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Harry Lime Is Haunted By the GHOSTS OF MARS!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some rumblings from the Lab.
Harry Lime is a sneaky bastard. Don't ever forget it. I like how he claims I gave him the GHOSTS OF MARS script here. Riiiiiight. Like his black market connections didn't put it in his hands. Like he's not over here at the Labs every other day, trying to sell me this or that item that just mysteriously appeared in his apartment. He's extra sneaky because he read this script before me, and now he's got our first look at the final shooting draft of the newest film from genre legend John Carpenter. Let's check in and see what's up with AICN's baddest boy...
The other day while wasting time over at the Labs, Moriarty tossed a
script into my idle hands. On the cover the “Storm King” logo smiled up at me. I had a pretty good idea what it was, and my suspicions were confirmed
after I flipped to the front page. When the title of a movie starts with
“John Carpenter’s,” you know you’re in for a very particular kind of ride. I
had already heard the title of his current project, and I had read
Moriarty’s story about pop star Courtney Love joining the cast, then abruptly
dropping out. I also knew that the cast of the film would be predominantly
female, but I had little idea what the film was actually about... except
for the extreme probability that it was set on the planet Mars.
Before I even get started, I gotta say that John Carpenter is one of the
good guys... one of the best. I’ve got a real soft spot for his films...
even the ones that aren’t exactly career highs. I can’t tell you how much
it bugs me that most of my close friends have not only met the man, but
are actually pretty tight with him. One of the things I like best about his
style as a director is the way he gradually builds to the big stuff.
Nobody directs the calm before the storm better. Sometimes he goes a little
overboard like the forty-something minute opening of THEY LIVE, but check
out ASSUALT ON PRECINCT 13 again and you’ll see what I mean. But, before I
stray too far, let’s get back to the business at hand --
JOHN CARPENTER’S GHOSTS OF MARS is indeed set on Mars. I originally
thought that he might be making an AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON type Sci-Fi comedy
along the lines of a BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA meets FORBIDDEN PLANET.
I was wrong. Instead, this feels more like his work on ASSULT ON PRECINCT
13, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE THING, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS. It
also has the distinct vibes of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EVIL DEAD,
and especially the recent AICN fav PITCH BLACK.
The story is familiar: A group of individuals are brought together through
a circumstance that places them on the opposite sides. When an evil force
that appears to be unstoppable confronts them, they have to put aside
their differences and fight as one to stay alive. If I had to narrow it down,
I’d say GHOSTS OF MARS is most like a cross between NIGHT OF THE LIVING
DEAD and PITCH BLACK. There’s even a badass convict character in GHOSTS
that reads almost exactly like the badass convict character Vin Diesell
played in PITCH BLACK. It’s so close that I unfortunately found the similarity
a little distracting.
The film unfolds almost entirely in flashback, much like Carpenter’s IN
THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (which, since I’ve brought it up, has always felt to me
like a remake of Tommy Lee Wallace’s HALLOWEEN III). Like in MOUTH, our
main character has already been through the shit and is now recounting the
tale to an interviewer. In MARS, the interviewer is called “The
Inquisitor,” and the setting is much like a courtroom. Our main character, a young woman named Melanie Ballard, is the only survivor of a particularly nasty
incident and has to give her testimony. Through character actions and
dialogue, it becomes obvious early on that this future, the mid 22nd century,
is presided over by women. Aside from gender roles, “mainstream”
sexuality has also transformed a bit.
The scripting by Larry Sulkis and Carpenter is efficient, but far too
reliant upon overused gimmicks of past genre films. There’s a point where I
gotta ask, “Okay... what else ya got?!” The true originality in the script
comes from the bizarre customs of the evil, spirit-like force that invades
the bodies of the intruding humans. Although this isn’t the first time
Carpenter’s dealt with such an antagonist, it’s their odd rituals and
strange desire for self-mutilation/decoration that suggests a totally alien
culture.
The bulk of the film takes place in a frontier style boomtown called
Shining Canyon, a mining colony on the newly settled surface of Mars. In many
ways, this is a western. A train carrying a small team of military police
stops at the town to pick up a prisoner for transfer back to the main
colony, Chryse. Melanie, who’s telling the story, is one of the police
officers in charge of the transfer. The prisoner, James “Desolation” Williams
is known as a violent type who finally went psycho and mutilated a group of
people in an alleged robbery. When they arrive, they discover that all
but a few inhabitants have been mysteriously slaughtered in much the same
fashion as the Williams killings. The strange part of it is that Williams
is still shacked securely in his cell. As the police investigate, they
discover that a supernatural force far deadlier than Williams controls the
town. When the shit really starts hitting the fan, they’re faced with a
choice: enlist the aid of Williams and his cronies to fight the ghosts of
Mars, or probably die fighting alone.
