Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Plot: Mars, 2176 AD. Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the dark and dangerous manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. 640,000 people now live and work at far-flung outposts all over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. But one of those mining operations has uncovered a deadly mother lode: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors, now unleashed and apparently unstoppable, are systematically taking over the bodies of human intruders, bent on ridding the planet of the invaders from Earth.
News:
8 August, 2001
We've got a bunch of video clips from the movie for you today. There are three clips available in Quicktime format. The last one, entitled "The Bodies Were Not Found" apparently features the lovely Natasha Henstridge in her undies. That's never a bad thing...
Thanks to 'Amy.'
24 July, 2001
Our very own Hollyfeld was at this year's San Diego Comic Con. He sent in a report with lots of info on the movie's second trailer and John Carpenter's comments.
Glen Morgan seemed particularly understanding about
the crowd's single-mindedness, stating that he's anxious to see
Spider-Man, too, but things really didn't fall apart until
the Ghosts of Mars preview. After Morgan and Wong left the
stage, they showed a new teaser for the film, quite inferior to
the last one, I thought, then said that John Carpenter was running
late for the panel, and asked if we wanted to see it again. The
response? "NO! SHOW SPIDER-MAN!!!" In order to appease
the crowd, cast members Joanna Cassidy and "Big Daddy Mars,"
in FULL COSTUME no less, came on-stage in order to fill the time.
Cassidy seemed very nice on-stage, but also daunted by the blatant
rudeness of the fans, who again shouted for Spider-Man. As
she was talking, I began to realize why Kevin Smith's Q&A sessions
are so popular - he doesn't ever let an awkward pause slip by him,
filling every moment with some kind of conversation. Not so with
this panel. "Big Daddy Mars," however, seemed nice, and
even tried to stay in character, even though no one would let him.
On his involvement, he said that "(John Carpenter) came to
my planet and said he wanted to tell my story." But everyone
else kept asking him about how long it took to put his make-up on,
what his favorite Carpenter movie was, etc. Eventually he gave in,
casually mentioning that it took 3 hours to put the make-up on TODAY
(and, of course, afterwards someone yelled for them to put on Spider-Man
- damn, those were some rude motherfuckers), and that his favorite
Carpenter film was The Thing. Then, finally, Carpenter came
in. He was a good sport about the whole thing, and people eventually
settled down enough to ask him some real questions. The choicer
bits follow here:
On the Escape From New York DVD: It will be
out later this year, or early next, with the laserdisc commentary
track imported over.
On his involvement in Vampires 2: "Only
collecting a check."
Someone, somewhat incongruously, asked about the presence
of spirituality in Ghosts of Mars (probably something to
do with the word "Ghosts" in the title): "If you're
looking for spirituality when going to see this movie, then you
are going to be REAL disappointed."
On his next project after Ghosts: He has no
specific plans, but is inclined to do another "balls-out horror
film like Halloween." He was quick to add, however, that he
has no specific story in mind, just the inclination to do a horror
film.
Will there be a Prince Of Darkness 2? "No,
I don't think there will be." It didn't make enough money,
apparently.
On the rumor that Big Trouble in Little China
was originally adapted from the unused Buckaroo Bonzai sequel:
No. It was adapted from a period western that the studio felt would
work better set in modern day.
On what he felt is his most under-rated film: In
The Mouth of Madness. (Some scattered applause - I was the only
one hollering… I love that film.)
On the chances of him doing another H.P. Lovecraft
film: "I can't convince anyone to make Lovecraft." He
did, however, mention that he has tried to do several stories, including
The Colour Out of Space (which would have been interesting),
and a few more that I didn't catch, but "no one gets it."
John Carpenter was as real good sport about the whole
audience rudeness thing, but I could tell that everyone was relieved
when they left. The poor guys.
You can read the entire report from the Con here.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums
9 July, 2001
We've got a nice batch of stills from the movie for you today.
27 March, 2001
The first trailer for John Carpenter's latest movie is now online. Click on any of the pictures below for a larger still or just download the whole thing.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums
6 March, 2001
 The French magazine Cinélive featued an article with a series of photos on the movie. John Carpenter talked a little bit about the movie. Asked about comparisons between his movie and recent Mars based flops Red Planet and Mission to Mars, Carpenter replies, "While it is true that the three films take place on Mars, mine has nothing to do with the previous ones. First because there are no astronauts discovering an unknown planet. There will be no scenes like the landing of a capsule. On the Mars in my film, you can breathe the air - the planet has been 'terraformed'. ... GOM is closer to a ghost movie than a classic SF movie. It's more like a western on a different planet ... Mars is a myth, a mystery, an enigma in our collective subconscious. Mars is also the ancient Greek GOD of war. And Mars is also close to earth, so we can well imagine it being colonised. Three good reasons to plase our scenario there, even if other recent movies also too place on Mars."
You can find the rest of the photos over at John Carpenter News.
Talk about it on the Forums
18 January, 2001
 When it rains it pours. The latest issue of Wicked magazine features this nifty shot from the movie. This of course assumes that you think a bunch of heads on stakes constitutes nifty. The one guy not staked in the photo is Jason Statham (Snatch). Apparently in the movie you can expect to find net gossiper Harry Knowles noggin amongst those heads. Now that's nifty.
Use your head. Talk about it on the Forums
16 January, 2001
 We haven't heard much on this in awhile but the first picture has finally appeared. This shot shows Richard Cetrone as Big Daddy Mars. I don't know what that means either but it's a neat looking photo isn't it?
10 November, 2000
Nick, over at Creature Corner, got his hands on the script for John Carpenter's new project Ghosts of Mars. He has a bit of a mixed reaction to it.
Carpenter has a way of working his magic with limited resources. Here he seems to have a lot at his disposal: An otherworldly setting. An ensemble of contrasting character (and acting) types, and momentum. Even though "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars" have beaten him to the punch, this a far different tale. One that could have easily been told in the Old West, a spaceship, or a sleepy little town near you. It's that kind of story. Strip away the chassis and it's another claustrophobic and SMALL story.
The last half of this film is the stuff we've seen many times before. Expendable characters appear just in time to die, there's action heroics, and explosions galore. Thrills? Maybe. The trademark horror and sci-fi we expect from Carpenter? No. Also, there's quite a bit of Lesbian references. Not really positive stuff. What's that about?
The last scene is a throwback to another time. Kind of cheesy, kind of a cheat, but if execute right will leave an audience cheering. Also, there are a lot of things that will be effective if the FX artists do a good and ORIGINAL job. Also, a HUGE amount rests on the effectiveness of Ice Cube and Henstridge. If they do solid work, we could have two leads worth spending 2 hours with.
You can read the entire review here.
Talk about it on the Forums
18 October, 1999
So what's this about other than the obvious? Well it's about a rescue mission to Mars. Two hundred years from now human colonists on Mars must be rescued after they become possessed by angry Martian ghosts. So are these ghosts of martians or ghosts of earth colonists of Mars? The movie will be the first production at Sony's new division, Screen Gems. Larry Sulkis and John Carpenter collaborated on the script.
Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter.
15 October, 1999
A new John Carpenter movie used to be a good thing but he doesn't seem to have the touch anymore. A string of duds ending with the recent Vampires has dimmed my enthusiasm a tad. This time around he's going to tell us a story set on Mars 200 years in the future. Mars has been colonized and is apparently haunted. This is an original story from Carpenter, something he hasn't done since They Live. That's somewhat encouraging as that was a pretty entertaining film.
Various sources.
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