Doom Comes to Mars-Town

A great location and some well used effects, both practical and digital, make for a fun little sci-fi adventure, although I’m a little fuzzy on what the story was at the end there.

Also notice you had some issues with the aspect ratio masking. Pro tip (at least if using Premiere Pro): make your sequence the wide aspect ratio (eg. 1920x800), and then because 48Hours requires it, drag your entire sequence into a new 1920x1080 sequence for export. Much better than physically sticking a black bars png on top!

Honestly, I didn't even realise this was probably shot in a LASER STRIKE building until I saw the logo when your credits rolled. I thought you did a superb job making your set believable as a Mars 'missing link' base for marines to fight off aliens, monsters and demons, DOOM-style.

Answering the distress signal call from a Doctor who has been stationed for 2 years doing research, the ALIENS like crew were stoic and likeable with some enjoyable teleportation humour. I appreciated the classic Mad Scientists blood soaked shootout making a reappearance. Awesome monster costume near the end as well. Overall a hoot and had me grinning from ear to ear. Technically a bit rough around the edges but I have no complaints.

Story: 3/5
Technical: 3.5/5
Elements: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Had a blast watching this one. What a great location to be able to use and I think it was used perfectly.
The gag at the end was really fun too and ultimately, just watching people with fun vfx and costuming and looking like they had a good time made me enjoy it all the more.

As expected, this is a fun ride from Mad Scientists - lasers guns, armoured troops teleportation, alien monsters and a big action sequence. Great sets, typical MS green screening and an enthusiastic cast. It's a heavy dose of 1970s Doctor Who really.
Couple of things for me - 1) I found the start a bit slow...too much talk setting things up as we went from a minute of the "Help us" footage to nearly another minute of "getting the troops ready". 2) We didn't really spend time with any one character so I found it hard to know who's story this was.

Still, there was a great teleportation set-up and gag which is nicely played. Nice job, Mad Scientists!

This was like a 80s throwback - a kind of throwback I enjoy.

To take on a gun fight in space was a ballsy decision - big props for that!
The FX was fun and added special sauce to the film - making it more engaging.

In terms of the characters, our main man turned bad and died pretty quickly and we were left with a hero that we really wasn't introduced to - which was a hit off the mark for me.
I feel like some of the shots were on a diagonal - it's like the camera was positioned on a tripod with a broken leg - don't know if it was intentional but I found myself tilting my head watching a few of the scenes.
The overdub of the audio was obvious for me - could have been a bit cleaner - but meh.

Overall, enjoyed the story. Enjoyed the use of location. Well done team! Y'all should be proud!

I think this is Mad Scientists' best film since One Man Army and the most effective and authentic story arc they've ever pulled off - there's proof here of a grasp on narrative design, which, as much as I've enjoyed previous Mad Scientists films, they've certainly seemed to be more style over substance.

The art direction here is incredible as well, sure it's just at Lazer Strike, but there are plenty of exciting costumes, effects and make up work on display as well.

Honestly I probably would have put this in the finals over some of the films that actually made it in. Which films? I'll never tell.

Great work team!

Things you got right: A very strong creative vision and your best told story yet

Things to work on for next time: It's hard to say - I certainly wouldn't want you to change your style in anyway. Maybe just keep getting more and more ambitious until you make the most batshit insane 48Hour film ever made!