Ghosts of Mars
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| John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars | |
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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 |
| Distributed by | Storm King Screen Gems |
| Release date(s) | 24 August 2001 (Theater) 4 December 2001 (DVD) |
| Running time | 98 min (1:38) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$28,000,000 |
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is a 2001 movie directed by John Carpenter.
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[edit] Plot
Set in the second half of the 22nd century, in the year 2176, 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 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 who possessed the miners.
Violence ensues, as the possessed miners commit acts of death and destruction, as well as self-mutilation. 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 kill the human hosts. Ballard's crew is eventually wiped out by the miners, leaving only her and Williams. Not wanting the authorities to blame the massacre on him, he handcuffs Ballard to her bed and escapes the train, leaving her to return home. While she recuperates at a hospital, the released spirits attack the city. Williams returns and teams up with Ballard to fight the possessed.
[edit] Production
Although Mars has a day/night cycle almost identical in length to Earth's, most of the movie 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 movie was filmed 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.
[edit] Reception
The film was met with generally negative feedback, garnering a 19% freshness rating from Rottentomatoes. Rob Gonsalves of eFilmCritic.com suggested that the film was symbolic of 'Carpenter at rock bottom'. According to the press, factors contributing to the box office failure of the film included poor set designs, hammy acting and a poorly developed script.
[edit] Soundtrack
| John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (film soundtrack) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack by John Carpenter | ||
| Released | November 19, 2001 | |
| Recorded | Cherokee Studios, Hollywood | |
| Genre | Instrumental Heavy metal |
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| Length | 40:59 | |
| Label | Varese 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, avant-garde musician 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.
Tracklisting:[1]
- Ghosts of Mars (3:42) - Steve Vai, Bucket Baker & John Carpenter
- Love Seige [sic] (4:37) - Buckethead, Robin Finck, John Carpenter & Anthrax (Scott Ian, Paul Crook, Frank Bello & Charlie Benante)
- Fight Train (3:16) - Robin Finck, John Carpenter & Anthrax
- Visions of Earth (4:08) - Elliot Easton & John Carpenter
- Slashing Void (2:46) - Elliot Easton & John Carpenter
- Kick Ass (6:06) - Buckethead, John Carpenter & Anthrax
- Power Station (4:37) - Robin Finck, John Carpenter & Anthrax
- Can't Let You Go (2:18) - Stone (J.J. Garcia, Brian James & Brad Wilson), John Carpenter, Bruce Robb & Joe Robb
- Dismemberment Blues (2:53) - Elliot Easton, John Carpenter & Stone
- Fightin' Mad (2:41) - Buckethead & John Carpenter
- Pam Grier's Head (2:35) - Elliot Easton, John Carpenter & Anthrax
- Ghost Poppin' (3:20) - Steve Vai, Robin Finck, John Carpenter & Anthrax
Credits:[1]
- Music by John Carpenter
- Produced by Bruce Robb for Robb Brothers Productions
- Executive Producer: Robert Townson
- Mixed by Bruce and Dee Robb
- Assistant Engineer and Editing: The Great Tiago Becker
- Recorded and Mixed at Cherokee Studios, Hollywood
- Pro Tools Sound Design: Joe Bishara
- Mastered by Pat Sullivan-Fourstar
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Ghosts of Mars at the Internet Movie Database
- John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars at Allmovie
- Ghosts of Mars at Metacritic
- Ghosts of Mars at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
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