Ghosts of Mars

Ghosts of Mars...2001...98 minutes...rated R...starring Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, and Pam Grier...written by John Carpenter and Larry Sulkis...directed by John Carpenter

So, we have a group of Martian law-enforcement types sent to a mining town to pick up the dangerous criminal, Desolation Williams. Mars is a matriarchal society, though that really doesn't factor into things all that much as the team discovers that the mining town is deserted. Eventually the group comes to realize that it's not the criminal that's behind all the terrible goings-on, but that instead the ghosts of Martians are inhabiting people and turning them into metal-gouged babbling psychopaths...you know, proto-Reavers.

Like many John Carpenter films, this one has a few things going for it and things that never quite gets explained. The whole matriarchy thing is a prime example...why did Mars become a matriarchy, and how does it change anything? Still, for what it is, which is a sci-fi horror movie made on a rather small budget...it's not bad. It's a hard movie for me to take seriously though, especially when the Martian leader has one of the best monologues in the script. (This, by the way, is a long moment of seeing this big and rather scary-looking individual yelling nothing but gibberish. Possibly authentic Martian Gibberish, but unintelligible sounds nonetheless.) Considering the ending, I'm not really sure you're supposed to take this movie all that seriously.

For all that is and isn't, "Ghosts of Mars"is definitely a Carpenter creation, complete with his additions to the soundtrack. There's a bit of a cast here, including a younger Jason Statham and sci-fi veteran Joanna Cassidy, so if for nothing else the movie can be seen just to see some early or at least off-beat performances by people you may like to watch. It's just an -odd- movie, and considering that it's a Carpenter film, that's saying something.

I give Ghosts of Mars 2 throwing blades out of 5.