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Product Description

A film this bad has never looked so good! Kino Classics proudly presents a fully restored edition (from HD elements and the ONLY VERSION AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY) of the notorious holiday classic. The Martians are irked that their children spend so much time watching TV shows from Earth that sing the praises of Santa Claus, so they decide to make a trek to the planet to capture Mr. Claus. During their mission, they also abduct two children who lead the aliens to the North Pole and Santa. The Martians take all three earthlings back to Mars, where, with the help of a native, they manage to spread Christmas cheer throughout the red planet. SCCTM took on newfound fame in the 1990's after being featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and became a holiday staple on Comedy Central in the years following its 1991 premiere, becoming one of the series' most popular episodes. It has since found new life again in the 2000's, having been riffed by Cinematic Titanic, which includes former cast members from MST3K, as of November 2008. Scenes from the movie were also used in both Comedy Central's ''A Colbert Christmas'' and ''Eloise at Christmastime''. SPECIAL FEATURES: ''The Retro Holiday Film Festival'' that includes Vintage Max Fleischer Holiday Cartoons, Seasons Greetings from Calssic TV Stars, Howdy Doody's Christmas Story, Rare, Remastered Holiday Commercials and much, much more!

Product details

Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches; 2.81 Ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Wallace Worsley
Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 9 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ October 29, 2013
Actors ‏ : ‎ Pia Zadora, Bill McCutcheon, Ned Wertimer, John Call
Studio ‏ : ‎ Kino Lorber
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008N2Z1F6

Best Sellers Rank: #232,285 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #7,043 in Comedy (Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews:
329 ratings

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5 star		69%
4 star		15%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Richard Dodds

I watch this every Christmas...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 4, 2022

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Ok, it's far from a greatly produced movie. But, I find it charming and corny. The idea of a Science Fiction/Christmas movie is interesting. But, watch it like a Comedy/SciFi/Christmas movie. The low budget outfits the actors wear is hilarious! Take it for what it is...Don't expect too much and you'll enjoy it!

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SciFi-Kaiju-Guy @ TeePublic

Ho-Ho-Holy crap! You'll be singing "Hoo-ray for Santy Claus!" to celebrate the hi-def release of this heinous holiday favorite!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 11, 2017

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BOTTOM LINE: A legendarily awful yuletide motion picture, fully deserving of its Ed Woodian reputation. An amazingly wretched relic from the good old days. Proof that drugs & alcohol are often used on motion picture sets, (and strongly recommended for those of you at home contemplating watching this of your own free will). Let the tinsel-trimmed torture begin! 5 STARS

THE STORY: The listless children of Mars just sit and sulk, much to the confusion & consternation of their parents. Consulting with their high priest, the Red Planet's leaders are informed that their computer-taught & chemically-controlled children are essentially being denied their childhood. If such a joyless existence is allowed to continue, in another generation or two the entire Martian race faces extinction! Simply put: the depressed tots are in desperate need of fun & happiness! What to do? Why... kidnap Santa Claus, of course! (?) To accomplish this task, a rocketship of stealthy Martian commandos is sent to Earth. Once there, the Martian meanies strongarm a couple of precocious Earth children into pointing the way to Santa's Workshop. After some not too perilous peril, involving a rabid polar bear attack & the mechanical menace of the Martians' robotic enforcer, Torg, the two kids & jolly old Saint Nick are whisked away to the Red Planet, instructed to cheer up the mundane lives of all the sad Martian kiddies.... or else!

THOUGHTS: As mainstream moves go, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS surely must rank as one of the oddest ever made. The entire cast is made up of unknowns, except for a young pre-celebrity Pia Zadora, as Martian tyke, Girmar, and Ned Wertimer, as KID-TV reporter Andy Henderson. (Wertimer's main claim to fame was portraying Ralph, the eternally-shafted doorman on The Jeffersons). All of the actors play the film completely straight-faced, with nary an eye-roll nor stifled giggle to be found. Astonishing, considering the ridiculous costumes, totally unconvincing make-ups and thoroughly atrocious "special effects" the film contains. (All of which would be right at home in a typical third grade Christmas play.) Seriously, one need only look as far as the 'terrifying' polar bear and "Torg" the Martian robot henchman, to see that the film's total F/X budget couldn't have exceeded $125, tops. Still, the movie somehow manages to be entertaining, in a twisted sort of fever dream/train wreck way. It's better viewed in the terrific Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, which is perhaps their best holiday effort. (Although it's a close tie with their lampooning of the Mexican-lensed Christmas catastrophe, "Santa Claus.") Viewed as-is, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS takes a strong will (or some strong drink) to make it through in one setting. Very young children, undoubtedly the target audience of this film, may well enjoy it. Anyone over the age of six or seven will likely be reaching for the remote or an air sick bag (or both).

