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
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
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.
Island of Terror
Horror · 1966
When a small island community becomes overrun with creeping, blobbish, tentacled monsters that liquefy and digest the bones from living creatures, the community struggles to fight back.
Phase IV
Horror · 1974
Arizona ants mock the food chain on their way to a desert lab to get two scientists and a woman.
The Asphyx
Fantasy · 1972
Hugo is a brilliant turn-of-the-century scientist, loved and respected by his family and friends, admired by his colleagues. But he is a man quickly becoming obsessed with a curious and frightening question...What is the mysterious apparition found in the photographs of his dying subjects?
Cosmos
Sci-fi · 2019
Three astronomers accidentally intercept what they believe to be a signal from a distant alien civilization, but the truth is even more incredible than any of them could have imagined.
Alien Abduction
Horror · 2014
A vacationing family encounters an alien threat in this pulse-pounding thriller based on the real-life Brown Mountain Lights phenomenon in North Carolina.
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 Car
Horror · 1977
The Utah community of Santa Ynez is being terrorized by a mysterious black coupe that appears out of nowhere and begins running people down. After the car kills off the town sheriff, Captain Wade Parent is determined to stop the murderous driver.
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.
The Meg
Action · 2018
A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.
I Am Mother
Sci-fi · 2019
A teenage girl is raised underground by a robot "Mother", designed to repopulate the earth following an extinction event. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
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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.