reply is, "How can anyone cope with that?"At the USAF Norwood Hospital, O'Bannion is being treated behind a screen. Dr. Frank Gordon (Tom Daly) tells the other doctors that he has administered a sedative. He removes his examination gloves and places them in a bag being held by Nurse Hayes (Brandy Bryan). Dr. Muller (Duke Norton) asks about the growth on O'Bannion's arm, but Gordon admits he is stumped. He notes only that it is growing. Muller asks if there was any information gleaned from the tapes and is told that all the tapes examined to date were blank. Dr. Hawley (William Remick) asks, "No tapes at all?" Gordon clarifies that the tapes were marked, but there is nothing on them--as if they were all erased by a powerful magnetic force. Dr. Hawley expresses hope that Iris may be of some help.Dr. Ryan is resting in a hospital bed. Treegar is talking to her about the flight. Nurse Dixon (Joan Fitzpatrick), Dr. Gordon and Prof. Weiner are standing next to her bed. Iris asks about Tom. She is frustrated that she cannot remember any details about what happened to Tom. Treegar asks her to start from the beginning. Iris tells her story.After takeoff, the radiation counter jumped. It was attributed to a radioactive meteor approaching. Visual examination by Iris and Sam at the view window confirms its approach. It comes close, but misses the ship. Tom and Gettell join them at the window, and they see the planet Mars in the distance. Sam performs a routine radio check while iris and Gettell take notes. Sam and the professor take a nap leaving Iris and Tom for the first watch. 17 days into the flight things are still fine. Tom and Iris get lunch: canned rations. They talk about Mars and their mission. Tom constantly addresses Iris as Irish, and Iris calls him on it. Sam reads a pulp science fiction article about creatures on Mars. It is Day 29 and still things are normal. Sammy labels and stores the tapes and Iris cleans the microscope and camera. It is now Day 47 and Sammy reports that they are orbiting Mars and beginning their descent onto the planet. They land and Sammy jokes, "Well, should we go out and claim the planet in the name of Brooklyn?" They open the view plate and turn on the outside microphones. It is still and silent. Gottell and Iris start their tests. A crash is heard on the deck above, but it was only Iris dropping a tray of test tubes. She tripped over Sammy's flight suit. Gottell determines the atmosphere is thin but contains oxygen. They landed near the Martian Equator. The thin atmosphere accounts for the silence and lack of movement of the plants. They decide to suit up and explore outside. Iris looks to the outside via the porthole window and sees the face of a three-eyed monster. She screams, and she is back in her hospital bed.Treegar asks her what happened. She can't remember. Gordon orders a sedative, sodium aluminol. Nurse Dixon prepares the drug. Gordon states she has a mental block, "Her mind refuses to remember." Treegar speculates that the alien infection could spread to all humans and that every moment counts. Weiner proposes narcosynthesis. Gordon is reluctant to use that technique, "Her mind might snap if we forced her to remember the horror she has so carefully obliterated from her conscious level." Iris asks Gordon how Tom is doing, and Gordon reveals that Tom is getting worse. She agrees to the narcosynthesis. Gordon injects Iris with the drug and she nods off.Iris wakes on the ship, surrounded by the crew. They ask about what she saw, and she tells them it was horrible. They see nothing, but she describes it as a, "huge distorted face with three bulging eyes." Tom and Gettell set off for the outside. They intended to leave Iris and Sammy behind, but both object and join their colleagues on the journey outside. Tom is the first outside. [Note: We are now experiencing "Cinemagic", which is nothing more than filming through an orange filter, with the picture somewhat solarized.] We see the Mars landscape of weird plants and a stalagmite-shaped rocky landscape. Iris is next out of the ship, followed by Gettell, with Sammy last out of the rocket. Sammy carries a new weapon, an ultrasonic freeze gun. Sammy test fires at a plant, and Tom hits it, knocking off a piece which sounds like breaking glass. They head off into the jungle. Iris and Gettell take pictures, then stop to get a better look at some plants. Iris notes the plants have very little chlorophyll, but seem to have a nervous system. She picks up a vine and follows it to a very strange plant. It resembles a monstrous venus fly trap. She finds what appears to be the bone of some creature. The arm of the plant wraps around her and pulls her towards its mouth. She screams for help. Tom hacks at its arms with a machete. Once free, Sammy shoots the plant with his ultrasonic freeze gun. They return to the plant and Gettell explains that it is more than a plant, "Its a low form of neuromuscular vegetal creature." They decide to return to the ship and call it a day. Iris takes Sammy's picture with his new toy. Gettell suspects they are being watched and that some control is being exerted over the plants. They notice their Earth contact is an hour late. Their radio transmission bounces back, so they are now out of contact with Earth.The next morning they venture out for another exploration mission. They leave the jungle and enter a drier area. They spot what appears to be a grove of strange looking