The planet Mars, which fared poorly with critics and audiences alike in its

recent film

appearances (Mars Attacks! , Mission to Mars, Red Planet) is

not doing

much better with John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. "Occasionally

veering into that so-bad-it's-good category," Liam Lacey comments in the

Toronto Globe and Mail, "mostly Ghosts of Mars is just so

bad." Many critics simply found the movie boring. "It's like a zombie

picture directed by one of the undead," Elvis Mitchell writes in the New

York Times. "We knew Mars was a dry planet, but this dry?" Jay Carr

remarks in the Boston Globe. Steven Rea in the Philadelphia

Inquirer disagrees -- sort of. "While this cheesy, heavy-metal melange

of horror, space hooey and cowboy shoot-'em-ups isn't exactly dull," he

concludes, "it isn't anything to write home about either. In fact, it's

hardly worth writing a review."