Review #1,334: 'Ghosts of Mars' (2001)

Over the course of a career spanning over 50 years, writer, director and producer John Carpenter has been responsible for some of the most memorable and iconic horror/thriller movies ever made. The likes of Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York and The Thing have cemented his status as a genre icon, up there with the likes of George A. Romero and Wes Craven as one of America's finest horror visionaries. His legacy cannot be damaged, although it appeared that Carpenter was trying his best to sully his own reputation between 1996 and 2001 with three utter stinkers. First came Escape from L.A. and that surfing scene, and then the underwhelming Vampires, which wasted a perfectly game James Woods in what was an instantly forgettable and generic undead actioner. Then people thought he had lost the plot completely when he produced Ghosts of Mars, one of the worst movies to be released in 2001.

Over a century into the future, Mars is undergoing terraforming, and a matriarchal society of humans have settled on the red planet in the hope of better opportunities. Life is far from peaceful however, and crime is rife in the various remote mining communities. A crew of police officers including Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) are tasked with transporting notorious prisoner (and the amusingly named) Desolation Williams (Ice Cube) to stand trial for a spate of gruesome murders he is accused of. When they arrive in town, the place is deserted, and it doesn't take long until they stumble on a number of mutilated dead bodies hanging from the ceiling in macabre fashion. Ballard and the rest of the group, which is also made up of rapey Sergeant Jericho (Jason Statham) and token lesbian Braddock (Pam Grier), split up to investigate further and locate Desolation. As they plough on, they learn of an alien force with the ability to possess humans and no love for their planet's new colonisers.

Anyone who was alive and watching movies in the late 1990s will know that Mars is no place to visit unless you wish to be set upon by a gruesome native. Ghosts of Mars is no different, but the film never feels terribly sure of what the threat actually is. Carpenter throws just about everything at the screen: ghosts, zombies, steampunk rovers, blood, guts, and even some train action. It's a muddle of ideas taken from far better films, including some of Carpenter's very own. It's Assault on Precinct 13 meets The Thing, with a sprinkling of The Fog, but without any of their style, thrills or flair. When the characters stop aiming at each other and have a chat, the dialogue is clunky and fuelled by exposition. Henstridge tries her best with a role that could champion equality if the film didn't insist she takes her clothes off, and the usually reliable Ice Cube and Statham fail to squeeze any life of their stock characters, who never rise above foul-mouthed ghetto survivor and smug sleazebag, respectively. It's a horror show from start to finish, but not the kind you would expect from Carpenter. The years haven't been kind either, reducing Ghosts of Mars to SY-FY Channel-level drivel.


Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Clea DuVall, Pam Grier, Joanna Cassidy
Country: USA

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie

Review #900: 'Christine' (1983)

Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) is a dorky high-school kid with only one friend in the world, jock Dennis (John Stockwell). Arnie is the type of kid who gets pushed around by bullies and has his glasses stamped on while teachers look the other way as they think it'll probably do him some good. Things change when Arnie stumbles upon a run-down Plymouth Fury and decides to buy it, against the wishes of his parents and Dennis himself, who feels an uneasy presence within the car. The car is named Christine, and as Christine's appearances improves, so does Arnie's - he slicks his hair, wears cooler clothes, and is generally more confidant and cocky. But when Arnie starts the date the school's hot newcomer, Leigh (Alxandra Paul), the car is thrown into a bloodthirsty fit of jealousy.

Made on the back of a hot streak that helped turn John Carpenter into a horror icon, Christine is a relatively minor work by his early standards, but is still infused with Carpenter's sense of style and atmosphere. Based on the novel by Stephen King, which went to lengths to explain Christine's psychopathic behaviour, the film instead establishes the red hunk of auto-porn as evil from the get-go as it kills someone before it's even off the assembly line. Perhaps trying to explain why a car was killing people in cold blood and how it possesses the ability to repair itself would somewhat remove the façade, choosing (or hoping) instead to let the audience simply enjoy the movie without the need for clunky exposition. And it works - Carpenter has it play out with a straight face and the film is very enjoyable for the majority of its 100 minute running-time.

