I actually own a dvd copy of this movie. It's a film that once in awhile I can turn on and just relax. There's no deep thought required, no plot holes, just protagonists fighting off an enemy. The fact that John Carpenter made it has some merit for me. Considering The Thing is perhaps my favorite sci fi horror movie of all time.
Same here. The Thing is just amazing and still holds up today. Even more than any of the modern stuff which uses more CG than practical effects. Maybe I did out Ghost of Mars. Has been ages since I have seen it.
I have to say, I liked Ghosts of Mars....I was shocked to find that people didn't like it. There was a very distinct style to this movie that folks forget, most of the story is told in a series of flashbacks, a style that I really enjoyed. The transitions were really cool and the music was on point. I also felt that the sets were believable and I wanted to see more of Mars. I feel that a good movie is one that has you thinking about it the next day and even to this day, if someone mentions Ghost of Mars, I get bombarded with mental images. I wasn't a fan of The Ward but I do feel that Ghosts of Mars deserves another look, there is a bunch to like about the movie.
I agree, The Ghosts of Mars is a great movie, also very political, not just a flick. It covers a lot of very serious issues, themes, such as the righteousness of those who colonize the territory, even a planet to claim that they have the right to destroy it and the life on it, too, the live forms that lived before the settlers, the colonizers arrived. With no knowledge of their culture, their habits, they simply want to destroy them, yes, even nuke them. Sounds familiar history? So, Carpenter yet again explores a very important subject matter in his Ghosts of Mars. It also came out very close to the September 11th in 2001, when another very significant deed that shapes our history to this day, occured. This movie is even prophetic.
The early 2000s was actually saturated with Mars movies. Including Red Planet, Mission to Mars & Ghost of Mars none of which were cash cows but I loved all of them! The Marilyn Manson looking villain in Ghost of Mars reminded me very much of Valek from Vampires. (I was 10)
I still go back and watch Red planet, mission to Mars and ghosts of Mars...the music was so close to being great in ghosts of Mars...if they had incorporated the music just a little more and let the band jam out...there are parts of the movie that are mostly silent where I'm just like sht they need to let loose some badazz metal right now to pump me up lol
I went to this movie opening weekend with my cousin and his wife. And it was exactly what we wanted it to be, an action packed Sci fi popcorn escape. Perfect for blowing off some steam in an air-conditioned theater after a hot Texas work week
Roger Ebert always took films at their face value, what they set out to accomplish. Ghosts of Mars does exactly that, and so the positive review is glowing approbation of those goals.
@@michaelmyers3709well, in your opinion. Not everyone goes by how much money a movie made. They go by how entertaining it is. Pull a stick out of your ass once a while and you'll see. Rather watch shit like this than any goddamn "Oscar contender" any day of the week.
It's one of those movies that if I run into it while channel surfing, I usually go back and either watch for it for awhile or finish it. The way he does pictures is old school and reminds me of other directors which probably makes me keep watching the same old movies over and over. Thanks Minty!
You can run "10 Things" episodes about all of John Carpenter's library. It's too bad he didn't get greater reception for his movies earlier. At least he stuck to his guns and did what he wanted to do so we got masterpieces like Big Trouble in Little China, the Escape movies, The Thing, They Live, etc. Awesome & great fun movies!!!
Fun fact: they held mass auditions for the "martians" (alien controlled horde) in Albuquerque. An agent from the film went to the gyms around town posting fliers and asking people to cone be extras. My family owned the Taylor branch of Health Clubs of America at the time, and we had several people who frequented our gym get hired as extras. :)
Oh my god!!! I had forgotten about that. I worked at Defined Fitness at the time. We had a few members and employees be in it as well. I went to your club back in the day a few times!!! Time flies!!!!👍👍👍
Awesome! Great movie. I also really love the soundtrack, being a metal shredder myself. With the like of Anthrax, Steve Vai and Buckethead, it's really great.
