Ghosts of Mars may not be one of John Carpenter's finer efforts, but you can't knock the veteran director for staying true to his roots--it's clearly a Carpenter film, reveling in its B-movie blood lust, and fueled by the director's rock & roll rebellion as well as the sex appeal of star Natasha Henstridge. This rickety sci-fi/horror hybrid recalls Carpenter's
Assault on Precinct 13, with various connections from throughout the director's career--for better and worse. It's the year 2176, and human colonists on Mars are controlled by a political "matronage," with women (for reasons unexplained) holding court in the capitol city of Chryse. Mars Police Force Lt. Ballard (Henstridge) has been sent to retrieve James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet's most notorious criminal, from a remote mining-colony prison. With her ill-fated crew, Ballard discovers that the colonists have nearly all been possessed by ancient Martian spirits bent on reclaiming the planet, turning them into an army of self-mutilating freaks suggesting an unholy union of Marilyn Manson and the sadomasochistic Cenobites from the
Hellraiser films. None of this makes much sense, and the shaky alliance between cops and criminals is a predictable excuse for rampant battle scenes between surviving humans and the ghost-possessed maniacs. Exotic weaponry abounds (along with cheap special effects and some laughable dialogue), resulting in the gruesome dispatch of expendable costars Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy, Robert Carradine, and Clea Duvall. Driven by Carpenter's synth-metal score, this violent free-for-all has a few brief highlights, but it's suspenseless and ultimately absurd. It's not much, but for loyal fans it's probably enough.
--Jeff Shannon
| CATEGORY: | Video |
| DIRECTOR: | John Carpenter |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 24 August, 2001 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Sony Pictures |
| MPAA RATING: | R (Restricted) |
| FEATURES: | Color, NTSC |
| TYPE: | Foreign Film - Spanish/Misc Sa, Horror / Sci-Fi / Fantasy, Movie |
| MEDIA: | VHS Tape |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 043396079083 |
Customer Reviews of
Ghosts of Mars (Spanish) (Sub Dts)
It was the Weirdest movie i've ever seen, but good This movie was really weird, but in a good way. I liked it because it was something different. It was way out there,but was still good.
Doomed
Complete piece of trash. Bad story. Bad acting. Bad movie. The sets have a lot of resemblance to Doom 3. I don't know if Doom 3 was inspired by this movie or vice-versa. Natasha Henstridge can't act. What a waste of time. The movie has nested flashbacks, repeated scenes and cheesy lines. Avoid this movie F-grade movie.
Utter tripe - do I have to give it 1??
This film is one of the worst I've ever seen. Amatuerish in dialogue, acting, plot direction etc etc....sure it's bubblegum for late at night but it's really breathtakingly awful.
