Another JOHN CARPENTER movie that is so underrated it's SILLY,like most of his BRILLIANT films they are always underrated & hated on to a ridiculous degree & then like 20 yrs later are rediscovered as lost classic's? Anyway i liked this AWESOME sci-fi Thriller from the very beginning in 2001 when i first rented it on video, i absolutely Love the Atmosphere in this just like carpenter does with his films he creates a scary dread filled atmosphere & here it's lonely setting on mars at an abandoned mining base is really creepy & unsettling. The cast is cool with the likes of ICE CUBE, JASON STATHAM,PAM GRIER & NATASHA HENSRIDGE are all great in their roles i really liked Jason Statham in this early role as a tough security officer before he became a Hollywood action hero. This is a relatively low budget movie compared to the main big movies that Hollywood make but it's great quality & has an excellent setting & really scary voodoo type crazy ancient alien spirits that possess people & turn them into crazy warriors who kill anyone, it's great fun & has very good FX & really well made production design & like i said the empty doom filled atmosphere is excellent & you just want them to hide in a room & board it all up because out there is TERRIFYING!!! So yes Carpenter has made another great film in the mould of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 & ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, it has that feel. Quick story bit, a team of government security officers are sent to pick up a wanted Criminal & transport him back but find there is something very bad happening at the mining colony!!! a very exciting thrill ride with another excellent carpenter score!!! Also the futuristic train the team ride in in AWESOME looking great design & the officers uniforms look great all excellent production design!!! A great fun late night sci-fi Thriller with Horror & excitement just good fun

This movie fits well within the "Why-Did-They-Even-Bother-to-Make-This-Movie?" category. The best way to view this film is in the Super Fast Forward Mode!

Set in a future in which humankind has colonised and terraformed Mars, a Martian police officer recalls the supernatural circumstances by which her entire squad disappeared, leaving her handcuffed, after a mission to escort a criminal went sour in this John Carpenter movie. The film has a reputation as one of Carpenter's weakest efforts, but it is a step up from 'The Ward' and, as usual, Carpenter establishes mood and atmosphere well. The central mystery is decent too and the abandoned Martian village that the policeman and her unit encounter is quite spooky. It has been compared to an Old West ghost town and there is an added tinge of danger in the air with all the unearthly red dust/dirt and gloomy Martian skies. Unfortunately the film does little beyond this to maximise the awe and wonder of the setting; the planet is so massively terraformed that gravity, air and water do not pose any restrictions. As such, it often feels like the story could have been easily set on Earth without losing anything. The narrative structure is also irksome. Not only is 90% of the film told in flashback, but there are also flashbacks within the flashbacks, which leads to the film feeling massively dragged out despite an under 100 minute length. The action scenes are pretty one-note too. And yet, there are still moments when Carpenter's genius shines through; the first person point-of-view possession scenes are very well done, for instance. This is not a great film by any means, but neither is it quite the turkey one that might expect for a film that put its director off movie-making for nearly a decade.

Ghosts of Mars (2001): Dir: John Carpenter / Cast: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Clea DuVall: Natasha Henstridge plays an officer sent to Mars to transport a dangerous prisoner and she narrates the film because she was the only one to return alive. Bodies litter the prison and Ice Cube is blamed until it is discovered that ghostly beings inhabiting human bodies are responsible. We witness possessed bodies being inflicted with wounds. Eventually Cube and his crew show up and it appears that both forces will have to unite if they are to survive. This leads to a graphic climax where heads detach from torsos and blood splatters the screen. Horror films that are reduced to heavy amounts of gore prove that they lack faith in their delivery. John Carpenter use to make terrific films such as Halloween and Escape From New York. This isn't one of them. In fact, this looks like a variation between his own version of The Thing clashed with Dawn of the Dead. Other than Henstridge and Ice Cube the film features wasted appearances by Jason Statham, Clea DuVall and Pam Grier. They basically spend ninety minutes bickering followed by running and then fighting back where creatures are blasted to pieces and human characters are torn to bits. That is exactly what should be done with the film. The special effects have all the potential of a bag of puke. Score: 0 / 10