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Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Larry Sulkis
John Carpenter
Directed by: John Carpenter
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 24, 2001
DVD: December 4, 2001
Running Time: 98 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong violence/gore, language and some drug content
Starring Ice Cube, Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham, Clea DuVall, Pam Grier, and Joanna Cassidy
A harrowing tale of rescue and escape from a colonized Mars 175 years into the future. (Columbia Tristar)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Halloween John Carpenter's Vampires They Live
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
It's cheap thrills all the way, served up with the kind of situational purity that only Carpenter seems to care for these days. It's that simple and that much fun.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
Rife with silliness, such as the flashbacks within flashbacks of characters who were not with one another at the time, and occasional unintentional laughs -- but it's also a good, raucous kick in the behind, which is literally all it aspires to be
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A brawny space opera, transplanting the conventions of Western, cop and martial arts films to the Red Planet.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Carpenter writes his own scripts -- here with past collaborator Larry Sulkis -- and their "Ghosts" screenplay lacks the density, character and humor of a Hollywood genre classic.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
It might be nice if Ghosts of Mars had more to offer than snappy repartee and shameless gore, or if it could borrow a little narrative tension from its Alien Chain Saw forebears.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
For those so inclined, it's nice to see the girl and the gangsta -- not the gunslinger -- save the day.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
A redundancy, and a bore. The characters are harrowingly unsympathetic, the action sequences are by-the-numbers, and Carpenter's usual saving grace -- his sense of humor -- is nowhere in evidence.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Carpenter's heart doesn't seem to be in this lackluster space adventure set in 2176. What's more, his stars -- Natasha Henstridge and Ice Cube -- don't exactly energize the proceedings.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Written, directed, and edited with the offhand shoddiness of a day worker thinking about his evening beer.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Bad enough that the plot is shopworn, but the tough-gal talk is unintentionally hilarious, and the complicated narrative structure is annoying and pointless.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
It starts as enjoyable B-movie pulp, degenerates to camp, then turns into laughable lunacy.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
While this cheesy, heavy-metal melange of horror, space hooey and cowboy shoot-'em-ups isn't exactly dull, it isn't anything to write home about either.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Like a zombie picture directed by one of the undead.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A turgid recycling of Mr. Carpenter's remake of "The Thing."
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
A deep disappointment to fans of sci-fi and the once great John Carpenter.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Barry Johnson
It's not confusing, it's just slow. Very slow. Glacial.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
I have an idea for a Mars movie. When our first astronauts step onto the Red Planet, they discover that Martians not only exist but that they've hired Johnnie Cochran to represent them in a massive defamation suit against American filmmakers.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
A tired and dispiriting affair that takes forever to get going.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A horror/sci-fi/action mishmash that aims to be the kind of brainless timekiller once used to round out the bottom of a double bill at the drive-in.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Carpenter pulls out all the action-adventure stops, but he and coscripter Larry Sulkis forgot to write dialogue the audience could listen to without howling in disbelief.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It keeps you off balance, all right, but not enough to obscure the sad fact that Ghosts of Mars is a muddled, derivative disaster straight on through.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark
So wretched that it practically defies description.
Variety Robert Koehler
This deliberately pre-'90s slice of rock 'n' roll-tinged sci-fi horror, decorated with anything but the latest in special effects, seems particularly grungy and marginal.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.9 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
William W gave it a0:
Everything about this movie sucks, bad script, bad acting, bad direction, bad photography, bad makeup, total and utter drivel from start to finish. Worst of all it's boring! If you like action then there are hundreds of better action films out there, so don't waste your time with this miserable mess. John Carpenter should be ashamed, but at least he takes the blame by adding his once proud name to the title. Anyone that defends this tripe needs to go back to school and probably needs house training too.
Jon S gave it a1:
Worst movie I've ever seen.
Kyle M gave it a0:
The worst film John Carpenter ever made. So bad it nearly ruins movies that it has nothing to do with. It's hard to enjoy other John Carpenter movies while burdened with the knowledge that the same guy also made this one.
Gino E. gave it a 2:
There was once a great moviemaker, John Carpenter was his name. What happend to him?
Chris K. gave it a 0:
MY god, this was the worst movie ever made. It looks like they tried to make a movie but totally failed while filming and the editor and director had no choice but to make use of what they had in footage - the result - is flashbacks within flashbacks - the worst acting, editing, directing, cinemetography ever. It does have some use though - show it to students as a means of letting them know how lack of caring can make a horrible movie.
Blanco A. gave it a 9:
A pretty good time. I has a lot of the same whimsically fun spirit as a "Night of the Living Dead" installment. Ice Cube rocks the house, too.
Luke A. gave it a 9:
I tell u wot..if u want an action film....fully action...heart racin music an absolutely fantastic action...this is the one to c....a mindless action....easily forgivable bad plot because of the fight scenes...a film for blokes.....EXCELLENT.
