Ghosts of Mars

John Carpenter – 2001 – USA

I tend to like a lot of movies that were critical failures; and this is one of the biggest failures of all, so bad that it pretty much drove John Carpenter into semi-retirement.  I still affirm that the problem lies with the critics, not Carpenter.  The problem is that they unthinkingly judge a movie like this next to other sci-fi/action films.  In that context, it isn’t very impressive, (and Carpenter has certainly never had much interest in competing in the summer blockbuster arena).  But when looked at as a “Carpenter film” instead, Ghosts of Mars is a near-masterpiece.  It is also a summing-up film for Carpenter’s career, consolidating all the genre elements – western, horror, science fiction – that have made up his filmography since the 70s.  The two influences that loom largest over his work are arguably Howard Hawks and H.P. Lovecraft, and Ghosts of Mars is an amalgam of both.  A band of hard-boiled characters in an isolated locale, honorable outlaws, tough women; these are all elements from Hawks that filter into Carpenter’s films, including this one.  And from Lovecraft, Carpenter acquired the brooding theme of “old ones” who once controlled this world and can re-emerge at will to decimate our tranquil lives.  Set in a future run by a matriarchal society, Mars is in the early stages of colonization, but excavators crack a tomb containing the spirits of an ancient race that once ruled here.  Taking to the air like a dust cloud, the spirits invade the bodies of the humans trying to settle Mars.  In the middle of this supernatural insurrection, a group of soldiers led by Natasha Henstridge must transfer a notorious criminal, Ice Cube, from an outpost jail besieged by possessed savages.  Carpenter’s elegant camerawork and familiar themes are inherently pleasing to hardcore fans like myself, but two things make Ghosts of Mars particularly unique; its curious, layered flashback-within-flashback structure, and its visceral metal score composed by Carpenter himself and performed by notable artists like Anthrax, Buckethead and Steve Vai.