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In 2176 AD humans have been colonizing and mining the planet Mars for years. It is still a desolate place, a matriarchal society populated by 640,000 colonists and protected by the Mars Police Force (MPF). The film is told in flashback by head strong, drug addicted Lieutenant Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge), who is found hand cuffed to an unmanned train that returns to camp minus its crew. Ballard was part of a MPF troupe enlisted to transfer prisoner James “Desolation” Williams (Ice Cube) from Shining Canyon to Chryse City. When they reach their destination however, Ballard and her fellow crew members: Commander Braddock (Pam Grier), Butler (Jason Statham), Kincaid (Clea DuVall) and Uno (Liam Waite), find the place abandoned and everyone dead, hung upside down and decapitated, a crime with which Williams has been accused in the past but has an alibi for this time. Closer inspection reveals the survival of not only Williams, but also Doctor Arlene Whitlock, 2 other prisoners, and a growing posse of possessed “creatures”, original inhabitants of the planet whose ghosts escaped when Whitlock opened Pandora’s Box. Police and prisoners band together to fight an enemy of Martian spirits against a bleak and blood stained backdrop (shot on location on a gypsum mine near Albuquerque, New Mexico), an industrial soundtrack blasting in the background.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
317894
Languages
English
English
English
German
German
Hindi
Turkish
Audience classification
MA
Subject categories
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Magic, Occult & Supernatural → Zombie drama
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
DVD; Access Print (Section 1)