The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Invaders from Mars
Science Fiction · Horror · 1953
A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.
Movie details
Invaders from Mars
“NATURAL or SUPERNATURAL?”
1953 Science Fiction · Horror 1h 18m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.3 / 10
9.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
88 %
Tomatometer
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Invaders from Mars?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
It! The Terror from Beyond Space
Sci-fi · 1958
The first manned expedition to Mars is invaded by an unknown life form, which stows away on the rescue ship.
20 Million Miles to Earth
Sci-fi · 1957
When the first manned flight to Venus returns to Earth, the rocket crash-lands in the Mediterranean near a small Italian fishing village. The locals manage to save one of the astronauts Colonel Calder, the mission commander. A young boy also recovers what turns out to be a specimen of an alien creature. Growing at a fantastic rate, it manages to escape and eventually threatens the city of Rome.
The Man from Planet X
Sci-fi · 1951
While watching for a planet that may collide with earth, scientists stationed in Scotland are approached by a visitor from outer space.
The Astronaut
Horror · 2025
After returning from her first space mission, astronaut Sam Walker is placed under NASA’s care at a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth
The Arrival
Sci-fi · 1996
Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.
Mission to Mars
Sci-fi · 2000
When the first manned mission to Mars meets with a catastrophic and mysterious disaster after reporting an unidentified structure, a rescue mission is launched to investigate the tragedy and bring back any survivors.
Chaos Walking
Fantasy · 2021
Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Sci-fi · 1956
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
The Dark Tower
Fantasy · 2017
A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.
Forbidden Planet
Sci-fi · 1956
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for twenty years. They find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
William Cameron Menzies
Written by
Richard Blake · John Tucker Battle
Jimmy Hunt
David Maclean
Arthur Franz
Dr. Stuart Kelston
Helena Carter
Dr. Pat Blake, MD
Leif Erickson
Mr. George MacLean
Hillary Brooke
Mrs. Mary MacLean
Morris Ankrum
Col. Fielding
Walter Sande
Police Sgt. Mack Finlay
Court is in session
Put Invaders from Mars on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.