Ghosts of Mars

While there's a B-movie appeal to the ham-fisted acting, high body count and heavy metal soundtrack of this sci-fi/action/horror flick, tongue-in-cheek director John Carpenter's A-movie budget and straight script pretty much rob Ghosts of Mars of its potential cheap thrills. The high-concept story finds long-dormant Martians taking over the bodies of human colonists (mutilating them with Goth facial piercings) and going on killing sprees en masse. Meanwhile, a lot of testosterone posturing and heavy artillery fire goes down between tough-babe cop (Natasha Henstridge) and hardened criminal (Ice Cube) who join forces to stay alive. Bullet- and body-riddled as it is, Ghost of Mars not only lacks punch, it's a pale retread of last year's similarly-themed Universal hit Pitch Black. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Mar. 31, 2009—Sony, 98 min., R, $28.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2001's Ghost of Mars sports a great transfer and a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are nearly identical to the previous DVD release, including audio commentary by director John Carpenter and costar Natasha Henstridge, the “Red Desert Nights” video diary (17 min.), “Scoring the Ghosts of Mars” (7 min.), six minutes of “Special Effects Deconstructions,” and trailers. Excusive to the Blu-ray version is the BD-Live function (missing are the filmographies from the DVD). Bottom line: although it looks cool in Blu, this is one of director Carpenter's lesser efforts.]