John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars

R

2001

1h 37m

Sci-Fi

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

23%

Tomatometer

113 Reviews

25%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and work 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 are systematically taking over the bodies of human intruders.

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Critics Consensus

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is not one of Carpenter's better movies, filled as it is with bad dialogue, bad acting, confusing flashbacks, and scenes that are more campy than scary.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

04/14/2011

B-

A rather sturdy modernized mash-up of Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York.

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Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

08/28/2001

Written, directed, and edited with the offhand shoddiness of a day worker thinking about his evening beer.

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Bruce Fretts

Entertainment Weekly

08/27/2001

C-

The acting is so pallid that you're never sure the cast members quite get the jokes.

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Adrian Martin

Film Critic: Adrian Martin

Jul 30

1.5/5

In a movie that bizarrely seems to be comprised of nothing but slow dissolves and laborious flashbacks-within-flashbacks, even the action scenes are lacklustre.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

02/18/2025

1/4

Steven Spielberg’s Ghosts of Mars might have been a blast, and I would have paid top dollar to check out Merchant-Ivory’s Ghosts of Mars. But John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars? Atrocious.

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

02/02/2024

It’s hard to make a case for this pretty brainless perpetual-motion machine getting the critical reevaluation merited by some of the director’s other commercial failures...

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Peter L

@AlbinoRino Jun 22

Durch meine Nostalgie Brille gesehen ein Unterhaltsamer Sci-fi Horror Trash film. Es wird geballert und es Rollen Köpfe. Damit ist meinen geringen Ansprüchen genüge getan. Die Struktur des Films ist allerdings nicht so toll. Trotzdem für Menschen mit Speziellen Geschmack ein Sehenswertes Machwerk.

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Alfred L.

@rambo712 Apr 27

very could have been much better thought out a little entertaining

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Chip S

@ChipSkylarkOpe Mar 23

What should be a fun concept just turns into a poorly executed mess. When you have flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks, you start losing the plot. Despite a couple big names in the cast, no one really shines. The fact the villain can't talk because of the prosthetics is almost as laughable as his name being "Big Daddy Mars" in the credits. PHOBE.

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Martin P

@endymetal Feb 23

One of the worst movies I've seen.

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Lorde M.

@Lord_Fears Feb 15

For some odd reason I just think this movie is dope!!! It’s one of my favorite oddities.

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Richard W

@rdwoolf Oct 10

Oh my, that was terrible! This may be my least favorite John Carpenter films I have seen (so far). It had nothing that appealed to me. The story was dull. The acting was not good. The music maybe be the only thing I kinda enjoyed. To be honest, I am kinda stunned I saw this in on The Criterion Channel.

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Let's Kick Some Ass

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Drugs vs Ghosts

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - War Ready

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Battling the Possessed

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - I Like You Already

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Party Time

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Desolation Takes On Big Daddy

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - The Horrors Behind the Hill

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Catching the Train Outta Hell

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - I Saved Your Life

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Ghosts of Mars: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and work 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 are systematically taking over the bodies of human intruders.

Director: John Carpenter
Producer: Sandy King
Screenwriter: John Carpenter, Larry Sulkis
Distributor: Screen Gems
Production Co: Screen Gems, Storm King Productions
Rating: R (Some Drug Content|Language|Strong Gore|Strong Violence)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 2001, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 27, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.4M
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)