MovieChat Forums > Ghosts of Mars (2001) Discussion > Palpable Fear

Palpable Fear

posted 16 years ago by Ghombie
2 replies | jump to latest

To me the execution scenes created a strong sense of fear and disturbance. I cant remember feeling this in another movie. Not even another JC. Its just so brutally insane how they kill these people while cheering and shouting. Then later when one of them walks by a window pausing to check if there are enemies there with that wierd makeup, it was scary without them really doing anything else except assaulting the survivors for the rest of the movie.
It also created a strong sense of comic relief. An example is when Jason Stathams character,right after witnessing the killings, says "we have a situation here" I was saying "you are damn right you do!!!". It was an understatement, I would have ben freaking out at that point.
I thought the fear created by the baddies was one of the strong points of this hotly debated movie. For me its an AOP13 remake with alot of gutsy visceral parts that was refreshing since his other recent films didnt do as much for me.

That is all....

[–] patton98 16 years ago

I think you got it. The film is truly so much powerful if you let your imagination run wild, right beyond what the film shows or suggests. I myself (after watching the film late at night) had weird dreams about various situations happening literally behind the told "story" of this film. I can't imagine what this film would do to me if i watched it at my 6 or 7, the age when children have a really strong dangerous imagination.

I think this film got it right in that sense that what we don't see or what is only implied is much more effective than what we see. I don't think im so far from the truth when i say GOM follows the stylistic formula of Evil Dead movies - grotesque/hilarious and comic bookey yet at the same time extremely disturbing, scary and shocking in its stylistic dumb weirdness. That's what Ghosts Of Mars is. The film's vision is literally so f ucked up and distorted that it makes it frightening beyond belief.

I don't think we can expect that most people can find the way how to properly watch this film. There's simply not many movies like this to show them the way.

[–] pantherquest 16 years ago

I agree. This movie has an effective, dreamlike quality, enhanced by the editing style which is heavy on the dissolves. Especially in the first couple of acts before the fighting kicks in. The mood, and sound design and the way it is slowly set up in a strangely detached, hypnotic way is pretty remarkable. It FEELS like a dream.

You make an interesting point about people not knowing how to watch certain kinds of movies. It's a difficult point to make because people get offended and think you're being elitist, but it's true. The fact is this is a very esoteric movie. Not your typical action/horror fare at all. So I'm not totally surprised by most audiences negative reaction to it. I guess it's a tendency to take things too literally even when it's uncalled for and it hurts the experience of the movie. This is the kind of movie that you just let wash over you like images surfacing from your unconscious. It's smarter than it looks.

My right brain likes this movie a lot more than my left brain wants it to, but my left brain secretly like it too. That's how I know it's good.