The Last Days on Mars

A crew nearing the end of its Mars mission is stationed at Tantalus Base, waiting for the ship that will carry them home. On one of the final days, a member of the team finds fossilized bacteria in a rock sample, evidence that life once existed on the planet. He goes out alone to gather more material before the relief crew arrives, hoping to secure the discovery for himself. The excavation goes wrong when the ground gives way, and his colleagues are left trying to recover his body. When others begin to disappear or change, it becomes clear that what they brought back from the valley is not inert.

The film is directed by Ruairi Robinson, following his 2011 short Blinky, and written by Clive Dawson. Liev Schreiber plays Vincent Campbell, with Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams, Johnny Harris and Goran Kostić among the crew. Made with a budget of 11 million dollars, it was released in 2013 and runs 98 minutes.

Audience response has been middling: on IMDb it holds 5.5 out of 10 from more than 38,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.5 out of 10 from roughly 950 votes. A critics' rating of 4.8 out of 10 from 60 reviews places it at a similar level to the audience scores.