trees. Tom and Iris walk over and Iris uses the machete to remove what appears to be a dead branch. The tree screeches and begins to move. What we see is described by Sammy later as a "rat-bat-spider nightmare," an apt description. It lumbers over Tom and Iris and approaches Gottell who has wedged himself between two rocks. Sammy fires the gun at the creature, but it has no effect. Finally a shot in the eyes blinds the creature and it walks away screeching in pain. They decide to continue their journey. They find a lake. Gottell checks it for radiation. Iris swishes her hand in the liquid and discovers it is somewhat oily. They agree to return the next day with a boat. After they depart the area, the three-eyed creature pops up from behind a rock to watch them. Tom and Gettell discuss the day's events and decide to cut the mission short. Tom proposes they depart tonight. Gettell is convinced there is something dangerous observing them. They launch the rocket, but a very powerful force holds them on the surface. They are stuck on Mars. Gettell is vindicated and says, "The control. Whoever they are, they don't want us to leave." They speculate on why they are being held prisoners on Mars. Since they are stuck, they decide to use the boat and see what is across the lake. They paddle until they see a huge city of skyscrapers a half-mile high. The lake begins to boil and something rises before them. It is dome-shaped with a central crest running down its length. It sports an eye that stares at them. They paddle their inflatable boat as quickly as possible as the creature chases them. Once on land they are again observed by the three-eyed Martian. The creature makes land, rolling over their boat. Sammy's gun has no effect on this weird blob with tentacles. It chases them through the jungle to their ship. The crew runs into the ship, but Sammy makes one last attempt to stop the creature. He is pulled into the blob. It consumes the man and his body disappears. Tom orders the door closed. Gettell opens the view ports. They see what appears to be multiple colored blobs of Jello being smeared on the glass--the creature has surrounded the ship. Iris notices Tom's arm is covered with a piece of the creature. It has burned through his suit. Iris treats the wound. Gettell asks Iris about the creature. She speculates it is a single-celled creature, like an amoeba, that digests using a strong acid. She explains that amoeba are very hard to kill, but they do respond to electricity. The plan is to route the ship's power to the outside hull through the instrument cable. They agree and electrocute the creature. Unfortunately the stress and strain causes Gettell to have a heart attack. Gettell dismisses it as just a bit of strain. The radio activates and Iris turns on the recorder. The Martian has a message for the crew, "Men of Earth, we of the planet Mars give you this warning. Listen carefully and remember." Iris sees the three-eyed creature in the view plate and collapses.The ship is far out into space when she comes to. Gettell is in command and very sick. He blames the takeoff and acceleration pressure. He has a trickle of blood down the right side of his mouth. With his dying breath he tells her to check on Tom in the cabin above. Tom is in his bunk, covered with a blanket. When Iris goes to pull back the blanket, Tom's arm swings down. It is covered with a green and black substance like Jello. It runs from his elbow to his knuckles. Iris goes below and looks outside through the view plate. She sees the planet Mars in the distance. She tries to make sense of the wiring mess then returns to stare at Gettell's body.She is back in her hospital bed and calls to Tom. Treegar asks about the warning. She remembers the last tape may have the answer. Gordon concludes they are facing an enzymatic infection. Tom is awake and being treated, but with little improvement. It is only slowing the growth. Iris assists with the research. She tells her colleagues, "Dr.Gordon, I think we've found the solution." She tells them electricity can be used to lure it to a tissue culture to avoid the electric shocks.Sometime later Iris sits by Tom's bed. It is clear he has improved as the bandage on his arm is very small now. Treegar and Weiner come into Tom's hospital room with a tape recorder. The last tape had the warning, "Men of Earth, we of the planet Mars give you this warning. Listen carefully and remember. We have known your planet Earth since the first creature crawled out of the primeval slime of your seas to become man. For millennia we have followed your progress. For centuries we have watched you, listened to your radio signals, and learned your speech and your culture. And now you have invaded our home. Technological adults but spiritual and emotional infants. We kept you here deciding your fate. Had the lower life forms of life of our planet destroyed you we would not have interfered, but you survived. Your civilization has not progressed beyond destruction, war, and violence against yourselves and others. Do as you will to your own and to your planet, but remember this warning. Do not return to Mars. You will be permitted to leave for this sole purpose. Carry the warning to Earth. Do not come here. We can and will destroy you, all life on your planet if you do not heed us. You have seen us, been permitted to glimpse our world. Go now, warn mankind not to return unbidden." We close with title and credits.