I'm still not sure whether John Carpenter makes slick horror movies, or low-budget creepies. We still haven't seen The Thing, his classy masterpiece. Ghosts of Mars, which we did just see, had a very slick look without looking like it cost much at all.
It is set on the matriarchal Mars colony - the matriarchy is a cool little twist, with no special meaning I can discern. A mining settlement has been wiped out, the only survivor a woman chained to an empty train. She had gone with a police squad to bring back a captured murderer (Ice Cube!) and now she is telling her story.
In a long flashback, we travel with the squad to the settlement. It is lead by Pam Grier (!) and includes our hero (blonde, leggy Natasha Henstridge), Jason Statham (!!!) and two rookies. They find the settlement deserted, except for Mr. Cube - then the zombies show up.
So, we have SF-horror on Mars, zombies who can take over your friend's body (ala The Thing), and a siege (ala Precinct 13/Fort Apache). You also get flashbacks in flashbacks (possibly within flashbacks - I wasn't counting). You get too little Pam Grier, and just enough Statham and Cube. I didn't realize that I was following Crank with another Statham movie - just one of those movie things. Ice Cube was great, but not quite menacing enough. I've seen too many trailers for Are We There Yet to take him seriously, I guess.
Very sharp, very slick, and you don't notice until well after it is over - very low budget.
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- Beveridge D. Spenser
- I'm Beveridge D. Spenser, but you can call me Cool Bev. Or Fruity Bev. I'm 6'2", so Tall Bev also applies.
2 comments:
I remember seeing John Carpenter's "The Thing" a long time ago. Very, very good movie. That was when I learned Kurt Russell was something other than the kid in "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes." Also, I once saw the first 45 minutes of the original "The Thing from Another World" (James Arness was The Thing). It really looked good. Sorry to digress, but both of those should be checked out.
I've always been afraid to see The Thing. A friend of ours had it on VHS (ca. 1985) and kept offering to let us watch. "And I'll fast forward TO THE GORY PARTS!"
I'm a little older now, maybe I can handle it.
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