so in the landing scene you have a smattering of guns from the 50s and 60s, tanks domestic and foreign ranging from WW2 to mid cold war, and a variety of other period anachronisms (the movie seems to take place in the late 80s or early 90s). probably a general pull from the backlot for whatever they had sitting around from other films

this ends up making the film a better tribute to the period for it; those directors from the era (Roger Corman comes to mind) usually had barely anything to work with and anachronisms and continuity errors were rife throughout

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5721901&forum_id=2#48913221)

the deskeletonizer rays are played for kitschy laughs but the effect is pretty grotesque and maybe a little too detailed on film. not to mention the general uselessness of the authority figures portrayed to actually do anything meaningful against the martians. it's still pretty "family friendly" though and a great intro to 50s-60s sci-fi schlock (great genre for kids ime. will develop a healthy sense of humor later in life if introduced to that stuff early) in the same vein that "LA confidential" is a good and well, if very "late modern", paced intro to film noir

apparently the IP comes from a series of Topps trading cards that had quite a bit of ultraviolence (for the time) in it https://www.flickr.com/photos/31558613@N00/albums/72157625601126001/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5721901&forum_id=2#48913300)