AllMovie

Self-appointed "schlockmeister" director Larry Buchanan (the auteur who brought us Curse of the Swamp Creature and Zontar: The Thing From Venus) casts his eye on intergalactic gender relations in this sci-fi B-movie adventure. When a decoded radio message announces that "Mars needs women," the Earth military braces for an invasion from randy Martian men seeking only the finest specimens of femininity to take back to their underpopulated home planet. They settle on a stripper, a flight attendant, a homecoming queen, an art student, and Pulitzer Prize winner Dr. Marjorie Bolen (Yvonne Craig), but the power of love - and the U.S. Military - intervenes on their unorthodox matchmaking plans. Mars Need Women was shot over two weeks in the Dallas metro area for less than $20,000. To compensate for low light, Buchanan shot some footage at the slower frame rate of 12 to 18 frames per second and instructed his actors to "walk slow" so no one would notice. The campy wink-wink of the title has proved an irresistible inspiration to musicians as diverse as Frank Zappa, Rob Zombie, Bela Fleck and the electronic music group Meat Beat Manifesto, who sampled the title declaration in their 1988 dance hit of the same name.