Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper and John Saxon star in this piecemeal sci-fi horror using a ton of great special effects from some Russian film, as far as I've read somewhere anyway. That doesn't detract from the fact that the special effects are great for their time, and really groovy to boot. In fact, things only slow down a bit when we get to the actual story line.
Some aliens announce that they'll be dropping by Earth for a visit and perhaps a pint or too, but their ship crashes on Mars. Rathbone, being the head honcho, dispatches Hopper and a crew to go and find any survivors. They don't find any, but a follow up ship containing Saxon lands on Mars' moon Phobos and finds a female survivor. He leaves his buddy behind and takes a rescue ship over to Mars, where he joins up with the rest of the crew, who then set off home with their green skinned, creepy looking cargo.
This alien, with her beehive hairdo, evil grin, and green skin, is rather creepy to begin with, but when her eyes start glowing and she chows down on a crew member things take off. It's scientific research (the Captain's wishes to keep feeding the alien blood so they can get her back to Earth to study) versus common sense (Saxon just wants to destroy the thing, and quite rightly too). What will prevail? And what will the survivors do with the surprises that the aliens left on the ship?
Keep in mind: This film is PG, and made in the sixties, so don't go expecting Alien. The first half is full of those funky special effects from that other film, and the latter half, although not as fun, still has that creepy, silent alien prowling around. Dennis Hopper looks to be still in his teens and John Saxon gets to say lines like "I've only got paper moon money". What more do you want?
Okay, gore and nudity, but what else?
