The Last Days on Mars (2013)

A group of astronaut explorers succumb one by one to a mysterious and terrifying force while collecting specimens on Mars.

Director:

Ruairi Robinson

Writers:

Sydney J. Bounds (short story), Clive Dawson (screenplay)

Stars:

Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai

4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Liev Schreiber	...	Vincent Campbell
Elias Koteas	...	Charles Brunel
Romola Garai	...	Rebecca Lane
Olivia Williams	...	Kim Aldrich
Johnny Harris	...	Robert Irwin
Goran Kostic	...	Marko Petrovic
Tom Cullen	...	Richard Harrington
Yusra Warsama	...	Lauren Dalby
Patrick Joseph Byrnes	...	Flight Commander Ellis
Lewis Macleod	...	Infected Voices (voice)

Storyline

On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he's made an historic discovery; fossilised evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up, and goes out on an unauthorised expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster, when the porous ground collapses, and he falls into a deep crevice and near certain death. His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes, they begin to realise; the life-form they've discovered is highly dangerous to all human life.

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Plot Keywords:

mars | astronaut | zombie | alien infection | alien life form | 

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Taglines:

The search for life is about to end.

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

May 2012: Olivia Williams replaces Sally Hawkins, who has to drop out due to personal commitments.

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Goofs

When the crew are out on the surface of Mars you can clearly see blue sky and clouds reflected in their helmet visors.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rebecca Lane: First big one of the season.
Vincent Campbell: Yep. It's heading right for base.
Rebecca Lane: It's gonna mess up Kim's dig. She's not gonna like that.
Vincent Campbell: Yeah, well, I don't like it much either.
Rebecca Lane: There's a surprise. Lighten up, Vince, a bit of dust never hurt anyone.
Vincent Campbell: It's not the dust I'm worried about.

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Connections

Featured in Starfilm (2017)

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Soundtracks

Blue Skies Are Around The Corner
Written by Ross Parker & Hugh Charles
Performed by Jack Hylton

User Reviews

The Last Days on Mars: What a shame

I remember when this came out having absolutely no interest, though the solid cast appealed nothing else did. Now I've seen it I see that I was wrong, mostly.

Starring Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas and Olivia Williams the film has no issues with it's cast. The premise being of the horror sci-fi type was not what I expected and I certainly mean that in a good way!

The film was interestingly constructed, had my attention and when the first encounter took place it had me gripped. This was good! This was really good and I couldn't wait to see where this adventure was going to go.

Sadly shortly after the quality starts to dip, the potential I saw gets thrown in the trash and the incredible movie I foresaw faded away. Gone was the premise, gone was the tension, gone was the interest.

Sure it doesn't get bad, but it doesn't retain the same quality and it certainly doesn't utilize its potential. I was fascinated by this concept so why did they have to drop the ball so badly? There are so few movies that deal with such subject matter so when one comes out and wastes it's opportunity it's heartbreaking.

The Last Days on Mars is still a watchable affair but damn it should have been so very much better.

The Good:

Starts strong

Great cast

The Bad:

Quality dips hard

Disappointing ending

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

UK Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 September 2013 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Last Days on Mars

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,608, 8 December 2013

Gross USA:

$24,084

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$187,191

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Film Institute (BFI), Screen Ireland, Qwerty Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1