Ghosts of Mars

I can see why people hate Ghost of Mars cause the whole movie look like it could be directed by Paul W. Anderson and not John Carpenter but you gotta know that the man is not a flipping God when he direct the unholy sequel to his 1981 steath action classic Escape From New York so watching the movie today I can cut him some slack and enjoy it.The plot of Ghosts of Mars feel like the Hollywood first attempt at a Doom live action movie when it take place on Mars where space cop vs not demon but human possessed by evil Martian spirit that make them going on a killing spree while dress up as a MetalHead and I kid you not they also sound like a Death Metal song and Metal music will kick in everytime they appears on screen.It B-movie glorious which mean it campy,cheesy and alot of fun plus you can see Ice Cube and Jason Statham played the opposite role of what are they usually doing nowadays

The wild-west inspiration is obvious.

It could just as easily have been made as a "regular" horror-western, and perhaps a remake/reimaging will make it so.

The sets are OK, the CGI is so-so.

The actors are doing a decent job and all in all, the film accomplishes what it sets out to do: A two-fisted action-romp with a splash of horror and gore.

It's not high art but it is silly fun and good enough for an evening along with popcorn and soda.

I'm not some naive fan who thinks Carpenter can do no wrong. I didn't care much for Vampires or Village of the Damned (they were alright, but the scripts for those two were not up to snuff for a great director like Carpenter). However, I think Ghosts of Mars is one of his greatest movies. If you can't appreciate this movie then you can't really appreciate Carpenter, IMO. From the Lovecraftian story and atmosphere, to the anamorphic photography, to the excellent music, everything here is Carpenter. Hopefully this movie will find its audience, in time, rather than be forgotten. One criticism of Carpenter I've never been able to understand is that people say he isn't subtle, he relies solely on shocks and violence. Yes, his movies have shocks and violence, they are the release mechanisms for all of the terror he slowly builds up, neanderthals! It seems some film critics are just too good for American horror, they can't stoop to its level from their lofty perch.

I first saw this during Christmas vacation in 2001 in Regal theatre, South Mumbai, Colaba.

I enjoyed it then, especially the gore n Jason Statham's fight choreography.

Inspite of owning a VCD, I never played it on the player.

Revisited recently again in the month of December.

This movie hasn't aged well n I found it to be boring n very silly.

The movie has too many flashbacks.

Also I never understood how the possessed fellas get earrings or nose rings or whatever they wear.

In fact even the lead villain/ghost/demon is wearing a rubber suit representing a six pack. Now that is something very ridiculous.

Sure, it's predictable. This is basically the same story as _Pitch Black_. And why is it that science fiction basically revolves around horror themes? It would be nice to see a really thought-provoking science fiction film that consisted of more than a motley group of people trying to escape from some monster. Given this, _Ghosts of Mars_ is really a pretty decent film and John Carpenter's best in some time.

I really wanted to like _Vampires_ and much of that was pretty good, but the small budget really hurt. Here, Carpent uses the budget limitations to positive effect. Most of the money apparently went for red dye for the ground. The buildings and "futuristic" train didn't require much. The story basically boils down to the basic stalk and slash as dozens of other "science fiction" films of recent vintage, but there isn't a lot of time wasted on extraneous plot.

The story is well-told, via a pretty complicated series of flashbacks and even flashbacks within flashbacks, as a group of gung-ho Martian police attempt to pick up a transport a prisoner, played by Ice Cube, only to discover that the mining station where he's being held has been overrun by the spirits of dead Martians, who inhabit their host bodies and make them do their bidding.

The story is also basically an updating of one of Carpenter's earliest films, _Assault on Precinct 13_. Along the way, there are intriguing glimpses at the matriarchical society that runs Mars, although it is never explained how or why things got to be this way. Carpenter supplies some neat music to the film's soundtrack as well. All in all, there are certainly worse ways to spend your money.