AFM 2011: See What Happened During The Last Days on Mars

By Uncle Creepy
November 1st, 2011

There's no question that Apollo 18 left a really sour taste in the mouths of horror fans everywhere as its moon spiders limped across the box office finish line, but that doesn't mean we're still not down for some interplanetary trips to terror!

According to Variety Irish helmer Ruairi Robinson is set to direct his first feature film, The Last Days on Mars, based on a script by Clive Dawson, which Focus Features Intl. will be pre-selling to buyers at the American Film Market this week.

The thriller, which is in pre-production, will be produced by Qwerty Films' Michael Kuhn (The Duchess, Being John Malkovich) and Andrea Cornwall (The Scouting Book for Boys).

The flick, which was previously titled The Animators, follows the story of an astronaut crew on Mars on the verge of a major breakthrough, having collected rock specimens that reveal microscopic evidence of life. In their last hours on the planet, two astronauts go back to a cavernous valley on the surface of Mars to collect further evidence for their discovery, but a routine excavation turns deadly when one of them falls to his death and his body is taken as a host and re-animated by the very life form they sought to discover.

The Last Days on Mars is scheduled to lens in early 2012 on location in Jordan and Shepperton Studios in the U.K.