Filmmaker John Carpenter has caught the Mars bug and will write and direct a science fiction thriller called "Ghosts on Mars."

According to an "Ain't It Cool News" source, the project will be set 200 years in the future on a haunted planet Mars. Columbia will distribute the film.

Over his three-decade career, Carpenter has exclusively produced horror and SF films, often blurring the vague boundary between the two genres. His first major work, 1974's breakout "Dark Star," co-written with Dan O'Bannon of "Alien" fame, stirred both shudders and nervous giggles with its claustrophobic interpretation of space travel, while a number of later efforts -- ranging from "The Thing" in 1982 to 1995's "Village of the Damned" -- have updated and commented on classic SF/horror stories.

In addition to writing and directing "Ghosts on Mars," Carpenter will likely compose his own music as well.