The film takes time to develop its story and a supporting cast that includes Harry Dean Stanton, Robert Prosky and Roberts Blossom helps things move along nicely. When heads begin to roll, Carpenter delivers a couple of visually arresting set-pieces involving an attack on some bullies at a gas station and the chasing-down of a fat kid, both of which see Christine attack her sweetheart's aggressors with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. There's only so much you can do when your killer is a car, and it naturally takes a lot of bone-head's to let themselves be killed by it. No-one seems to move sideways, run up some stairs or enter a building (unless it's a flimsy gas station). But Christine does manage to somehow take on a personality of its own, and there's always something oddly satisfying about watching metal scrape, crash or burn on screen. It pales in comparison to the likes of Escape from New York and The Thing, which came the two years before, but Christine is a perfectly well-executed horror.


Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Roberts Blossom
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #512: 'They Live' (1988)

A nameless drifter known simply as 'Nada' (former WWF wrestler Roddy Piper) wanders into Los Angeles and finds construction work to get him by. He befriends Frank (Keith David), who takes him to a homeless community, where the impoverished do what they can to help themselves and each other. Nada notices that at a nearby church, a group of freedom fighters, including a man who hacks into TV stations to deliver a message about society being enslaved, are stocking something in massive quantities. When the police destroy the community, Nada escapes after stealing one of the boxes, only to discover they are stacked with sunglasses which, when worn, allows Nada to see the truth - the planet has been overthrown by an elite alien race that are using advertising and mass media to deliver subliminal messages to the consumerist public.

Using numerous sources, including the work of H.P. Lovecraft and the short story 'Eight O'Clock in the Morning' by Ray Nelson, as his inspiration, director John Carpenter coined the idea for They Live after becoming sickened by the media's aim to simply take your money. It's a quite fascinating concept, as Nada wanders the streets littered with signs dictating messages such as 'Obey', 'Marry and Reproduce' and 'Keep Sleeping', to keep the human race zombified and hooked on consuming. Admittedly, it's a rather graceless and unsubtle execution, but They Live has its tongue so far in its cheek that its popping out the other side, and its mise-en-scene rooted in comic book aesthetic. When Nada wanders into a bank rocking a shotgun, spying the numerous alien suits, and proclaims "I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubble gum!", you'll know it's not exactly a film to take too seriously.

The film is littered with memorable scenes and moments that have cemented its status amongst the cult favourites of its era, and most memorable is the five minute fight between Nada and Frank, as the former tries to get the latter to try the sunglasses, with Frank refusing given Nada's previous killing spree. It's a ridiculous episode, re-starting numerous times when you think its all over, but it's very funny, and actually impressively choreographed. The casting of 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper as the lead only increases the curiosity I had with this film, and although he's never going to win any Oscars, his lethargic and stoic approach suits his character, and makes himself a memorable hero (even with his sociopathic yet casual approach to mass murder). 

But beneath all the silliness, there is something very clever here, and has a relevant message that is even more powerful today. The coming together of various mediums into something we carry in our pocket, means the advertising elite are now always on our person - our phones seem to run our lives, with millions noting down their every move on social networking sites. Anyway, I digress, but it's these intriguing themes that make it such a shame that the film is so eager not to take itself too seriously, it resorts to ham-fisted (yet very funny) action scenes and cheesy one-liners every time it's in danger of becoming satirical. Yet, I suppose, it's the ridiculousness of the film that makes it so memorable, and it is undoubtedly a fun and colourful comic-book sci-fi/horror.

Directed by: John Carpenter

Starring: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #268: 'The Fog' (1980)

One the eve of its centennial, the small town of Antonio Bay experiences some strange events. Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) is sat in his study when a stone falls out of the wall behind him to reveal an old journal. It belongs to Father Malone's grandfather, and tells how he and the other five founding members of the town caused a ship called Elizabeth Dane to crash, and then plundered it. They planned to open a leper colony, but all of the crew on board were killed. And now a strange fog has begins to creep upon the town, carrying with it a ghostly ship. Three fishermen are killed by sword-wielding spirits, and it soon becomes clear that the crew of the Elizabeth Dane are back to claim six lives for themselves.

