Ghosts of Mars
Not exactly the best of John Carpenter's career, Ghosts of Mars gives us Natasha Henstridge as the lone surviving member of a squad (which also includes Jason Statham and Pam Grier) on a terraformed Mars sent to retrieve a prisoner (Ice Cube) from a small mining town. Told mostly through flashbacks, with inserts for Lieutenant Melanie Ballard's deposition, the officer tells an outrageous story that somehow doesn't seem to raise any red flags for the tribunal who offer few questions, and even less skepticism, about her tale of miners possessed by Martian ghosts slaughtering an entire town.
Pretty much everything we get here, Carpenter did a better version of before or after Ghosts of Mars including aliens taking over hosts in The Thing and the idea of a small group defending a decimated police station against overwhelming odds in Assault on Precinct 13.
The story never quite works, and because most of the action takes place inside half-destroyed buildings the film doesn't take full advantage of its sci-fi setting. The dialogue is some of Carpenter's worst, and there is only so much the cast can do with the script. Sadly, it never gets to the "so bad it's good" category. The film does includes flashbacks within flashbacks where the tomb of the Martian ghosts is opened eventually revealing the reason for all the craziness which almost feels like it was shot for a different movie.
The possessed individuals prove to be little more than self-mutilating zombies, who like to chop the heads off of their victims for some reason, with some inconsistencies on how quickly they are taken over (such as the man inside a construction vehicle who offers her a warning and is the only one that does more than groan and become violent after becoming possessed). The ghost zombies' leader, who is prominent on the poster, is never explained. And the effect of the possession, with the ghost jumping from host to host, also looks cheap and unimpressive.
More campy than scary, but never quite enough to embrace the tongue-in-cheek style Carpenter later admitted he was going for, the film was released to mostly negative reviews and bombed at the box office. Over the years it has earned a bit of a cult following for its mix of horror, sci-fi, and western leading some to classify it under the weird western genre alongside films like Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter. The new 4K release includes audio commentary with Carpenter and Henstridge, the trailer, and featurettes on the film's music, look and style, and effects.
Watch the trailer- Title: John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars
- IMDb: link