Brilliant film! Watched it for the umpteenth time only a few days ago. Plot, characters, soundtrack outstanding! Great to hear some new things about it.
Didn't he just?!! There's sort of a feeling that Mr Statham is only able to play Mr Statham but I disagree. The versatility that he demonstrated in Mean Machine by playing a Scottish Mr Statham was an almost chameleonic transformation.
I remember seeing this and really enjoying it. You summed it up as a simple and fun 80s action sci-fi movie. Even re-watching it I really enjoyed it and can appreciate the cast now. Everything doesn't need to be a once in a lifetime classic drama.
I loved Vampires! The way Jack Crowe didn't give a flying frakk about the Vampire Lord(I forget his name) was inches away from killing him and continued to taunt him :)
This is exactly why I don’t listen to critics. GOM is a brilliant popcorn action cheapie. John Carpenter can do NO wrong, he’s never made a single bad film. Nice one Minty 👍
I've often said "I love this film,but don't know why". My son says the same thing. The film has a John Wyndham feel about it,and I've often wondered if it was one of his tales that inspired this movie. Sad to hear that Mr Carpenter has retired, as he's provided us with some of Science Fictions best.
Ghost of Mars is good movie to watch when you want to just relax with plenty of omg moments and cheesey one liners. I also like the fact that there’s virtually no politics involved in this movie but just a simple yet entertaining story. As with Carpenter’s other works it’s like fine wine that just gets better with time.
I saw this opening weekend when I was a kid. I was entertained by it. Never understood why it was so frowned upon... Sure it's not's exactly one of Carpenter's masterpieces, but it's still fun.
Hey, I liked Jurassic Park 3!!! As for Ghosts of Mars, I bought it on Blu Ray, because of Natasha Henstridge. I actually enjoyed the film for what it is, and I like John Carpenter's movies.
I dont blame John for disliking his own film. Its not too good even for a popcorn film. I always expect good things from the Man who made Halloween and Prince of Darkness. Oh well.
I go to every movie with a "switch my mind off at the door" mentality. To me, that's kind of the point. I've never actually seen it, but I probably would have enjoyed it at the time, even if I forgot about it the moment I left the theater. Great video. Very informative. Thanks.
I saw this movie in a theater near me when it came out and I pretty much liked it. My only criticism about the story was that it contradicted itself at one point. When it was decided that killing the zombies was their only hope, the story continues with the fact that the killed zombies just keep coming back. Making killing them pointless in the beginning.
Thanks for the great video. I love this movie. I was working at Blockbuster video when I saw this movie. I recommend it to everyone that walk in the door. And everyone love it too. Many people after watching it said, if I didn't recommend the movie they wouldn't have picked it up. I love John Carpenter's movies. Thanks again.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and highlighted the film's "delightful wackiness" and stating, "It has the damnedest ingratiating way of making us sit there and grin at its harebrained audacity, laugh at its outhouse humor, and be somewhat moved (not deeply, but somewhat) at the poignancy of these two old men and their situation."[7] From Wikipedia
I do watch his videos regardless if I’m interested in the films or not cause he makes it so much fun. Some movies I’ve seen and others on a waiting list. Hope to see them all one day.
I have heard many times this movie was based on the Mutant Chronicles Role Playing board game. The legendary horror film director John Carpenter was rumoured to have been attached to the Mutant Chronicles film in the late 1990s.They were in production for a big budget IP and it fell apart and a lot of the pieces were made for this movie and a few references like the Cartel which is used in the game. Mutant Chronicles did come out with a movie about 10 years later as a lot budget sci-fi movie and that was still only very loosely based on the roleplaying board game.
I enjoyed it. Natasha Hentrich is so effin hot too. If it came out now, it’d likely be in the 70’s on rotten tomatoes and would’ve made money. Good cheesy horror fun.
