Ghosts of Mars was a title I’d been searching for, for a while. I make no secret that John Carpenter is one of my favourite directors and I’ve not seen anything bad with his name on it. Luck was on my side this week as I picked up a cheap but surprisingly pristine copy of this on VHS.
With great anticipation I put this one into the VHS player and sat back through the previews waiting for the film. Ghosts had some quite notable actors, not huge names but cool names. Ice Cube, Natasha Henstidge (the babe from Species) and a young Jason Stratham. But lets see how they go in the film….
The Plot
the film is a recap of space police woman Melanie’s experience on Mars. Set in the *ahem* distant future of 2025, Melanie is leading a mission to arrest a criminal. Unfortunately, James Williams the criminal she’s after is the least of the problems facing the crew or even the planet of Mars itself. Melanie finds James in an old mining colony and is attacked by a crazed inhabitant of the colony. Seems the whole colony has lost their collective minds and degenerated into bloodthirsty savagery.
After a couple of the police crew are savagely killed by the deranged natives, Melanie and the remnants of her crew team up with some surviving prisoners to see if they can survive the horrors of the planet
Upon investigating it seems the usually busy planet is a ghost town. Something has got the population of the planet rattled and our team attempts to find out what.
Ghosts of Mars is another great film in the long line of movies directed by John Carpenter. Its visually spectacular, his flair for angles and colours is present, as is his gripping story telling. There is a respectable level of violence / gore in this film but its not a main focus of the film. This is a near perfect film for fans of the sci-fi / horror crossover, and a great all round film even if you’re not a fan of either. I can’t recommend this enough!
More by Carpenter
Be sure to check out other Carpenter films such as:
Halloween
Halloween 3
In the Mouth of Madness
For more great horror movie reviews be sure to check out https://www.gorenography.com on a regular basis!