As I said, this is pretty recognizable stuff. There’s even a sequence in
which one of them is suspected of being possessed, giving the rest of the
team reservations about letting her back inside when she comes knocking at
the door. Yeah, I remember that one, too. I’m curious to see how well
Carpenter pulls off such a familiar beat, though. Perhaps the thing that
disappoints me most about the script is the fact that his last film, the
hugely under-rated VAMPIRES, was such an original kick. I loved that it
walked such a fine line between brutal imagery and hilarious
characterizations. Any film that has a master vampire rip a guy apart one-handed and has our main protagonist take a knife to a priest to get information gets a hearty recommendation in my soon to be published video movie guide. Heck, I’d like to see James Woods play Crowe in a more elaborate sequel almost as much as I’d like to see Kurt Russell reprise his Jack Burton role.
Almost.
In the end, I have a feeling that it’s going to come down to execution.
This might turn out to be a very entertaining movie. I just wish he’d
throw us a curve ball more often. The last time he did, the ill-fated MEMOIRS
OF AN INVISIBLE MAN, both he and star Chevy Chase were bitch-slapped
somthin’ fierce, which might have made him hesitant to stray too far from his
area of expertise. Even with MEMOIRS, though, he approached comedy by way
of science fiction instead of head-on. Perhaps he was worried that no one
would warm up to a straight comedy from the director of HALLOWEEN. Or
maybe he just really dug the book and thought it would be an ideal step for
him as a filmmaker. Whatever the case, the overwhelmingly negative
response must have pushed him back to the safety of usual genre tricks like MOUTH and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. Sadly, I’m certain there’s a side to this
legendary director that will most likely never be given a chance to live on
screen. And that’s a darn shame.
And with that, Harry Lime slinked away into the sewers and the shadows once more.
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+ Expand All
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JC is good
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Aug 23, 2000 4:51:21 AM CDT
I cannot wait to see this one..Hopefully John will be back in ra
by geekbasher 3.0
This will rock, only cuz loud mouth slut Courtney won't be in it! Love her, hate her, I can do without her!
I hope it will be a scary suspenseful and filled with JIZZZZZ!! -
I really want to see this movie, but I just can't picture Natasha Henstridge doing any 'real' acting for this. She is dull and boring...but nice to look at. She's eye candy folks! Simple as that. I would rather have seen Famke Janssen in the role instead.
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Looking very forward. A script that gets a 2 or 3 star rating is fine with me, because Carpenter's visual skills can bump this up to a very enjoyable script. How good did the script for Halloween look? Or Big Trouble? Or Prince of Darkness. What makes his films such pleasures are Carpenter's thrilling direction and his tongue in cheek. So I'm not too afraid. But as for that suggestion about Russell reprising his Jack Burton role, I'm all for it. How about "Big Trouble in Little Haiti", with Burton drinking and whoring around the French Quarter until he gets mixed up with some angry Voodoo practitioners & deity incarnations? Think Serpent and the Rainbow/Angel Heart but funny. There ya go.
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indeed this was one of the highlights of US cinema. Hail Hail
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ESCAPE FROM LA is actually one of the worst films I have ever seen. I know CGI was still new-ish back in 95-96, but geeeeeeeeze, the CGI was foul in LA. Not to mention the script, the 'ironic humour', the direction, the acting, the soundtrack, the sets, the story, the pacing, the waste of talent, the message, Kurt's raspy tough-guy voice thing . . . I mean, I know the budget can't have been huge, but it hasn't stopped Carpenter before. That said, I quite enjoyed IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, so there must be life in the old dog yet.
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JC is one of my favortie directors. But I haven't liked anything he's done since ITMOM. Escape from LA, Village, and Vampries all pretty much stank. He needs to get back to his 80's form.
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The dozen or so friends I saw VAMPIRES with didn't have anything good to say about it as we walked out -- myself included. "Amateurish, ugly, and disjointed" were the kindest words I could come up with the describe it. And needlessly brutal -- I mean, come on, guys, how "entertaining" is it to watch one of the Baldwin brothers slap the shaving cream out of a prostitute in a hotel room? Even some of my more hardened friends were looking uncomfortable at that point. Sometimes I wonder what Carpenter really thinks of women, the way he's given to degrading them onscreen like this. To say nothing of the other characters... or his long-suffering audience...