THE BLU-RAY: While not an ultra-sharp frame-by-frame restoration, this film, (up until now consigned to faded, washed out, jittery junk quality Public Domain copies), looks better than it has in years, perhaps since its theatrical debut. It's not as good as it could look, but it's likely due to the condition of whatever source materials Horizon/Kino Lorber had to work with. The video still contains a fair amount of debris and grit, but far less than I've seen in previous PD releases. Thankfully the color palette here is quite strong in comparison to the wretched PD stuff. Audio is a mostly clear & level mono. An eclectic assortment of bonus goodies round out this Blu-ray release. Best of the bunch is the compilation of theatrical bumpers, shorts and holiday-related bits touted as "The Retro Holiday Film Festival." There's also a cute Fleisher Christmas cartoon, some old commercials and a short Howdy Doody clip. Pretty neat stuff.

26 people found this helpful

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T.NAKAJIMA

Possibly the "Worst" Film Ever Made -- But How Can I Hate This One?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 21, 2007

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If you say "Santa Clause Conquers Martians" is the worst film ever made, I won't disagree. I think I have recently seen much worse (and more costly) films coming from Hollywood (how about "Son of the Mask"?), but I am sure that even kids would find "SCCM" stunningly terrible with its wooden acting, impossible plot and incredible dialogues (a girl says to a Martian with antennae in his head: "Are you a television set?") and the cheaply set obviously made from cardboard.

For some die-hard filmgoers, certain "bad" films become good because of their badness, but I seriously doubt "Santa" would be one of them. I enjoyed watching it - its robot, miniature spaceship and fearful "Polar bear" - they all look cheap, and kind of fun to be sure, but the film's pace is very slack. The "joy" of watching silly things like a bargain-basement robot moving awkwardly (and suddenly forgotten in the middle of the plot) soon evaporates because of the poor, really poor direction.

[PIA ZADRA] But I couldn't hate the film for ... how can I? Pia Zadra (her debut, with her face painted green) appears as "Girmar" ("Girl" + "Martian"), who keeps watching television (or intergalactic TV from Earth). Concerned daddy Kimar insists that kids on the Mars needs Santa Claus, travels to the Earth and kidnaps him from his workshop. It's family and love!

Oh, and the story. "Santa Clause Conquers Martians" - this silly title tells you all, you may think. Well, it surely conveys to us the film's utter silliness, but not exactly the content. Actually, in this film Santa (or Santy Claus as the film calls him) does not "conquer" the Mars and its green-faced residents. As I said, he is only abducted by them (together with two earthling kids Billy and Betty); Santa in fact "conquers" the Martians with toys, humor and his routine Ho-ho-ho! Here is a film waiting to be remade by Tim Burton.

But seriously, the most charming part is that Martians here are mostly kind and gentle, not ferocious, brutal and ruthless killers of H. G. Wells. The leader Kimar strictly forbids destroying anything and anybody and sticks to his principle to the end. Considering the time it was made (it was 1964), maybe we shouldn't make fun of its apparently silly story about the benevolent aliens "conquered" by Santa Claus and his toys.

Well, anyway, sit back and enjoy yourself. This is a "family picture" Ed Wood might have done.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Stilton Sam

Worst Film Ever Made?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 8, 2017

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In fairness this was a tongue in cheek purchase and I wasn't expecting much. My expectations were correct. This film gets 2 stars instead of 1 because in many places it is so bad that it's funny. A friend told me that this was the worst film ever made. I disagree, just. I have seen worse but it must be down there in the bottom 10. If you want to laugh at awful acting and appalling special effects, then it is worth it if, like me, you can pick it up for a couple of quid. If you want to see an enjoyable Christmas classic, stay well clear.

John Kevin Wilshaw

Wonderfully and endearingly tacky with zero production values

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 7, 2016

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Wonderfully and endearingly tacky with zero production values, an archetypal product of early 1960s America! Naff sets, daft plot and Martian costumes that Gene Roddenberry would have rejected.

I loved every minute of it!

One person found this helpful