Ghosts of Mars

Ghosts of Mars (titled onscreen as John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars) is a 2001 American action horror film written, directed and scored by John Carpenter. It was produced by Screen Gems and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It stars Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Clea DuVall and Joanna Cassidy. Set on a colonized Mars in the 22nd century, the film follows a squad of police officers and a convicted criminal who fight against the residents of a mining colony who have been possessed by the ghosts of the planet's original inhabitants.

Ghosts of Mars received mostly negative reviews and was a box office flop, earning $14 million against a $28 million production budget. The film would be John Carpenter's last until his return with The Ward in 2010.

Ghosts of Mars has garnered a cult following since its release, with critics praising the action sequences, soundtrack and blending of genres.

In the year 2176, Mars has been 84% terraformed, giving the planet an Earth-like atmosphere. Martian society has become matriarchal, centering on the city of Chryse, with smaller outposts connected by an expansive network of trains. In the wake of a series of mysterious 'incidents', Police Lieutenant Melanie Ballard is called before a tribunal to give testimony following a disastrous mission to the remote mining outpost Shining Canyon to retrieve convicted felon James 'Desolation' Williams, of which she is apparently the sole survivor.

Through a series of flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks as new perspectives are incorporated into the narrative), Ballard recounts details of the mission. Accompanied by Captain Helena Braddock, cocky Sergeant Jericho Butler, and rookie officers Bashira Kincaid and Michael Descanso, Ballard arrives at Shining Canyon to find the town seemingly deserted. Investigating the local jail, Braddock discovers a trio of individuals who appear to have sealed themselves into one of the cells; among them is science officer Dr. Arlene Whitlock. Ballard and Butler also find a number of disoriented miners and the convict Williams.

When Braddock suddenly disappears while patrolling the town with Ballard, Butler volunteers to look for her while Ballard returns to the jail where Williams escapes. Ballard and Williams are soon attacked by several of the miners, forcing them to work together and incapacitate them. Ballard is forced to shoot and kill one of them, causing the affliction to be passed on to one of the three survivors. Venturing out to the edge of town in search of Braddock, Butler witnesses a feral miner impale the Captain's severed head on a spike alongside many others, then discovers a large assembly in the canyon below committing horrific acts of self-mutilation and ritualistic execution.

Friends of Williams arrive and force Ballard and Butler to release him. While they originally plan on leaving the officers and remaining miners to die, Ballard convinces them to work together to survive. Their initial effort to escape is halted when the army of feral miners converge on their position, killing, injuring and infecting several of them. Confronted by Ballard, Whitlock eventually explains that she fled from her post after discovering an ancient underground vault created by an extinct Martian civilization. When the door to the vault was opened, it released hostile spirits or "ghosts", which took possession of the workers, causing their violent behavior. Killing a possessed human merely releases the Martian spirit to possess another host. Ballard surmises that these Martian spirits believe humans to be an invading race. Ballard is briefly possessed until Butler feeds her an illegal hallucinogenic drug that she had secretly been taking, which forces the Martian spirit to leave her body.

The group is forced to flee as the possessed workers breach the jail, leaving only Ballard, Williams, Butler, Kincaid, and Whitlock alive. While they are able to make it to the train, Ballard realizes they have a duty to exterminate the Martian threat and decides to return to Shining Canyon and overload the outpost's nuclear power plant, assuming that the ensuing atomic blast will vaporize the spirits. Though they are able to initiate the meltdown, Whitlock is possessed, while Butler, Kincaid, and the two train operators are killed. Boarding the train, Ballard and Williams watch as the army is engulfed in the explosion. Williams tends to Ballard's wounds. Unwilling to face the authorities, he handcuffs Ballard to her cot and leaves. She moves to shoot him, but realizes her respect for him and lets him escape.