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This is another film that tells you the full story in the first film. "Okay, she survives, everyone else dies", wow talk about suspense. The great thing about supspense films like "Alien" is that at the start you DO NOT KNOW WHO WILL SURVIVE. Whos going to care about the film when they know that guy number 1 dies along with femal 2 and man3 etc. Thats why I liked "Deep Blue Sea", the only guy I thought was going to die early on was SLJackson. The others you do not know who will survive.
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Aug 23, 2000 9:18:56 AM CDT
so which is it...Assault on 13 and the Thing or Village of the d
by sundown
first read the boof before you comment on Vampires being a good film...he missed the boat...also when Carpenter did Escape the 1st and the Thing he was doing cutting edge stuff thats what I want to see, Village sucked as has every 90's film he's done with the exception of Mouth of Madness..this stuff sounds cool and all but I do hope it is a return to Assault..Napoleon Desolation? and don't forget Big Trouble was told in flashback also...I hope this film rocks but I would feel more comfortable if like Hugh Jackman were desolation or Russel were in it or a better actress then Henstridge were in it...I still am stoked from the Assault / Thing aspects as those were my favorite films of his...
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Aug 23, 2000 9:31:14 AM CDT
Carpenter should put back the 8 minutes of missing footage from
by uncapie
Lots of fans want to see that. This movie sounds like a cross between Mario Bava's "Planet Of the Vampires", "Invisible Invaders" and a old black and white mag called "Pyscho" that had a planet ruled by women. Plus, its a bad sign when any flick keeps having its production start date pushed back. That's a fact. No. thanks. Let me know how it is. I'll save my dough. By-the-way, Lime, Calloway's looking for you.
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Aug 23, 2000 9:31:58 AM CDT
Carpenter should put back the 8 minutes of missing footage from
by uncapie
Lots of fans want to see that. This movie sounds like a cross between Mario Bava's "Planet Of the Vampires", "Invisible Invaders" and a old black and white mag called "Pyscho" that had a planet ruled by women. Plus, its a bad sign when any flick keeps having its production start date pushed back. That's a fact. No. thanks. Let me know how it is. I'll save my dough. By-the-way, Lime, Calloway's looking for you.
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If you're a Carpenter fan, or just love science fiction that's a little bit left of center, you must see DARK STAR. This 1973 film that I originally saw as a kid on Saturday afternoon television in the early eighties was actually Carpenter's first science fiction film, and also that of his co-writing buddy Dan O'Bannon. (who although not as much of a *name* as Carpenter, has written a few little film gems such as ALIEN, a couple of segments of HEAVY METAL, THE RETURNincidentally) who has since gone on to write for
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If you're a Carpenter fan, or just love science fiction that's a little bit left of center, you must see DARK STAR.
This 1973 film that I originally saw as a kid on Saturday afternoon television in the early eighties was actually Carpenter's first science fiction film, and also that of his co-writing buddy Dan O'Bannon. (who although not as much of a *name* as Carpenter, has written a few little film gems such as ALIEN, a couple of segments of HEAVY METAL, THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, LIFE FORCE, TOTAL RECALL, AND SCREAMERS to mention a few)
So! If you'd like to see the fledgling work of these two rather amazing filmmakers, I know it's available on DVD (I've got it!). You can also get it on VHS, and some video stores and libraries might have it for rental, although it's not that well-known.
Toodles,
Ldyandrea -
Aug 23, 2000 11:50:15 AM CDT
This could be cool if Carpenter prepares by sitting with bottle
by no.6
Yeah, there's a load of cliches here- BUT WHAT CLICHES !
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Aug 23, 2000 11:55:07 AM CDT
PLUS-This does sound damn cool- but it need a phenomenal twist t
by no.6
If you disagree, you have'nt seen a certain Wes Craven film from a few years ago, and no ! I'm not saying that it needs satirical post-modern humour (wonder how many bad thinkers just assumed I mea'nt it should be done just like scream-you know who you are...) but it needs something to re-invent all those elements in a whole new way AND Carpenter too...
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'A group of individuals are brought together through a circumstance that places them on the opposite sides.' .... say WHAT?!
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its genius cause if the guy wants toast, he, like, turns the guys hand into toast...the irony! If Carpenter screws this up its time for the glue factory. No goofy stuff, PLEASE just a good adult thriller with smart dialog and a few twists like the Thing and Assault. We haven't had a good monster/zombie style movie in FOREVER...I hope this goes well but this cast isn't blowing me away.
