Review for The Devil Girl from Mars

Having started as a play, ‘Devil from Mars’ provided an irresistible opportunity to produce an incredibly low-budget b-movie to take full advantage of the trend for sci-fi, UFO’s and aliens being exported weekly from the USA. Stuff like ‘The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman’ or ‘Invasion of the Saucer Men’.





But the theme and budget are the only similarities to its US counterparts. This stagey concoction is set in a British pub with lines like “Well, if we’re all going to die dear we may as well have a cup of tea” setting the tone as a cluster of plucky Brits, thrown together by chance, drink tea and smoke pipes in the face of the alien enemy.


Though it’s a case of wildly diminishing returns (by half way through you’ll be looking at your watch and wishing it was all over) it’s certainly enjoyable enough in a very small dose. After all, it starts with a radio announcement telling of an escaped convict – a murderer no less – loose in the remote Scottish community.


Add to that turgid dialogue delivered in hilariously bad Scottish accents (other than native Scot, Dad’s Army favourite John Laurie who fails to utter a single ‘We’re doomed’ despite this being the ideal vehicle to do so), creaking sets and interminable wide shots resembling a stage play and you end up with …well, this. Not quite bad enough to be good but almost.


So what starts as a fairly straight-forward pot-boiler drama soon enters the realms of ‘pinch yourself’ high camp when a leather clad dominatrix appears though the curtains over the French doors demanding fit men to take back to her female dominated planet. Nyah (Patricia Laffan) has worn out all the wimpish men on her home planet and needs new blood.


As no one seems to be taking her seriously she unleashes her killer robot, a comically stubby looking thing that makes ‘Metal Mickey’ look positively menacing. If that doesn’t work it will be the death ray for sure. Don’t try and stop her – she’s serious.


When the police arrive they soon decide to leave the villagers to fend for themselves whilst they go off to get some reserves though they don’t seem particularly hurried or worried. Even a journalistic hack would rather talk about an old flame than remark on the not inconsiderable miracle of a flying saucer in the yard outside.
Extras include a PDF of publicity material and a gallery.



Well, if this all sounds irresistible then do the decent thing and buy a copy for yourself. After all, the fine folks at Network are beginning to earnestly work their magic on little seen British films in their release programme and we should not only be grateful for that but give them all the support we can.