John Carpenter

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guitarheroalex95

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I just feel that it's necessary to point put how many great films this guy has made, The Thing is criminally underated and he made some of the best music. I think over the years the industry has treated him like some 'blue collar' director who is only good for doing films on a low budget. He deserves way way more respect anyone agree?
 
Big Trouble In Little China is one of my fave movies. I watched Vampires for the first time last year and was shocked to see it was made in 1998. I looked more like 1988 :D Still a good caper though. Reminded me a little of the tounge in cheek action of From Dusk Till Dawn.


The Fog was one of the scariest movies I watched as a child. I reckon kiRAB these days could sit through the crappy remake without a problem.
 
John Carpenter is "hit & miss" with me. He's a sensational "idea" man and comes up with some of the coolest concepts for films. But sometimes those "ideas" don't quite work - either because the budget didn't allow it or the story just didn't go far enough. The end result? A movie that is still good but could have been amazing. And that frustrates me as a fan. I agree that he deserves more respect from his peers. Even though a majority of his films have a low-budget look or feel to them, he delivers for the most part.

I LOVED what he did with "The Thing". It's my all-time favorite JC movie and one of the greatest horror films in general. It's reached "cult classic" status now so that's a good thing. His "In the Mouth of Madness" is another underrated gem of a film that many have ignored - even to this day. For those who have never seen it, rent it! You won't be disappointed and it's guaranteed to mess with your mind. :)

I also enjoyed his 2 cable TV efforts for the series "Masters of Horror" ("Pro-Life" & "Cigarette Burns").
 
That's hit the nail on the head for sure, his ideas especially for something like 'They Live' hasn't had it's greatness and originality highlighted due to the budget. I didn't care much for Vampires because that isn't a stretch in terms of ideas, but I think 'In the Mouth of Madness' is brilliant.
 
I have to say that I think his best years are sadly behind him.

He was on a winning streak from Dark Star up to Big Trouble in Little China, but after that his output became more variable.

I know he had difficulties working with the big studios, but despite this I think Starman and Big Trouble are among his best works.

He did find something of a return to form with Prince of Darkness and They Live, concerted efforts to going back to making smaller, low-budget horror/sci fi movies.

But then he also came up with real stinkers like Memoirs of an Invisible Man...what was he thinking? Chevy Chase...? And the tone of the movie was all over the place...part conspiracy thriller, part sci fi, part comedy.

In the Mouth Of Madness was ok - I particularly remember going to a screening of it at the NFT in London before it was released, with Carpenter in attendance giving a Q and A. I remember vividly that when the movie finished there was muted applause, and when he came to take questions, you could see he felt very uncomfortable. And afterwarRAB when I left, I saw him sitting completely alone at a table, waiting to sign autographs for people...and no one around. Very sad.

Then came pointless remakes and sequels (Escape from LA, Village of the Damned), and expremely forgettable fare such as Vampires and Ghosts of Mars...then a lot of downtime and a few tv anthology episodes.

And then there the 'ones that got away'. Projects he wrote or initiated, but did not get to direct them, such as Halloween 3, Black Moon Rising (dreadful movie, but had the germ of a good idea and in Carpenters hand's could have been something else), and Eyes of Laura Mars.

But...let's remember that he did make some of the most iconic movies of the 70's and 80's, and he appears to have a couple of interesting films in production at the moment...so let's wait and see.
 
In the Mouth Of Madness was ok - I particularly remember going to a screening of it at the NFT in London before it was released, with Carpenter in attendance giving a Q and A. I remember vividly that when the movie finished there was muted applause, and when he came to take questions, you could see he felt very uncomfortable. And afterwarRAB when I left, I saw him sitting completely alone at a table, waiting to sign autographs for people...and no one around. Very sad.

Wow that sounRAB really harsh, when I first saw it I wasn't too impressed with the start but as the film progressed I thought that it was a very good movie that stimulated the mind. I suppose at that time in the 90's everyone was going crazy for Jurassic Park and the like.
 
Totally agree, I've done the same in various movie communities I post in. In his prime Carpenter was fantastic, making great movie after great movie. Although I do think Escape from New York is really overrated in a way. My favourite is probably assault, and I think The Fog is a really interesting and underrated gem. I won't get into talking about the time I watched They Live on acid at 4am as a 15 year old.
 
I think that a lot of his ideas in his films have been ambitious and worthy enough of more than a low budget. A lot of effort was put into The Thing for instance, yeah maybe the horror genre in particular benefits from that straightforward approach but with The Thing (which I personally feel is just as good as Alien), They Live and ITMOM those kind of movies deserved much more care put into them. I'm sure that even with a large budget he wouldn't go for CGI anyway, maybe very minimal.
 
Its part of the reason why some many remakes dont work out so well these days, its not that the new director/writers dont do a good job of rewriting them ( in some cases not all lol) its because they are being remade with bigger budgets whitch just takes away from the charm of the film

If he had made all his films with more money and had a higher status i dont think they would have been half as good
 
The physical special puppet and creature effects in The Thing, like so many other films that use them instead of CGI, are what makes them so scary and believeable. I would rather have a dodgy puppet anyday over a soulless, formless CGI creation.
 
I love pretty much all of Carpenter's older stuff, with "The Thing", "Escape From New York", "Halloween", & "Big Trouble in Little China" being my favourites.

I don't think he's made anything decent in a while though :(



I've got the themes from "Halloween", "The Thing", & "Escape From New York". Keep meaning to get more of his stuff. I actually had the "Halloween" theme as my ringtone for a while (although it's been replaced by the main theme from "Where Eagles Dare").
 
Heh heh stolen shamelessly by Duke Nukem.

Recommended They Live to a mate, he couldn't get past the twangy guitar soundtrack.
 
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