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Why does their always have to be a gimmick? How about an imaginitive film about the first manned expedition to Mars, like Apollo 13. Something with a realistic take on the whole subject. I get bored with these astronaut pseudo-science films like Armageddon.
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My spider-sense is tingling! I CALL IT FIRST! That would make a great concept.
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By the wonderful animators at the now-defuct Filmation. I always thought that would be an interesting concept for an adult fantasy film.
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John Carpenter crapped out after Star Man (or was it Big Trouble in Little China? Whichever was the latter). And for good reason. Within the span of about 8 years, the guy created Halloween (a classic), Halloween II (a very underrated classic), Escape From New York (a very good film), The Fog (a little shallow, but spooky as hell), The Thing (his best work and another way underrated film), Big Trouble in Little China (another classic) and Star Man (a surprisingly tender film from the Master of Horror). I won't even mention Halloween III. That's 7 great films in 8 years! That's an unheard of pace. Can you imagine the constant grind to create? It's no wonder he cracked. I haven't liked anything Carpenter since '86 and I probably never will. His films have lacked the focus and intensity that have made Halloween and The Thing two of the best films ever made. What has he gone on to do? Crap like They Live, In The Mouth of Madness, and Vampires. Common Harry, that show sucked. I too feel that there is a side to the filmmaker that we will never see, and I'm saddened by that. All I can do is thank God for those wonderful 8 years.
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I'm looking forward to another John Carpenter "Night of the Living Dead"-style film ("Prince of Darkness," "Assault on Precinct 13," parts of "The Thing" and "The Fog") and really, really hope it's better than "Vampires." I don't think there's anything underrated at all about "Vampires" - it just sucks. Whoever posted the bit about "In the Mouth of Madness" being pretty much the only decent 90's project is right. It's a weird one, but head and shoulders above all the other recent tripe.
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Aug 23, 2000 1:32:41 PM CDT
...and Harry Lime answers the question, how many different ways
by iamjacksuserid
Kidding... maybe...
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His other earlier stuff is fun, but that film had a real heart and the actors gave wonderful performances.
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I almost agree with you. The fact that SLJ died I believe is something most people knew going in. It didn't matter if you knew if he was going to die because what made it so good was the how and when. If John can pull that kind of crap of with the characters in ghost, its not going to matter that we know they all die its the when and how that will keep our interest and make it suspenseful
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I thought Vampires was pretty good. I liked the way they rose straight up from the dirt when the sun went down. Can someone tell me what the Harry Head animation is from?
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Carpenter's a filmmaker that I always root for and anticipate his next effort. Even though the '90s were shaky for him I don't buy into the mentality that the films he did in those years were without serious merit. I loved In the Mouth of Madness and I loved Vampires. Plenty of people like to trash Vampires but like Harry Lime I think it's an under-rated picture with a cool bad-ass vibe to it. Ghost of Mars sounds like J.C.'s in full western mode which bodes well as many of his best flicks - from Assault on Precinct 13 to Escape from New York to They Live - are basically westerns in one way or another. As for the device of having one character relate the story in flashback, that's a classic device that can work terrifically as in films like D.O.A., the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Carpenter's own In the Mouth of Madness. Ghost of Mars is definitely one I'll be looking forward to come next year.
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Aug 23, 2000 5:18:50 PM CDT
And I Remain The Only Carpenter Fan Alive Who Enjoyed ESCAPE FRO
by mrbeaks
How can I not love a film that ends with Snake Plisskin plunging the entire world into darkness? Still, don't expect me to go to any great lengths to defend it. BTW, I agree with my pal, Jack: VAMPIRES was a disappointment on all fronts. Damn shame, too.....
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I also dug Escape from L.A. That IS one of the all-time best endings ever. Bring on Escape from Earth already!
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The AICN contributors are huge! HUGE!
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. . .GHOSTS OF MARS would only be "filled with JIZZZZ," as you put it, if Courtney were in it! And the jizz in question would be mine. And it would be inside and all over her, to be way too specific. But I digress. . .
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. . .I'd really like to see what Carpenter could do with a decent script and real budget. A James Cameron-sized budget, I mean. The man *does* have talent to burn; it seems to me to be just a problem of getting him the right funding and screenplay.
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Captain Popcorn here to say John Carpenter is one of the cinema's masters. My personal Carpenter fav. is Big Trouble In Little China, then They Live. And when I first heard about this flick I though I'd shit. I love all of his flicks, and for us Carpenter majors, he's like fucking Kubrick or Spielberg, each of his flicks are HUGE FUCKING EVENTS! LONG LIVE CARPENTER...and remember..." You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning...if we're not back by dawn call the president."
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