LOBSTER MAN FROM MARS (1989)
Tagline: No place to hide, the lobster is right outside!
(Horror, Comedy, Sci-Fi) [PG]
I had a hunch - not an idea, not even a feeling, more like a rabbit punch to the base of the brain.
In this one, a young director is pitching his idea for a movie to a producer named J.P. Shelldrake (played by Tony Curtis) that needs to bomb at the box office. The entire movie is presented in this film. The basis of the movie within the movie is that Mars is running out of air and Lobsterman, some crazy chest-bursting flying lobster aliens, and a gorilla with an astronaut helmet on, are going to come to earth to steal ours. Lobsterman also has an unquenchable hunger for human flesh, so that is going to present a problem for everyone that encounters him and his crew. Yep, you read all that correctly. That is what is going on in this thing.
First off, when the ’80s were actually happening, I was pretty coherent about the movies coming out and I had never heard of this one. Then you look at the cast and it’s even more shocking. The main actress is Deborah Foreman as Mary. Mary is super independent which makes the way men treat her in this flick that much more comical. Foreman at the time was no stranger to horror flicks. She also starred in APRIL FOOLS, WAXWORK, and DESTROYER, all before this came out. The movie also stars Tony Curtis who did this film because he owed child support. Anthony Hickox plays the main male lead, John. Anthony also ended up involved in a ton of horror flicks, he not only directed WAXWORK, he also directed HELLRAISER III, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD III, and more. This movie also features a professor named Professor Plocostomos played by Patrick Macnee who is probably best known for THE HOWLING. So needless to say, it wasn’t like this production didn’t put in an effort even trying to portray a young director's vision within a movie.
Needless to say, I guess this movie is one of the few cult hits I never heard about till this year. What we end up getting is a sometimes goofy gory alien romp, but the effects kind of keep this thing tame which is why it was able to maintain a PG rating. It’s also mostly a comedy when heads aren’t cracking open and oozing their alien insides or people aren’t melting to the bone before your eyes.
The “needing” air plot is a lot like SPACEBALLS or TOTAL RECALL, but the rest of the movie is wildly original with some epic nods to older sci-fi and horror stuff. We even get an amazingly accurate Rod Sterling impersonation. The funniest character for me was the Detective or PI played by Tommy Sledge. His rants whenever he started talking are the stuff of legend.
Effects wise this thing is cheap as heck so I’d walk into this expecting low-budget crazy nonsense your kids over 9 should be able to handle. This movie is bizarrely entertaining and wildly hilarious while giving us some goofy horror elements.
I give this movie a 7 out of 7. It’s so out of the box and surprisingly well done for what it is, that anything less wouldn’t be doing it justice. It’s definitely one of a kind.
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