Midnight Movie Massacre

MIDNIGHT MOVIE MASSACRE (aka: ATTACK FROM MARS) is a cult movie wannabe that tries way too hard.

At some point in the 1950's an alien craft has landed behind a movie theater. The theater patrons include: 3 hoods, two geeks, an impossibly-endowed blonde and her boyfriend, A rotund woman and her pencil-necked date, a drunk, a hillbilly couple, and a girl who keeps pulling extremely long boogers out of her nose.

Sound exciting?

The "crowd" is there to see a fictional movie known as SPACE PATROL (with cameos from Bob Clarke and Ann Robinson). We are taken back and forth between the movie and those watching it, which is dull to the point of agony!

The alien monster is of little help, since the death rate is intolerably low. Not even "principal" players! Nope, booger woman isn't harmed!

This is a severe exercise in tedium, where time actually warps. You'll age 10 years in 90 minutes! Watch at your own peril...

I bought a VHS tape of this, still in the box, at a dirty little junk store downtown a couple of years ago. I thought it might be interesting from the cover art. I was wrong. Imagine Mars Attacks! with less intelligence, money, and acting talent. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the horrifying image of the fat woman in the theater constantly pulling something long and white out of her nose. Max Crumb, eat your heart out.

As one of the screenwriters, this film surprised even me. It's beyond campy. What started out as a reprise of an old television show called "Space Patrol," turned into "Midnight Movie Massacre." It was an interesting transition to say the least. I wrote Space Patrol and by gosh it's in the movie... up on the screen in a theater where a bunch of folks go to watch it. Then a monster (from Mars as it turns out) lands on top of the theater and begins to eat the theater goers one at a time. I must say the film does look good. Some of the scenes go a bit far with the gags (and I do mean gags). All in all, though, it isn't too bad. I hope it will come back to haunt me one day as a screenwriter.

This film has just been released as a three-pack DVD called MISSION MARS COLLECTION, which includes "Flight To Mars" "Attack From Mars" and "Invaders From Mars" and this film is somewhat amusing. It should in no way be considered anything other than a comedy which would appeal to any fan of 1950's science-fiction and horror films. The other review claims a movie audience member with a couple of "horrifying" attributes, when it is actually two different audience members, not one. Not a good comedy, but a fun little film if you are a fan of cheap schlock...like I am. This is yet another "classic" from the Wade Williams collection!

This is an extremely pitiful example of a modern attempt to spoof the B-movies of the Fifties, but it only succeeds in demonstrating very poor taste of everyone involved. Both the plot and its resolution are unsatisfying. The main setting is a small town movie theater showing B-movie and serial sci-fi (how ironic -- not) with an audience consisting of unsympathetic characters that you don't care about. The plot, if you can call it that, concerns some Really Ugly Martian invaders who apparently like to butter their popcorn with human blood and body parts. Then there are the 3 Space Patrol types. Are they time travelers from Earth's future? Are they heroes? I'm not really sure -- I was too bored to pay close attention.

Three-quarters of the way through, I switched to watching a TV show. The next day, I forced myself to watch the remainder -- what a waste of time! This movie is gross and has virtually no redeeming qualities whatsoever except perhaps for the lovely, futuristic Margi Robbins (only movie). Poor Ann Robinson (War of the Worlds) reached a low point of her career when she appeared in this 1988 yawner. If you like B-movies spoofs, a far better example is "The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra".