Lobster Man from Mars (1989) User Reviews (17)

A harmless, somewhat amusing parody of 1950s scifi movies.

[krachtm · 6/10 · 27 July 2011]

First of all, I understand what parody is, and I realize that this movie is supposed to be bad, as it's poking fun of bad 1950s science fiction movies. My rating is not based on the acting, special effects, or dialogue, which, as I said, are meant to be bad. Unfortunately, I just didn't think this was particularly funny! For one thing, the whole film-in-a-film conceit seemed to be weakly developed. I wasn't quite sure why they even bothered doing this, except to highlight that the movie isn't meant to be taken seriously. However, if you have to explicitly tell people that your movie is a parody, maybe you're not doing it right. Or you're underestimating your audience (and thus insulting their intelligence).

Anyway, I thought it was somewhat amusing, and I dutifully recognized each of the pop culture references, but, really, it just wasn't all that funny. Something like Killer Klowns From Outer Space makes me laugh hysterically every time I watch it, but this.... not so much. Chalk it up to personal taste, I guess.

Again, I've been rather let down by Anthony Hickox, after really liking Waxwork and Waxwork II. I just don't think I've ever really liked anything else he's done since then.

Enjoyable spoof.

[youroldpaljim · 21 July 2001]

A film within a film; a producer needing a tax write-off agrees to screen and buy the rights to a student film called LOBSTER MAN FROM MARS. Most the of the film spent viewing the film which about an alien lobster man wrecking havoc on Earth. The producer finds the film so shoddy that he agrees to buy it in order to lose money so he doesn't owe the IRS so much money. The film is obviously inspired by the producers. The film is loaded with many jokes that only buffs of horror and science fiction films would get. For example: the colonel is named "Ankrum", after Morris Ankrum who played military men and other authority figures in dozens of 1950's science fiction and horror films. The film is loaded with gags like these that most viewers probably would not get. I would mention any more as I would not want to spoil it for people who are in the know.

hm....

[montanaj0e · 1/10 · 5 November 2003]

What Can I say about this movie that hasn't been said other then it's one of the best movies ever. Then I would be lying to you all. The Camera angles and the lighting were well.....you already know. The acting was down right humor. Who thought of this idea anyway?

So bad it was hilarious...

[doggieblaze · 7/10 · 25 March 2006]

Well, I wasn't really expecting to be wowed by this movie, but it turned out to be the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. I rented it mainly because of the title. After all, who doesn't want to see a movie named "Lobster Man from Mars"? I settled down with some friends and chocolate, and had the most laugh out loud night.

This movie is filled with ridiculous moments, akin to the old fifties Scifi movies, complete with a badly costumed lobster who's face keeps changing between scenes. The acting isn't that good, but then again, it really isn't meant to be. This is the perfect movie to watch when you want to have a good time, and if you're full of too much energy.

so silly, so very silly

[dispet · 7/10 · 28 June 2000]

i saw this film some years ago now, and i can still remember it. at the time, and on subsequent viewings, it made me laugh myself quite silly, not quite as silly as this film however. it is somewhat like a cheaper, tackier, Z grade, sci-fi version of gremlins two, just taking the piss out of as many things as it can. somtimes it misses, but mostly it hits. a bizarre indie classic. go find it now, you won't regret it.

Dircector's Statement about the DVD

[director-59 · 10/10 · 20 September 2003]

It took two weeks to write and ten years to finish. In 1977 writer Bob Greenberg and I were offered $50,000 to make a science fiction movie. We thought that instead of trying to hide the low budget, we would make it a central theme using the gimmick of a film-within-a-film.

Such was the genesis of Lobster Man From Mars. We wrote the screenplay in two weeks, but the money to shoot the movie never appeared. The project was set aside until the tragic demise of Bob Greenberg in an auto accident. I was determined to get Bob's name on the screen as a writer, and thanks to the efforts of producer Steven Greene, this became a reality.

Production began during the summer of 1988 --- a mere 10 years after writing the screenplay --- and culminated with the world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival six months later. The version shown at the festival was a 95 minute "first cut", later revised to 81 minutes, then released to theaters, television and home video in the shorter format.

The special director's edition DVD is one that has never been seen by the public, having only existed on a computer editing program! I've taken some of the better moments from the long version and have integrated them with the shorter version. And now, thanks to the modern miracle of computer editing, I've added new low-tech, even cheaper looking special effects, never before possible. Once again, the Lobster Man lives!

Lobster Man from Mars

[ryan-10075 · 7/10 · 23 July 2018]

Oh boy! With a title like that you can probably already guess. Is it cheap, super cheesy and have complete sub-par effects? Yes. But, is it also funny and slightly inspirational? Yes. This is not trying to be a B-movie, this is trying and quite successful at aiming at being a Z-grade movie. Everything in this movie is intentional and sucked right out of those cheesy 50s horror/sci-fi flicks that everyone gets a good chuckle at when viewing.

Tony Curtis plays mega-millionaire film producer J.P. Shelldrake who has just found out he owes more than 4 million to the government. He needs a total flop at the box office to act as a tax write-off. In steps Stevie Horowitz a young filmmaker who has tried his best to get Shelldrake to see one of his movies. Let me tell you a young Orson Welles he ain't. Shelldrake thinks there might be a stinker present so he watches the film. It is the story of Lobster Man being sent to Earth to get air for Mars. Soon human beings are attacked by gorillas in space helmets, possessed hand puppets and of course Lobster Man.

It keeps going back to Curtis' reaction to the movie and he does an amazing job of showing his dissatisfaction of the film before going back to the wonderful trashy film. I do give Tony Curtis credit for being in this movie. I mean being in great classics like SOME LIKE IT HOT, SPARTACUS or THE DEFIANT ONES this is quite a step in the opposite direction. Main thing to remember about this movie is don't take it seriously and just try and enjoy yourself.

Also has some great music done by Sasha Matson and has a great title song 'Rock Lobster' from the B-52's.

Certainly gets a thumbs up from me and quite a clever and enjoyable spoof. Also starring Deborah Foreman (from Waxwork), Patrick Macnee (also from Waxwork), Anthony Hickox (who directed Waxwork) and Billy Barty (who sadly was not in Waxwork).

Unfortunately It Is Not Bad Enough to be Good

[aimless-46 · 19 April 2009]

So what have we got here with this "Lobster Man From Mars" (1989) movie? Think "The Producers" (1968) meets "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959). If you don't get parody you should give this one a wide berth. If you want really "clever" parody you should probably skip it as well. If you thought Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon stuff was fun because it was so "unintentionally" hokey you might want to go into avoidance mode along with the others.

The hokey elements in "Lobster Man From Mars" are anything but unintentional, it wants your attention like a one-trick pony mad for a carrot. This lack of subtlety would pretty much doom the thing had it not already expired from a case of terminally lame screen writing.

The root of the problem is that they were given too much money to make this thing. Much like the fake disaster movie playing in the background of "Drive-In", it utilizes a film within a film device; only this time a Hollywood executive is screening what is supposed to be a bad "student" film. The saving grace of bad student films is their unity of weak writing, poor production values, and unpolished acting. But the student film being viewed in "Lobster Man From Mars" has some recognizable cast members and enough money for semi- authentic production design; which does not work to its benefit.

Here's the premise: a Hollywood studio needs a really bad film to use as a tax write-off. They screen a high school kid's science fiction film, which while really bad would be another "Citizen Kane" compared to any bad student film. In the film within the film, Mars is running out of air and sends the "dreaded" Lobster Man to earth where he and a hairy sidekick begin randomly zapping people with a ray gun. The too competent cast includes Patrick Macnee (playing a British scientist) and Deborah Foreman looking (as the film moves along) like she is gradually deciding in favor of retiring from acting (which she actually did-was it coincidence or was her decision made midway through the production of this turkey?).

The problem is that there is very little in the movie that is particularly funny, intentional or unintentional. The only bit that works repeatedly involves the zany space bats who fly around cackling manically. And there is one good line by Tommy Sledge, as a film noir parody private detective who inspects the giant lobster tracks leading away from the site of an explosion and then says: "It means that either he escaped, or he walked backwards from the horizon to commit suicide in this bonfire".

If you want to see this stuff done right, cleverly written and with a student film level of production design, check out Larry Blamire's "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" (2001). 90 minutes of inspired spoofing.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Enjoyable Camp

[PaJRJ · 7/10 · 9 July 2018]

In addition to parodying lovably bad Sci-Fi movies this movie is also,in essence, a remake of The Producers. The difference is that instead of a movie designed to fail in order to make money, the failure of the movie is to lose money for a tax write off. The improbability of the IRS allowing such a loophole to work can be easily dismissed by the viewer as you're already on board for the ride by the insane title of the film.

I'm partial to everything I've seen Deborah Foreman in, and this is no exception. It is a shame that she moved away from acting with only one film appearance past the year 2000. While hardly a classic film role here, her presence alone makes it worthwhile.

Lobster Man from Mars (1989)

[jonahstewartvaughan · 7/10 · 16 April 2023]

Cult Cuts Volume 18 (80s Horror Retrospective #2)

#2/4: Lobster Man from Mars (1989)

(7/10):This is so freaking bad but it seems to revel in its stupidity.

Lobster Man from Mars is a late Eighties horror parody of old Sci-Fi B-Movies of the fifties and sixties and it's definitely captures the absurdity of it all.

The film is about a film executive who is about to be arrested unless he can release a film that bombs so badly that he has something for a tax-write off so a film student shows him his film he's been working on called Lobster Man from Mars and then we essentially watch the movie with them.

It's got actress Deborah Foreman from April Fool's Day and Waxwork as well as Valley Girl and also Tony Curtis from Some Like It Hot of all people.

It's all over acted and the whole thing is almost like a cartoon.

The Costumes and effects are cheesy and also made to look obviously fake in order to make fun of old rubber suit monsters.

I do have to say watching it on YouTube really makes the picture quality look like garbage a lot but it's incredibly hard to come by so I had to put up with it, but it did damper my experience a bit.

The use of The B-52's "Rock Lobster" was an excellent choice of song for the film it fits the goofy nature of it very well.

Overall there's not much else to say other than it's cheesy and campy monster fun.

Mars is running out of air...

[max-140 · 10/10 · 5 August 2004]

Voracious flesh eaters from Mars invade the Earth! A very funny bad movie made for the cost of coffee and donuts on any of today's blockbuster epics. The film's star Tony Curtis puts this picture right up there with "Some Like It Hot" and "Spartacus" - he says so right there on the DVD edition this movie.

If you are a fan of trashy science fiction, you will most certainly enjoy this humorous spoof of such classics as "Invaders from Mars", "Night of the Ghouls" and "Teenagers from Outer Space".

It can all be summed up in this typical line of dialogue spoken by Professor Plocostomos (Patrick Macnee)... "If you were a Lobster Man, would you enter a haunted house surrounded by artillery?"

Well, would you?

Funniest SF film since Dark Star? (or: Earthman beware, He's after your air)

[deason · 10/10 · 5 November 2002]

"He came from the Stars, Lobster Man from Mars...

Earthman beware, he's after your air!!!

No place to hide, Lobster's right outside!!!"

The theme song suggests we are about to see a bad, bad movie. Not so.

This is a hilarious and great movie about a bad, bad movie (which turns out to be better than expected), and is probably the funniest science fiction movie since Dark Star. (It's a bit like a small-scale version of Mars Attacks with a smaller budget and more(!) jokes.)

I was quite surprised to see such a low score here for it. I suspect a few people who rated it poorly are just unfamiliar with the style of films it is parodying (think "Robot Monster"), or see only the surface "badness" of the movie in the movie without realising it is deliberately "awful" and does not take itself seriously.

In other words, the low quality of this film is only a translucent veneer; one sufficient to fool a surprising number of people, apparently.

Mild, small-scale, incidental spoilers:

There's a lot to like about this movie. The earnest over-the-top melodrama, the in-film narrator, the deliberately wonky effects, the range of stereotype characters from multiple genres added to the mix (how many sf movies have a hardboiled gumshoe as a supporting character?) all contribute. The music is especially perfect: the theme song, the spooky warbling electronic chase music, and the use of Siegfried's Funeral March could not be bettered.

But these are all touches of finesse to a great parody. The quality and caricatured accuracy of the parody is what makes this film so entertainingly amusing. This affectionate and good-humoured homage to low-budget science-fiction monster flicks is probably the funniest such since at least The Rocky Horror Picture Show (while being considerably different in tone!), and possibly since Dark Star.

The sheer ludicrous excess and exaggeration of the evil of the Lobster Man, the goodness of the heroes and the stakes of peril are all almost operatic, and would not seem out of place on the stage of Victorian melodrama (science-fictional trappings aside).

Many, many images, plot points and lines are delicious: the Lobster Man's entire character design, the way we see that most of the characters are sexist but the movie makers (at both levels) aren't, phrases like "smoking bales of Big Monk"...

