Ghosts of Mars
Short description
Set on Mars in the year 2176, the film follows a police squad sent to a remote mining settlement to bring in a dangerous criminal named James "Desolation" Williams. When the officers arrive, they find the outpost abandoned and its miners transformed into hosts for a long-dormant Martian civilization determined to reclaim the planet. The squad, led by Lieutenant Melanie Ballard, must join forces with the prisoner they came to collect in order to survive.
John Carpenter directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Larry Sulkis, and Sandy King produced. It is the twentieth of the twenty-two films Carpenter has directed, arriving between Vampires and Cigarette Burns. Natasha Henstridge plays Ballard, with Ice Cube as Desolation Williams, Jason Statham as Sergeant Jericho Butler, Clea DuVall as Bashira Kincaid, Pam Grier as Commander Helena Braddock and Joanna Cassidy as Dr. Arlene Whitlock.
Released in August 2001, the film had a budget of 28 million dollars and took in about 14 million worldwide, a return well below its cost. Audiences rate it modestly: on IMDb it sits at 4.9 out of 10 from roughly 61,000 votes, and on TMDB at 5.2 from about 1,285 votes. A critics' rating of 3.8 from 113 reviews places it close to those viewer scores, with neither group rating the film highly.
What's left behind the scenes
- Courtney Love was initially hired for the role of Ballard, but after her ex-boyfriend's wife ran over her foot, she was replaced by Natasha Henstridge.
- Most of the film was shot in a gypsum mine in New Mexico. The pure white gypsum had to be repainted with thousands of liters of red paint to recreate the Martian landscape.
- Although the Martian day-night cycle is almost identical to Earth's, most of the film takes place at night. Mars is shown during the day in only one scene, during Dr. Vitlock's recollection of discovering Martian ruins.
- Jason Statham was originally considered for the role of Williams.
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