Ghosts of Mars (2001)

• Year: 2001
• Released: 24 Aug 2001
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 2 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0228333/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Ghosts_of_Mars
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/ghosts-of-mars
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Larry Sulkis, John Carpenter
• Director: John Carpenter
• Cast: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Pam Grier
• Keywords: zombie, ghost, flashback, future, possession,

	4.9/10
	35/100

Ghosts of Mars Storyline

Set 200 years in the future, intergalactic cop Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) and her team have an assignment of transferring a dangerous criminal named Desolation Williams (Ice Cube) to a prison in the outpost city of Chryse on the planet Mars. But in a turn of events, an adjacent mining team on the Red Planet has unearthed an ancient Martian defense device that unleashes warrior ghosts of the planet’s original inhabitants who in turn possess most of the workers. Upon arriving at the outpost, Ballard and her team, including Desolation Williams, must band together to survive the vengeful spirits bent on eradicating all human life on their planet.

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Ghosts of Mars Movie Reviews

“Lieutenant, we’ve got a situation here!”

Nobody ever calls ‘The Hustler’ ‘Robert Rossen’s The Hustler’, despite that being what it says on the credits; yet this is routinely filed under ‘J’ for ‘John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars’, although by then calling it that was a warning rather than a recommendation.

I’ve long contended that ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ (1976) would be considered one of the great sci-fi movies had it simply begun with an opening caption identifying it as being set in 1980. (I’m sure it’s not by chance this is set in 2176.)

This visceral and foul mouthed mixture of Carpenter’s earlier classic and ‘Escape from New York’ (complete with a noisy rock score by the director and retro wipes and dissolves), with sets and costumes inspired by ‘Planet of the Vampires’, is marginally less mediocre than most of his later films, has a ballsy heroine (with a scar on her neck in homage to the one on his nose inflicted on Jack Nicholson in ‘Chinatown’), a satisfying number of post-menopausal women in positions of authority. And a cool ending.

A potential cult classic

It is the year 2176 and the planet Mars is gradually being terraformed but a series of incidence suggest the planet isn’t as dead as previously thought. A train arrives at its destination on autopilot; the only person aboard is Lt. Melanie Ballard; a police officer handcuffed to a bunk. During an inquiry she tells what happened.

She and other police officers had been dispatched to a remote mining settlement to collected a dangerous criminal; James ‘Desolation’ Williams. On arrival they find the town strangely empty… then they start finding body parts. I soon emerges that the only people alive are those in the jail; whatever killed everybody else couldn’t get to them. Police and prisoners are forced to form an uneasy alliance as they learn what happened to everybody else. Something ancient has been awakened and it doesn’t appear to want people on Mars. It can possess those it comes into contact with and if that host is killed move onto another. The group will have to think fast if they are to survive.

From early on it is clear that this isn’t a great movie; the dialogue is forced, the plot feels cliché and the effects look low budget. At first I wondered if I’d made a mistake getting this DVD… but gradually it started to grow on me. As others have said this is basically ‘Assault on Precinct 13’ remade as a space-western; something that probably shouldn’t work but strangely did. The possessed individuals attacking are suitably menacing; they can’t be reasoned with and killing them just makes you a candidate for possession. The action scenes are suitably intense and the way the story is told by the apparent sole survivor doesn’t make the odds look good for anybody else. The cast is okay; Jason Statham, in an early role, is probably the best as Sgt Jericho Butler… it is little surprise that his acting career since has eclipsed the rest of the cast. Overall I’d say this was better than I expected… not great but it has the makings of a cult classic.

Ghosts in the machine

John Carpenter is a cult director best known for horror and science fiction films.

Despite critical and commercial acclaim for films such as Starman he has never been able to breakout to the mainstream. Now it is too late.

Carpenter’s films still remain influential and many have become cult classics because of VHS/DVD. Carpenter is also a noted composer and has done some pioneering electronic music in his earlier films.

In Ghosts of Mars he returns to a base under siege scenario. Set in a terraformed Mars in the late 22nd Century, police officer Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) alongside Sergeant Jericho (Jason Statham) are part of a group sent to a remote mining outpost to transport prisoner Desolation Williams (Ice Cube.)

Upon arrival they discover possessed miners committing acts of death, destruction and self-mutilation. If the possessed miner dies, a ‘spirit’ leaves their body and goes to next host.

Ghosts of Mars was apparently shot in a gypsum mine in New Mexico with thousands of gallons of red food dye being used to create a Martian landscape.

As almost all the exterior setting is at night, it looks like they were in a studio backlot. The lazy production design harks back to the B movies of the 1980s. It makes the film look like a throwback with more visceral blood and violence.

The whole plot is not that far off a better Carpenter film from 1976. Assault on Precinct 13 where lawmen had to join forces with bad guys under siege from maniacal hoodlums.

Ghosts of Mars is a disappointment. You expected better from Carpenter, but the script lacks the sarcastic edge which Kurt Russell used to deliver for him. It is a case of seen it all before and better from Carpenter himself.