Ghosts of Mars (DVD)

There are very few directors who can command a loyal fanbase when most of their films rarely set the box office on fire. However if you're John Carpenter then you can stick your name in front of your latest film and use it as a selling point. If truth be told Carpenter hasn't made a decent film for years but thanks to some cult video classics such as The Thing and Big Trouble In Little China his career still keeps on going. Ghosts of Mars is another attempt by Carpenter to remake Rio Bravo with a sci-fi element. It's 200 years into the future and a Martian police unit led by Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) is sent to a mining outpost to ...  Read the complete review

On Earth-colonized Mars in 2176, miners stumble on an ancient Red Planet civilization, whose members are none too happy about being disturbed. Enter a cop and a crook who will do battle with the supernatural baddies. Story The title is self-explanatory, as is the complete plot line of the movie. It's a ghost story set on Mars, get it? Well, almost. The year is 2176 and Mars has been colonized by a matriarchal society in cahoots with some nefarious mining cartel. Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) has to travel to an eerie mining town, Shiny Canyon, to transport the most dangerous criminal on Mars, James "Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), ...  Read the complete review

Ghosts of Mars(or "John Carpenter's" Ghosts of Mars as he would obviously prefer it titled) is a movie which for me at least hammers home the final nail in the coffin of one of horror's most widely respected directors. This guy has effectively done nothing which could be considered even slightly above B-movie fare since the 80s and in fact, when you think about it, the movies he is still churning out these days still resemble the 80s stuff. Halloween was a great movie, The Thing was a great movie, Escape From New York was watchable but cannibalised ideas from his previous 80s movie Escape From L.A. and these are what established him as a great director ...  Read the complete review

From Director John carpenter, a renowned film maker and creator of last years vastly underrated "John Carpenters Vampires", a film I very much enjoyed comes his latest outing to hit the UK screens - "John Carpenters Ghost of mars" (why does he always have to have his name in the title???) Set in the year 2176, the film follows Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (played by the rather stunning Natasha Henstridge - Species, Species 2 etc.) and a futuristic police force group that head off to a distant colony on Mars where the most fearsome criminal James "Desolation" Williams (excellently played by Ice Cube) currently resides. Their job is to ...  Read the complete review

Looking at the cast list, you can easily see that this film is going to be bad. Looks can often be deceptive, but not in this case. Ghosts of Mars is billed as a Sci Fi Western and like most films based on the Red planet, is pretty naff. Star Wars fans will shave their Wookies in frustration and Trekkies rip off their rubber ears if forced to sit through this piffle. Still, I managed to stay awake through all 94 minutes of this rubbish so here's what I thought. Cast/Characters Natasha Henstridge - Melanie Ballard Ice Cube - Desolation Williams Jason Statham - Jericho Butler Clea DuVall - Bashira Kincaid Pam Grier - ...  Read the complete review