I still think Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness' is his best work. Kind of Lovecraftian, while at the same time spoofing Stephen King and doing its utmost to creep out the audience.

Had a pass for a free preview of the movie, so I went to see 'Ghosts of Mars' at the last minute.

Campy, gorey, and Henstridge never once takes off her shirt.

The movie doesn't promise much. So when it fails to deliver it's not so much a let-down as it is the meeting of one's expectations. At two points in the movie, the plot became so absurd that the audience broke out laughing.

Mars has been terraformed to the point where its atmosphere is essentially breathable. It's an ugly gritty place, which is great for the mood Carpenter wants to create. Someday, though, I would like to see someone show Mars as a desolate wilderness - tragically beautiful. But Carpenter was clearly on a tight budget - the Marscapes are not worth the look.

Carpenter updates the haunted ghost-town tale as a cop action flick on Mars. Lots of decapitations and severed limbs.

In spite of a so-so script and uninspired direction, some of the cast heroically try to rise above the material. Henstridge, Ice Cube and Joanna Cassidy all do what they can to elevate the film beyond B-movie status.

They fail. It's a B-movie. But if you accept it on that level, it's not all bad.