John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars

R

2001

1h 37m

Sci-Fi

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

23%

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113 Reviews

25%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and work all over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. But one of those mining operations has uncovered a deadly mother lode: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors are systematically taking over the bodies of human intruders.

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Critics Consensus

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is not one of Carpenter's better movies, filled as it is with bad dialogue, bad acting, confusing flashbacks, and scenes that are more campy than scary.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

A rather sturdy modernized mash-up of Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York.

Rated: B-

Apr 14, 2011

Full Review

Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

Written, directed, and edited with the offhand shoddiness of a day worker thinking about his evening beer.

Aug 28, 2001

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Bruce Fretts

Entertainment Weekly

The acting is so pallid that you're never sure the cast members quite get the jokes.

Rated: C-

Aug 27, 2001

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Adrian Martin

Film Critic: Adrian Martin

In a movie that bizarrely seems to be comprised of nothing but slow dissolves and laborious flashbacks-within-flashbacks, even the action scenes are lacklustre.

Rated: 1.5/5

Jul 30, 2025

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Steven Spielberg’s Ghosts of Mars might have been a blast, and I would have paid top dollar to check out Merchant-Ivory’s Ghosts of Mars. But John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars? Atrocious.

Rated: 1/4

Feb 18, 2025

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

It’s hard to make a case for this pretty brainless perpetual-motion machine getting the critical reevaluation merited by some of the director’s other commercial failures...

Feb 2, 2024

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Richard W

Oh my, that was terrible! This may be my least favorite John Carpenter films I have seen (so far). It had nothing that appealed to me. The story was dull. The acting was not good. The music maybe be the only thing I kinda enjoyed. To be honest, I am kinda stunned I saw this in on The Criterion Channel.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/10/25

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GotRizz237

Bro, "Ghosts of Mars" was just AWFUL. AWFUL! It just had a horrible ending. I would NOT and I mean NOT recommend this piece of dog crap!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/27/25

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Jamie N

Seriously, what's not to love about this movie. It's deliberately hammed up to 11. Just enjoy it for what it is, escapism with a big side order of I can't believe they actually got away with making this movie. But I'm so glad they did

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/13/25

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MRCS Y

Its a guilty pleasure of mine. What can i say.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/16/25

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Kenneth C

Great Popcorn fun. Sit back and enjoy a movie about ancient Martian civilization ghosts wrecking havoc

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/07/25

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thiago s

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/23/25

Full Review

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Let's Kick Some Ass

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Drugs vs Ghosts

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - War Ready

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Battling the Possessed

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Party Time

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - I Like You Already

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Catching the Train Outta Hell

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - The Horrors Behind the Hill

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - Desolation Takes On Big Daddy

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John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: Official Clip - I Saved Your Life

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Ghosts of Mars: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and work all over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. But one of those mining operations has uncovered a deadly mother lode: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors are systematically taking over the bodies of human intruders.

Director: John Carpenter
Producer: Sandy King
Screenwriter: John Carpenter, Larry Sulkis
Distributor: Screen Gems
Production Co: Screen Gems, Storm King Productions
Rating: R (Some Drug Content|Language|Strong Gore|Strong Violence)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 24, 2001, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 27, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.4M
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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