# The reviews are coming in! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reviews-are-coming-in/767221 "2016-09-29T17:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reviews-are-coming-in/767221/1 "2016-09-29T17:44:01Z")
You may recall that midway through 2015 I worked on my best **fiend** ’s latest film, _First Man On Mars_. So far, I’ve only seen the rough edit; but yesterday I received the official release on DVD. I’ll watch it on the weekend. I laughed all the way through the rough-cut, and can barely wait to see the added stuff. FMOM is a horror/comedy in the grindhouse/drive-in/exploitation/Science Fiction/Troma-style film vein. Basically, the kind of SF/horror film I grew up with, only played for laughs instead of the ostensibly serious productions from the '50s through '70s. [This video review](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB-4bR05fOU) includes the trailer. It also includes a history of grindhouse, plus a lot of clips from movies of the era. i’m surprised he laughed at the name ‘Dick Ruffman’, but not ‘Fred Sadizmo’. And he didn’t mention the play being made with ‘Eli Cologne’. In a nutshell: The reviewer gave it a 7 out of 10. [UK Horror Scene](http://www.ukhorrorscene.com/first-man-on-mars-2016-review/) says: > [@](#): > > First Man on Mars is bad. It’s SO bad. It’s so gloriously, hilariously bad… > > So, what’s so great about a terrible movie? Well First Man on Mars is a funny parody of 1950s B-movies and 70’s schlock. There is so much fun packed into this cheap little movie, the laughs just keep coming, though admittedly most of them are pretty low-brow. But everything from the first frame of the film is designed to be bad and it succeeds at being bad wonderfully. It brings to mind a raunchier Skeleton of Cadavra Cave. I like the comparison to _The Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra_. It’s one of my faves. The first official review of FMOM was from [Morbidly Beautiful](http://morbidlybeautiful.com/firstmanonmars/). > [@](#): > > This is a film that seems to take its comedy cues in very large part from the Troma universe. In fact, if I didn’t know differently, I would have sworn it was a Troma film. It’s not surprising that the screener was well received by the folks at Troma, who gave it big thumbs up and called it “Excellent.” > > \ > > The kill scenes are delightfully gory and a blast to watch — with plenty of head squeezing, eye-popping, face-ripping fun. The alien-infected killer astronaut looks great, with some rather impressive makeup effects on display. It seems that the film is selling pretty well. Not that I’ll see any of it. I was paid a round-trip plane ticket, meals, and a copy of the DVD. But it was a freakin’ blast to work on, and I’d do it again. 🙂