As mentioned by Marc in his review of John Carpenter's most recent film, The Ward (2010), Carpenter's career is a very mixed bag. Made during his early heyday, The Fog was produced on a low-budget, and contains the same kind of style and atmosphere that we saw in the excellent Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and Halloween (1978). It's not his best film by any means, but The Fog has become an almost classic in the horror genre. To my surprise, (as other reviews I had read told me otherwise) The Fog is very good, and although isn't ground-breaking like Halloween, or as damn cool as Escape from New York (1981), or even as inspired as The Thing (1982), but it is certainly eerie, and has that 1980's feel to it that the likes of Carpenter and David Cronenberg made their own.

The premise of it is certainly silly. It's the time of thing you would read in an old collection of horror stories, and see in a 1950's B-movie. But this is essentially a B-movie, but made straight-faced by Carpenter with his golden touch that rules out any possibility that the film might come across as silly. This is pure popcorn horror, made by an old master. Especially memorable is the scene where we first glimpse the ship's crew, huddled in a church with the fog swirling around them. Their leader slowly draws his sword; his red eyes glowing, while Carpenter's self-penned atmospheric synth-score plays over. Again, silly-sounding. But it's not, it's actually beautiful and extremely cool. A very pleasant surprise, and another reminder of just how good Carpenter was before his decline. You'll have to hold a knife to my throat to watch the sequel though.


Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #162: 'The Ward' (2010)

John Carpenter's directing career has been very dubious since 1982's The Thing. He made some silly-but-entertaining films in the 1980's, - Christine (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - some of which had interesting ideas at their core - Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988). In the 1990's, Carpenter made an awful remake of the classic Village of the Damned (1995); a shoddy sequel, Escape from LA (1996); a "Western-Horror", Vampires (1998) - amongst some other dire fare; and in 2001, Carpenter made his last film, the unforgivable Ghosts of Mars. Forward almost a decade later, and Carpenter releases The Ward, which promised a return to form.

Set in 1966, the film opens with Kristen (Amber Heard), somnambulist-like, committing an act of arson on a farm house. She is captured and incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital where she meets four other institutionalised young women, each with a different distinctive neuroses: Emily (Mamie Gummer), Sarah (Danielle Pannabaker), Zooey (Laura-Leigh) and Iris (Lyndsey Fonseca). Kristen soon discovers that there is a ghost terrorising the girls, slowly killing them off one by one. Kristen discovers that the spirit is that of a former inmate who mysteriously disappeared, and she persists in attempting to escape the fortress of the hospital.

If nothing else in the past nine years since his last film, Carpenter has certainly seen a lot of 21st century horror films, and absorbed some of the elements that have worked. The Ward also looks quite similar to another directors first horror film for years, Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell (2009). It doesn't have Raimi's humour, or moments of cinematographic frenzy, but does have some great tracking shots through wonderfully lit corridors, and a few self-reflexive shots; the Carpenterian static shots of empty areas, atmospheric montage sequences whilst approaching the horror to come. The ghost of the story is both zombie-like (in an over-elaborate Tom Savini kind of way), but also has similarities to Ringu's (1998) lank-haired Sadako. The film is, however consistently let down by just too many oh-so-cliched "red herring", jump-out-of-your-seat moments, that are largely ineffective, as the audience are knowledgeable enough to anticipate them moments before the event.

Whilst The Ward does not reflect a film maker who is back on his top form (he will never come close to his early films - Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape From New York (1981)), it is at times a suspenseful film. The film even has a "twist" ending (also by now beginning to tire as a narrative necessity), with tones of Scorsese's Shutter Island (2009). I would have to say that this falls within Carpenter's second period of filmaking from Christine to They Live.


Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy