John Carpenter Films

[abigsmurf]

Just gone through his IMDB entry. From 74 to 95 the average quality of the films he made was unreal, then he made a nondescript remake followed by 3 stinkers in a row.

Cigarette Burns proves he still has it as a director. Maybe Hollywood just doesn't want to make action and horror unless it's a: a PG-13 or b: torture porn.

Incidentally, I strongly recommend his Masters of Horror stuff, especially Cigarette burns. But then, I tend to like anything that has Udo Kier in it.

[Legendary Wolf]

Carpenter sure does good soundtracks. You can argue they're all much of the same, but I like them. It's a nice signature, and he knows how to write a catchy little ditty.

Very true, they have a distictive, quirkiness, very electro which fit perfectly with the style and era of his films.

Personal faves of mine are The Fog (the remake is just awful, cannot touch the original for atmosphere and creepiness), Big Trouble in Little China (one of my all time favorites, so many great characters), The Thing (as good as Alien), Escape from New York (Snake Plissken, enough said) and Vampires (one of his better, more recent works, James Woods is brilliant in this). I have never seen the Halloween films which is shocking as I'm a horror fan.

Ghosts of Mars could have been better, there were some good moments but a combination of poor dialogue and plot spoiled it for me.

[Baseley09]

The winch was a cool feature for Vampires, one of the first dvd's I saw and a cool movie.

[teddymeow]

I'm a big fan of The Thing and In The Mouth Of Madness. The latter of these two is an amazing film that I remember watching on BBC1 a few years back and being utterly gripped all the way through.

Sam Neill, what an actor!!

[buster_broon]

I'm sure his son did the music for his dads masters of horror episodes, well the second season anyway

John carpenter is my favourite director and kurt russell is my favourite actor

[Jaz]

Loved The Thing. Never saw They Live or Prince of Darkness so have them now.

[QualityChimp]

Another big Carpenter fan here!

I've just looked at his filmography and I've seen all the films he's directed and most of the films he was involved with in some way.

I've not seen any of the Blu-Rays, but I know that the DVDs (especially Universal ones) are brilliant. They contain deleted scenes and "Making Of" features, but best of all are the commentaries he does.

He's really relaxed and usually has the star with him. They Live with Roddy Piper is good, but my fave is The Thing with Kurt Russell, where you can audibly hear them clink beer bottles together at the start!

[MetalJoe]

Ever since I saw Christine as a kid, I've loved John Carpenter stuff (film and music) and his horror work always seems have a really great brooding atmosphere. I've pretty much seen all of the films he's directed now too, so I'll have to check out some of those directors commentaries.

Anyone know much about his upcoming film "The Ward"?

[Darwock]

The only one of his commentaries I have listen to was Precinct 13, and he sounded like he was ashamed of how it turned out (being one of his first and all). I recall him complaining that the actors weren't holding their guns correctly lol

[buster_broon]

The only one of his commentaries I have listen to was Precinct 13, and he sounded like he was ashamed of how it turned out (being one of his first and all). I recall him complaining that the actors weren't holding their guns correctly lol

check out the commentary on the thing, he and kurt get smashed and by the end are laughing wrecks

you even hear the ice in the glasses chink

[Giga_Death]

looking forward to the prequel to the Thing, even if it isn't by Carpenter. They need to explain the UFO more.

There was a dedicated Thing website back some years where ppl would debate over and over about plot details in the Thing. . . if you watched the film it was a good read. Probably Carpenters best film.

[SuperBeatBoy]

http://my.spill.com/profiles/blogs/the-thing-prequel-panel-from

Not the greatest quality, but really insightful none the less. Can't wait for it!