Great video! I heard that Ghosts of Mars began as a movie adaption of the role playing game Mutant Chronicles (which has some awesome monster and weapons concept art) that Carpenter was set to direct. The evil zombies in the movie are actually based on Mutant Chronicle characters. The project got stalled, then killed by the studio... so John used the make-up he had developed so far (for the main bad guy) and wrote Ghosts of Mars.
And Mutant Chronicles did eventually get made, with Ron Perlman, Thomas Jane, and Malkovich, and made 7 times less money, than Ghost of Mars - 2 mil out of the same 24-25 million budget. I still haven't watched it, but bought multiple times on DVD and BD... 😂
there was also another Mars related movie that came out around the same time Mission To Mars which was also a flop. while carpenter's film was a popcorn movie, M2M was trying to be serious and it didn't work. Audiences may have gotten confused with the two as M2M was released before Ghosts Of Mars.
The thing that I found fascinating about this movie was that it was originally intended to be the third Snake Plisken movie Courtney Love would have been a horrible idea, she was a HUGE junkie, which worked for The People vs. Larry Flynt as Althea Flynt was a HUGE junkie as well
I really like this movie, I actually had the Soundtrack. I bet some of the critics were confused because there are scenes that are played twice, kind of. What you are seeing from those parts are from Melanie Ballard explaining the situation to that Lady Judge or whoever that was behind the desk at the station. Some people were confused by this? I understood it quite well.
I've always followed Richard Cetrone's career after this, even when he's just doing stunts. I like to remind people that a majority of the Batfleck "warehouse scene" everybody loves is actually Richard in the suit. Edit: Sidenote: I grew up in Austin, and I remember that Chronicle review! (the Chronicle is the hoity-toity artsy-fartsy paper in town, btw. Unless it was independent and dramatic, they didn't like anything.) My buddy and I went to go see it on opening night, and there was one other person in the theater.
Saved me a comment! Cetrone is a legend and I happily sit through GoM just to see his performance. That Warehouse scene is god tier thanks to him and the stunt team... I like to try and spot his random appearances in most of Zack Snyder's films and especially loved him as Zeus in Army of the Dead... 🤟🏻
I think what hurt this movie is it came out the same time as a bunch of other “mars movies”. Ie mission to mars, red planet, etc. which had a more serious tone. People didn’t expect a more campy mars movie. Except maybe Ebert
As a proud Carpenter fanboy, I don't care if my bias shows - Ghosts of Mars is awesome. It's a sort of no-fuss amalgamation of Carpenter's ethos and inspirations packed into one no-nonsense b-movie action flick. The 90s seemed to be Carpenter just having fun while he still could - Vampires, Escape From L.A., Ghosts of Mars (yes I know it came out in 2001 but my point still stands). It's easily his most well shot film of his later period imo (his old school period ended at In the Mouth of Madness imo) with awesome old school effects and charm with a cast that is absolutely banging from top to bottom. I maintain that Carpenter, in all seriousness, is one of the best talents to ever use the Panavision, 2.35:1 ration in all filmmaking. You can tell a widescreen image is from a Carpenter flick instantly. His compositions are always incredibly well crafted even if it's something people slag off like Ghosts of Mars. I won't claim it's top tier JC, buts its a blast and a half. I think that Hollywood sort of rapidly left Carpenter behind and by the mid and late 90s his style and sensibilities were rendered unfairly cheesy and old hat. BS. If Ghosts of Mars came out during the 80s, it would be as well loved as all the ret of his films.
I totally agree! This is one of my guilty pleasures. I must have seen it when it hit HBO but I immediately got that it wasn't serious when the villain started yammering, so fucking funny! I thought Henstridge was great because I only knew her as the eye candy in Species and she had a great part. I didn't know Statham at that point because I hadn't seen his Guy Ritchie movies but he made an impression. Ice Cube had some great one liners too. It was just great fun and sometimes people need to take the stick out of their ass and just relax.
