Film

The Last Days on Mars

Name: The Last Days on Mars
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Horror
Released: 2013
Cast: Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams, Johnny Harris

A sci-fi horror film about a Mars mission's final day that turns catastrophic when the crew discovers something alive in the Martian soil. It's a tense, claustrophobic pressure cooker with real dread—less interested in spectacle than in watching intelligent people make desperate choices under impossible circumstances. For fans of grounded space horror who appreciate character-driven tension over CGI.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like slow-burn science fiction where dread grows out of isolation, cramped base routines and the quiet unease of a crew stretched thin.

Skip it if the pacing is deliberate and the characters are sketched rather than deeply drawn, so if you need constant set pieces or a clever premise to carry you, this may feel plodding.

What it asks of you: Its shape is a slow, procedural build, spending long stretches on routine and small details before tension tightens, though at ninety-eight minutes it never outstays its welcome.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Alien1979

The DNA of space horror: a small crew, confined spaces, an intelligent threat they don't understand, and the slow realization that rescue isn't coming. Ridley Scott invented the template that Last Days on Mars inherits.

But Forty-five years old, and some of the practical effects show their age. The first half is deliberately slow, which can feel draggy if you're expecting action.

Life2017

A taut, intelligent thriller about six astronauts on the ISS dealing with a rapidly evolving extraterrestrial organism. It has the same claustrophobic dread and the same brutal logic: space doesn't care about your training or your hopes.

But Bleak in a way that some find punishing. It doesn't offer catharsis or a heroic way out, which can feel frustrating rather than thought-provoking.

Sunshine1999

Danny Boyle's underseen masterpiece about a crew traveling to reignite the sun. Visually stunning but deeply psychological—it understands that isolation and impossible stakes break people in interesting ways, much like Last Days does.

But Shifts tone dramatically in the final act in a way some find jarring. Also very long and demands your full attention; it won't play in the background.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Last Days on Mars

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Annihilation2018

Both pit highly trained professionals against biology they cannot comprehend. But Annihilation makes nature itself alien and recursive, while Last Days treats the threat as a discrete organism. One is cosmic horror; one is survival thriller.

A science-fiction horror about a team entering a mysterious zone where the laws of nature are breaking down. Like Last Days, it's about people investigating a phenomenon that actively resists human understanding and kills them for it. But where Mars is claustrophobic, this is vast and hallucinogenic—a different kind of impossible.

But Deliberately ambiguous and refuses to explain itself. Heavy on atmosphere, light on answers. Some find it beautiful; others find it frustrating and self-indulgent.

Prospect2018

A gem about prospectors on an alien moon dealing with corporate greed, betrayal, and survival. Low budget but rich in character and moral complexity; it shares Last Days' interest in how people actually behave when stakes are genuinely high.

But Indie production values and an unconventional narrative structure. If you need a clear three-act arc and traditional plotting, this will feel oblique.

Cargo2009

A haunting Russian sci-fi film about cosmonauts salvaging a derelict spacecraft. Slow, meditative, and deeply fatalistic—it has the same sense that the universe is indifferent and that some situations are genuinely unwinnable.

But Extremely slow and bleak with minimal dialogue. Not a film for anyone seeking entertainment; it's closer to an endurance test that rewards patience.

The Expanse2015

A serialized space thriller that earned its cult following by treating space as genuinely hostile and by grounding sci-fi in politics, economics, and human desperation. Multiple crews in multiple crises, all of them plausible.

But Takes three seasons to fully find its footing. The first season is good but scattered, and the politics can overwhelm the immediate tension if that's all you want.

Stranded2013

A survival film about cosmonauts stranded on an orbital station. Claustrophobic, emotionally raw, and focused on the psychological toll of impossible situations. Another film that understands isolation as a form of horror.

But Deliberately paced and emotionally heavy. If you're looking for excitement or hope, you won't find much of either here.

High Life2018

Claire Denis' deeply strange sci-fi chamber piece about prisoners and scientists on a deep-space mission. Haunting, original, and genuinely unsettling—it asks what happens when humans are trapped together with no rules and nowhere to go.

But Cryptic and deliberately obscure. It doesn't explain itself, and some will find it pretentious or frustratingly vague rather than mysteriously profound.

Blindness2008

Both explore what happens to group cohesion when resources are finite and threats are immediate. Both are pessimistic about whether people will cooperate or cannibalize each other.

A virulent epidemic of blindness spreads through a city, and a handful of people navigate a world where everyone is helpless. No aliens or space; just apocalypse, proximity, and the question of whether humans can remain human when systems collapse. Bleak and unflinching in ways Last Days understands.

But Deeply unpleasant and cynical about human nature. Sexual violence is part of the film's point, not gratuitous, but it's not easy to watch. The bleakness is relentless.

The Fountain2006

Both are science fiction interested in death and meaning rather than spectacle. Last Days asks 'how do we survive?' while The Fountain asks 'why survive at all?' They're inverse conversations about the same darkness.

Darren Aronofsky's audacious, formally daring film about love and mortality across three timelines, including a far-future space journey. It's science fiction that operates as metaphor and elegy. Visual poetry rather than plot. If you loved the existential weight of Last Days but want something that transcends naturalism entirely.

But Deliberately obscure and anti-narrative. Some experience it as profound; others as self-aggrandizing nonsense. Requires active interpretation and tolerance for ambiguity.