Ghosts of Mars

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John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars
Directed by John Carpenter
Produced by Sandy King
Written by John Carpenter
Larry Sulkis
Starring Ice Cube
Natasha Henstridge
Jason Statham
Pam Grier
Clea DuVall
Joanna Cassidy
Music by John Carpenter
Distributed by Storm King Screen Gems
Release date(s) August 24, 2001 (Theater)
December 4, 2001 (DVD)
Running time 98 min.
Language English
Budget $28,000,000
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IMDb profile

Ghosts of Mars (also known as John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars) is a 2001 movie directed by John Carpenter, which in its basic themes is similar to his earlier Assault on Precinct 13.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie is set in the mid 22nd century. The planet Mars has been terraformed, allowing Humans to walk on the surface without having to wear pressure suits. The story concerns a police officer, Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) who is leading a small team to pick up and transport a prisoner named Desolation Williams (Ice Cube). Arriving at the remote mining town where Williams is being held, Ballard finds virtually all of the people missing. On investigating she discovers that the miners found an underground doorway which had been created by an ancient Martian civilization. When the door was opened it released "ghosts", disembodied spirits who possessed the miners.

Violence ensues, as the now possessed miners commit acts of death and destruction, as well as self-mutilation.

Ballard must fight off the attacking miners, escape the town, and if possible destroy the ghosts. Unfortunately all these tasks are complicated by the fact that killing a possessed human merely releases the Martian spirit, which immediately possesses another human.


  • Although Mars has a day/night cycle almost identical in length to Earth's, most of the movie is set at night. The only moment in which we see Mars during the daytime is in a flashback through the character of the scientist, when she talks about how she found and opened a "Pandora's Box" that let the alien spirits out.
  • Much of the movie was filmed in a gypsum mine in New Mexico. The pure white gypsum had to be dyed with thousands of gallons of biodegradable red food dye to recreate the appearance of the Martian landscape.

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