| John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Carpenter |
| Produced by | Sandy King |
| Written by | John Carpenter Larry Sulkis |
| Starring | Ice Cube Natasha Henstridge Jason Statham Pam Grier Clea DuVall Joanna Cassidy |
| Music by | John Carpenter Anthrax |
| Cinematography | Gary B. Kibbe |
| Editing by | Paul C. Warschilka |
| Studio | Animationweks |
| Distributed by | Screen Gems |
| Release date(s) | August 24, 2001 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28 million[1] |
| Box office | $14,010,832[1] |
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is a 2001 American science fiction action horror film composed, written, and directed by John Carpenter. The film stars Ice Cube, Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Clea DuVall, and Joanna Cassidy. The film was a critical and financial failure, garnering only a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes[2] and $14 million from a $28 million budget.[1]
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Set in the second half of the 22nd century, the film depicts Mars as a planet that has been 84% terraformed, allowing humans to walk on the surface without wearing pressure suits. The story concerns a police officer, Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge), second in command of a small team alongside Sergeant Jericho (Jason Statham) sent to pick up and transport a prisoner named Desolation Williams (Ice Cube). Arriving at the remote mining town where Williams is being held, Ballard finds virtually all of the people missing. She learns that the miners had discovered an underground doorway created by an ancient Martian civilization. When the door was opened it released "ghosts," disembodied spirits which possessed the miners.
Violence ensues, as the possessed miners commit horrific acts of death and destruction, as well as self-mutilation. With their team leader Helena Bradock (Pam Grier) murdered, Ballard must fight off the attacking miners, escape the town, and destroy the ghosts, if possible. Unfortunately, her intentions are complicated by the fact that killing a possessed human merely releases the Martian spirit to possess another human. The team eventually decides to blow up a nuclear reactor to try and vaporize all of the ghosts. At one point in the film Sergeant Jericho shows a romantic interest in Ballard.
Ballard's crew along with survivors who manage to gather in the jail are eventually wiped out by the miners after many fierce battles and events (including Ballard almost being possessed but fighting the ghost off and seeing its memories and motives), leaving only her, and Williams after Sergeant Jericho and the other remaining soldiers and the two operators of the train are killed upon returning from a brief retreat to finish the fight. Not wanting the authorities to blame the massacre on him, he handcuffs Ballard to her cot and escapes via the train, leaving her to return home and deliver her report, which is received with skepticism by her superiors. While Ballard recuperates at a hospital, the released spirits, who weren't destroyed after all, attack the city. The end scene sets the movie up for a sequel as Williams returns to team up with Ballard to fight the possessed.
Although Mars has a day/night cycle almost identical in length to Earth's, most of the film is set at night. Mars is shown only once in the daytime, in a flashback when a scientist describes how she found and opened a "Pandora's Box," unleashing the alien spirits.
Much of the film was shot in a New Mexican gypsum mine. The pure white gypsum had to be dyed with thousands of gallons of biodegradable red food dye to recreate the Martian landscape.
Ghosts of Mars was met with generally negative feedback, garnering a 21% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus stating "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is not one of Carpenter's better movies, filled as it is with bad dialogue, bad acting, confusing flashbacks, and scenes that are more campy than scary."[2] Rob Gonsalves of eFilmCritic.com suggested that the film was symbolic of 'Carpenter at rock bottom.' According to press reviews factors contributing to the box office failure of the film included "poor set designs, hammy acting and a poorly developed script".
The film opened at #9 in the North American box office in its opening weekend (8/24-26) with $3,804,452[3] and grossed a domestic total of $8,709,640 and an international total of $5,301,192, totaling $14,010,832 worldwide.[1]
| John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (film soundtrack) | |
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| Soundtrack album by John Carpenter | |
| Released | November 19, 2001 |
| Recorded | Cherokee Studios, Hollywood |
| Genre | Instrumental Heavy metal |
| Length | 40:59 |
| Label | Varèse Sarabande |
| Producer | Bruce Robb |
| Professional reviews | |
For the film's soundtrack, John Carpenter recorded a number of synthesizer pieces and assembled an all-star cast of guitarists (including thrash metal band Anthrax, virtuoso Steve Vai, master guitarist Buckethead, and former Guns N' Roses/current Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck) to record an energetic and technically proficient heavy metal score. Reaction to the soundtrack was mixed; many critics praised the high standard of musicianship and the strong pairing of heavy metal riffs with the film's action sequences, but complained about the overlong guitar solos, the drastic differences between the cues used in the film and the full tracks and the absence of any of the film's ambient synth score from the soundtrack CD.
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