john-carpenters-ghosts-of-mars-uk-blu-rayLimited Blu-ray & DVD dual format release

Indicator, out now

Indicator serve John Carpenter’s fans with a Blu-ray/DVD combo that marks the HD premiere of the director’s last blast (to date) at the mainstream. Collectors will no doubt be pleased to plug the gap in their collections but there’s little else to recommend this retread of Carpenter’s greatest hits…

In the finest Spinal Tap manner, this movie is amped up to 11. Whether it’s the zombie ghosts screaming around the base or the Carpenter score that is being performed by the likes of heavy metal stalwarts Anthrax and Buckethead, subtlety is not on the menu.

Originally mooted as a third Snake Plissken movie (Escape from Mars), the first sequel’s box office self-destruction suggested that this would work better as a stand-alone movie. As such, rapper Ice Cube performs Kurt Russell duties alongside Natasha Henstridge and Jason Statham on a terraformed 22nd Century Martian base. Henstridge has been sent to transport a prisoner but finds the location soon under siege by local miners who have been possessed by the spirits of the Martians.

This is no Martian Chronicles, let alone Mission to Mars. The set-up promises a return to the ‘base under siege’ of Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 or The Thing, and yet there’s none of that invention here. The ghosts are pierced glam-rockers, the dialogue plumbs new levels of banality and the whole exercise screams low budget straight-to-video Paul W S Anderson fodder – Resident Evil‘s Event Horizon on Mars.

There’s a certain old-fashioned naivety to the use of model miniatures, the crazy character names and the casual disregard to basic science, but that’s just not enough to warrant a viewing. Saying that, Indicator have done their best to sweeten the pill with some reasonable extras. Scoring Ghosts of Mars focuses on Carpenter at the Anthrax recording session, while Red Desert Nights is is 16 minutes of video diary behind-the-scenes footage.

The movie doesn’t really benefit from the 1080 transfer either. It was all filmed at night, with post-production adding a scarlet hue to make the environment look more like the Red planet. But this just exposes the lack of detail and reveals a lot of muddy grain. The 5.1 audio mix is fine, and the John Carpenter/Natasha Henstridge commentary has the odd point of interest.

There’s also the second part of a standard definition Guardian interview with the director by film journalist Nigel Floyd. Part one is on the Blu-ray release for Vampires. And finally, the inlay booklet features an essay/review by journalist Pinkerton and the text reproduction of an archive Starlog interview with the director.

Verdict: Technically, this is a well-produced professional release that will meet the demands of its very specific, niche audience. Shame that the movie is such a stinker – cheesy, camp, tired and (most unforgivably) dull; we expected so much more. 4/10

Nick Joy

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