John Carpenter

[bgmnts]

He's just fucking brill ain't he? I honestly think Big Trouble in Little China may be one of the best films ever made.

Has he done anything of note the past few years?

Is there a Carpenter film you don't like and if so why not?
Discuss.

[lipsink]

He's done tonnes of bad ones hasn't he? I've never seen Escape From LA, Vampires or Ghosts of Mars but apparently they're all shockingly bad. Ghosts Of Mars is regularly on Worst Films Ever lists.

An underrated one is apparently In The Mouth Of Madness. I bloody loved Prince Of Darkness when I saw it a few years ago. It's one of his a lot of people don't seem to mention. Though it's reputation has grown in recent years. Christine is a bit shit. He had a fantastic run from Dark Star through to They Live. Possibly the greatest run by any director.

[Egyptian Feast]

He's just fucking brill ain't he? I honestly think Big Trouble in Little China may be one of the best films ever made.

Has he done anything of note the past few years?

Is there a Carpenter film you don't like and if so why not?
Discuss.

He's been mainly focusing on music recently. He hasn't done a feature film in a few years, but has done a couple of albums and tours. Other than that, he seems to be enjoying getting high and playing videogames. He's earned it.

I haven't seen much of his work from the 90s and beyond, but Vampires was pretty shit after a great opening scene. A real waste of a promising premise. I did like Cigarette Burns, his episode of Masters Of Horror though.

[SteveDave]

I opened this thread expecting him to be cancelled or dead.

[checkoutgirl]

I did a thread on this a couple of years ago. Hope this helps.

[Sebastian Cobb]

He's done tonnes of bad ones hasn't he? I've never seen Escape From LA

Belongs in the 'no longer shit' thread. Like Robocop 2 it's gone from a bit daft and over-the-top to almost prescient. 'The President' is very Trumpy.

[NoSleep]

The Thing is one of the greatest ever films.

I think Vampires features the best vampire ever (Sheryl Lee) which makes up for the clunkier bits of the plot (there's almost always a bit of clunk in a Carpenter film, but so does Romero).

I can live without The Fog and I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, either (not a touch on Bob Clark's earlier Black Christmas).

[St_Eddie]

John Carpenter is one of my favourite directors.  My favourite films of his are The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China.  When Carpenter is firing on all cylinders, he's great.  There's nobody else quite like him; his films have a very unique voice.

He's done tonnes of bad ones hasn't he? I've never seen Escape From LA, Vampires or Ghosts of Mars but apparently they're all shockingly bad. Ghosts Of Mars is regularly on Worst Films Ever lists.

I don't think that any of those are really worthy of being included on 'The Worst Films of All Time' lists but yeah, they're bad movies.  As is The Ward.  It's interesting to note that these four films were the last that Carpenter ever directed.  Most directors hit their peak and decline.  I think that it's probably for the best that Carpenter's semi-retired these days.

An underrated one is apparently In The Mouth Of Madness.

In The Mouth of Madness is very good.  It's essentially John Carpenter doing H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

[St_Eddie]

As shabby as it is (hardly surprising given the shoestring budget), I have a huge amount of affection for Dark Star.  It's just a lovely little funny film.

Has he done anything of note the past few years?

He composed the soundtrack for the recent Halloween sequel.  Other than that, he recently toured with his band.  Mostly, he just likes to sit around, getting stoned and playing videogames.  Which is fair enough really, the man's more than earned it.

[Blumf]

When you've directed The Thing, you have a lot of credit to blow of shitty films. That the guy also did Big Trouble..., Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from New York, Dark Star, etc. etc. just means even his crappiest works get a free pass.

Huh, just looking and I didn't realise he did Memoirs of an Invisible Man

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I watched Escape From LA for the first time fairly recently and found it to be good, cheesy fun.

These days, I understand, he just likes to sit about, smoking weed and playing videogames. He's certainly earned it.

[mothman]

I really like Ghosts of Mars. It's not good but it just clicks for me. Vampires... the idea is better than the execution. I mean, come on! James Woods - at the most over-the-top he'd been in years - hunting vampires? I think Prince Of Darkness is great though. There's something so low-key - because low budget? = about it, incongruous given the apocalyptic subject matter, it really is more about creeping unease more than outright shocks.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I wish I liked Prince of Darkness more. The premise and tone - essentially Ghost Busters played straight - is great, but it's undone by the crappier cast members.

[NoSleep]

Vampires... the idea is better than the execution. I mean, come on! James Woods - at the most over-the-top he'd been in years - hunting vampires?

