John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001)

Summary. Miners on a Mars two hundred years in the future accidentally release some ghosts of the original Martians. This happens just as a well-armed team of space cops headed by Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) prepare to transfer the planet’s most dangerous criminal Desolation Williams (Ice Cube) from a local jail cell to the planet’s top prison facility in the outpost city of Chryse. It’s hordes of murderous ugly ghosts vs. a ton of automatic weapons.

Commentary. John Carpenter is a bit of an icon for me. Not in the same league as, say David Lean at his best, but, as I’ve said elsewhere, his movies show the courage of his convictions. He makes well-crafted deliciously fun sci-fi/horror/adventure movies. He uses top production designers and directors of photography and other skilled behind-the-cameras talent. He puts attractive, talented actors and actresses in front of the camera, and asks his whole team to go that extra mile to create outlandish situations that far transcend any B-movie pretentions that so many lazy critics can’t see beyond.

The look of this picture is fantastic. The Mars in this movie is like no other Mars. The matte paintings and the miniatures, especially of the trains, blend together perfectly to give a real sense of place.

This model train is pretty awesome in the film as it races through the Martian night.

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars is a delightful “popcorn” movie to watch and help you feel you’re not wherever it is you really are. This film handily transports you to a dark, dirty, dusty, dangerous Mars, every second of which is during the creepy Martian night. You never get to see vistas of deserts or ranges of mountains. We all stay focused on the horrible things that happen when night falls on Mars.

Enthusiasts.

“John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars ... has the courage to be a potent little B- movie in an era when most movies take B plots and inflate and dilute them to such an extent that the flavor disappears. Ghosts of Mars provides a full- fledged blast of undiluted B-movie zest.”—Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid, August 2001

“It’s cheap thrills all the way, served up with the kind of situational purity that only Carpenter seems to care for these days. It’s that simple and that much fun.”—Paul Malcolm, L.A. Weekly

The ghosts of Mars featured in The Ghosts of Mars.

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001)

USA. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Screen Gems, Storm King Productions, Animationwerks,  C. 2.35:1. 98m

CREW: Director John Carpenter. Script Larry Sulkis, John Carpenter. Producer Sandy King. Score John Carpenter. Director of Photography Gary B. Kibbe. Production Designer William Elliott. Editor Paul C. Warschilka. Casting Reuben Cannon. Special Visual Effects The Chandler Group, ShadowCaster, Amalgamated Pixels. Miniature Effects Hunter/Gratzner Industries.

CAST: Lieutenant Melanie Ballard Natasha Henstridge. Desolation Williams Ice Cube. Sgt Jericho Butler Jason Statham. Bashira Kincaid Clea DuVall. Commander Helena Braddock Pam Grier. Whit- lock Joanna Cassidy.
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