If you've a passing familiarity with drive-in science fiction, and a sense of the ludicrous, I think you'll enjoy this little film; if your idea of visual science fiction starts with Star Wars and finishes with the X-Files, or you think humour and sf shouldn't mix, you may not.

A great, great, great parody

[procletnic · 10/10 · 24 September 2006]

This movie is an excellent parody of the American horror movies from the 60s. I don't know how people who watched this movie can make a negative comment on the camera, the lightning and the play. They just didn't get it I guess. The special effects, the play and the camera were all meant to be badly done so they can resemble the 'drive in' movies from the 60s. This is one of those movies which you can't and must not take serious. The quality of such productions lays by my opinion in the way that the story is served to the viewer. A thing that Stanley Sheff and Bob Greenberg have done in a very good way. Overall a great parody - 10/10!

brilliantly bad

[markus-178 · 9/10 · 14 February 2006]

i just bought this movie for 2bucks thinking that it will surely be worth it's cost... and i was so right!! i saw it with a friend of mine and we just loved it's (mostly intended) badness. There are movies that are just bad and then there are these flicks that are so freaking' bad that they are really entertaining. the movie made me really laugh hard a couple of times and Tony Curtis just rocked being this bad producer. the day after i watched it i immediately wanted to watch it again.. and if that's not positive about a film.. for a movie as "b" as one movie could be, the cast isn't that bad: Tony Curtis and Patrick McNee are two stars of the 80ies, starring here and they do a good job (being bad). the story is really strange: i mean a lobster man and his adjutant, an ape with a spacehelmet, stealing earth's air for the mars is not a common thing in Hollywood. the characters are all very funny and the story is except for some lengths in the middle very amusing.. i'll give it an 9 out of 10

"The Producers" and "Matinee" scrunched together.

[Bernie4444 · 9/10 · 23 December 2023]

This movie has the theme of "The Producers" (1968) in which they must make a flop movie or pay the IRS more than they have. The "Maine lobster" (oops) the Martian lobster is similar to the ant man in "Matinee" (1993) where the mant is always trying to put his claw where it doesn't belong. I do not believe that they left out any of the old monsters and Mars clichés.

Tony Curtis pretty much plays himself. See him again in a serious film "Goodbye Charlie" (1964) ASIN: B00000IBMF" and Deborah Foreman won the prestigious "Most Promising New Star" award from Show West 1986. Patrick Macnee is the Uncle Professor Plocostomos. You may remember him in "Creature Wasn't Nice, The" (1981) as Dr. Stark. There are many other major stars in this movie.

If you found this movie interesting, especially when they leave the air collector on "Auto Suck," then the next movie to watch should be "Out There" (1995) the investment may be pricey. But it is worth it.

Lobsterman from Mars is a funny spoof of old monster movies

[dashadow · 10/10 · 2 October 2021]

When Mars is running out of air they send the Lobsterman from Mars to steal Earth's air and, while here he gets to eat all of the soft food (humans) he wants. Aided by The Mombo, a gorilla suit with a space helmet our villains travel to Earth and fight our heroes; however, it is all part of a film that a young man shows J. P. Shelldrake. Shelldrake needs a box office bomb to save himself from the IRS and agrees to see the movie. Periodically we see his reactions to the movie as it runs. It is a silly movie that avid fans of old movies will probably enjoy more as they see the references.

Amiable sci-fi take on The Producers

[gortx · 9 September 2023]

Stanley Sheff's goofy sci-fi take on Mel Brooks' The Producers is smart enough to not take itself too seriously, nor too self-consciously play up how "bad" it is. As opposed to such contrived "cult" films like the crass Sharknado series or the ineffective likes of NAKED MONSTER, GIANT PAPIER MACHE BOULDER, this one just hums along gleefully to its own beat.

The title is attributed to Orson Welles who originally was slated to play JP Sheldrake, a film mogul who buys the cheezy movie, 'Lobster Man From Mars', as a tax shelter scheme. Tony Curtis enjoyably chews the scenery as Sheldrake. Anthony Hickox and Deborah Foreman (VALLEY GIRL) play the couple who made the film within a film. Patrick Macnee and Billy Barty play actors in the crustacean epic and Bobby Pickett is the King of Mars. It's all done with tongue firmly in cheek, but, humbly and amiably so. The cast, SFX, Music, Costumes and Cinematography follow suit.

P. S. I knew a good number of people who worked on the film including lead actress Debbie Foreman and had worked with Tony Curtis. I even got to visit the set. Gives it a bit of extra nostalgia to me.