His performance in Vampires is a good audition for playing a live action version of Rick Sanchez; wouldn't be surprised if he was an inspiration for Rick (& Morty).

[SavageHedgehog]

I really like Ghosts of Mars. It's not good but it just clicks for me.

It's one of those films that got poor reviews in everywhere but France, where they loved it. Another was Mission to Mars. Guess French critics like Mars?

[Avril Lavigne]

I wish I liked Prince of Darkness more. The premise and tone - essentially Ghost Busters played straight - is great, but it's undone by the crappier cast members.

I checked it out for the first time either last Halloween or the year before, and for such a good horror movie premise with Carpenter directing I was surprised at how boring the whole thing was.

[Goldentony]

Yeah Prince Of Darkness wasn't very good when I watched it for the first time a few weeks agp. It feels like the third act should kick off good and proper with a Legend style Satan turning people's arseholes inside out and morphing heads into carrier bags but you get a big mad wolfs arm and that's it.

I haven't seen In The Mouth Of Madness, but when I saw him live he did some of the music and the video behind him made it look like one of the maddest films imaginable, but I had my attention mostly on his dad dancing

[Sebastian Cobb]

In the mouth of madness is mental, but it's also good. If Sam Neil's done a shit film, I ain't seen it.

[bgmnts]

I adore Event Horizon but i'm assuming it's crap?

[Goldentony]

Event Horizon is amazing, fucking SATAN in SPACE

[another Mr. Lizard]

No mention of Starman yet?

I wish JC had done as many movies with Jeff Bridges as he has with Kurt Russell. And as many DVD commentaries.

[mothman]

It's one of those films that got poor reviews in everywhere but France, where they loved it. Another was Mission to Mars. Guess French critics like Mars?

I really like Mission to Mars. I've either got crap taste, or am actually French.

Oddly enough I've never liked the third turn-of-the-Millenium Mars movie, Red Planet. But that might be because I've never seen it all the way through in one go, back when it was on rotation on Sky I only seemed to get to watch it in segments.

[Sebastian Cobb]

It's one of those films that got poor reviews in everywhere but France, where they loved it. Another was Mission to Mars. Guess French critics like Mars?

How did they rate the original Total Recall?

[chveik]

I really like Mission to Mars. I've either got crap taste, or am actually French.

nah it's good (I'm French though, my opinion will probably not help you)

In the Mouth of Madness is my favourite film of his. he really captured well the atmosphere of the Cthulhu mythos. Escape to LA is good fun too.

[BlodwynPig]

nah it's good (I'm French though, my opinion will probably not help you)

In the Mouth of Madness is my favourite film of his. he really captured well the atmosphere of the Cthulhu mythos. Escape to LA is good fun too.

In the Mouth of Madness is pitch perfect isn't it. And I also like Prince of Darkness for that nightmare like claustrophobia.

[BlodwynPig]

Haven't seen Vampires but reading the blurb it looks like Near Dark did this far better a decade earlier

[BlodwynPig]

[a duncandisorderly]

The Thing is one of the greatest ever films.

I think Vampires features the best vampire ever (Sheryl Lee) which makes up for the clunkier bits of the plot (there's almost always a bit of clunk in a Carpenter film, but so does Romero).

I can live without The Fog and I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, either (not a touch on Bob Clark's earlier Black Christmas).

yeah, same same. I had a notion that it was every-other-flick that was shit, a bit like oliver stone or the first lot of star trek movies (the reboot series are all shit except for a few bits of the first one, & they're even letting simon pegg write for it now, like lindelhof wan't bad enough) but I think it's more random than that.

have a read of this if you're a fan of "john carpenter's the thing":

http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com/

[a duncandisorderly]

I adore Event Horizon but i'm assuming it's crap?

it's magnificent. a good & trusted mate of mine warned me not to watch it stoned, so of course I got absolutely hammered & put it on.

I think I finally got to sleep about three days later.

of course it's tosh- utter hokum- but it's fantastic. nowt to do with carpenter though, is it?

[Kryton]

The thing with Carpenter films as that even the 'bad' ones are still fun films. I'm a massive fan of him - His music too!
I had the pleasure of watching him perform his tracks in Liverpool a few years ago, the atmosphere was electric. He also seems like a cool guy you'd be happy hanging out with.

In the mouth of madness and Prince of darkness are both genuinely creepy films. The Thing is the best horror movie ever made.