In the future, zombie movies will take place on Mars. They will still be trashy, predictable affairs with more blood than
brains, but the change of venue will be nice. The future is here with "Ghosts of Mars," properly titled "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars," to distinguish it from "Martha Stewart's Ghosts of Mars" and "William Shakespeare's Ghosts of Mars." John Carpenter -- deservedly a legend for "Halloween" and a handful of other thrillers -- apparently hopes his name alone will bring people to his latest offering, an unpleasant sci-fi horror film that has little more than John Carpenter's name to make it noteworthy. It is A.D. 2176, and Mars has been colonized. There is a matriarchal society, though this comes into play exactly zero times in the story; it's simply an interesting idea that writer/director Carpenter brings up and then throws away. A prison-transfer train comes into Mars' main city, Chryse, empty except for one Mars police officer, Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge). Called before a tribunal, she tells what happened. The rest of the film is a flashback, and flashbacks within flashbacks.
To read the rest of this review, click on the relevant link below.