The-Last-Days-of-Mars-PosterScreening at Cannes this year in the Directors’ Fortnight, Ruairi Robinson’s The Last Days of Mars is the latest thriller to make its way out into the vast terrain of space for its setting.

Liev Schreiber tops an impressive international cast in the UK/Irish/US production, and now the first poster has debuted over on io9, following the first trailer from MSN.

On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he has made an astounding discovery – fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an unauthorized expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses, and he falls into a deep crevice and near certain death. His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes they start to suspect that the life-form they have discovered is not yet dead. As the group begins to fall apart it seems their only hope is the imminent arrival of the relief ship Aurora.

Starring alongside Schreiber is a really promising cast, led by Romola Garai, Elias Koteas, Olivia Williams, Johnny Harris, Goran Kostic, and Tom Cullen.

Robinson, who earned an Oscar nomination for his short film, Fifty Percent Grey, is making his feature debut with the sci-fi/thriller, directing from a script penned by Clive Dawson (The Bunker).

The Last Days on Mars was set to be released in the UK on 19th September, but with no cinema listings currently appearing, I have a feeling that the BBFC’s listing of 3rd March, 2014 is more likely. Across the Atlantic, it will get an early release on VOD and On Demand on October 31st, before heading into cinemas on December 6th. In the meantime, here’s the first poster and trailer, the latter of which is probably not quite for the faint-hearted.

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