John Carpenter

The Saloon
21

Everything in The Thing is top notch for me…especially the build up of tension.

22

agreed. That is why it is my favorite of his films.

23

[quote=“Frank Talby, post:22, topic:2270”]agreed. That is why it is my favorite of his films.[/quote]I love it too, along with Conan the Barbarian and OUTIA my favorite movie from 80’s.

There’s something about “Thing” which I find very fascinating, I love both movies and I’ve read the novel it’s based on as well as several comics about it. The computer game wasn’t bad either.

24

So have I! The novella is damn good, and so is the Howard Hawks version of it. In fact, both film adaptations are as good as the sourse they are based on!

25

Oh right, it was novella not novel of course.

26

Yep, it is. I remember reading somewhere that a short story is up to 7000 words, a novelette is up to 24,000 words, a novella is up to 84,000 words and a novel is over 84,000.

27

Nobody here who likes Dark Star?

28

The guy was in school when he did than one :slight_smile:
I never saw it but I remenber someone telling me that was pretty good for the budget and everything.

Adeus Camaradas

29

And pretty funny

30

Agreed I really like “Dark star” it’s good fun and I have it on dvd myself, but it pales in comparison with his best films.

My favorites are.

  1. The thing
  2. Escape from New York
  3. Big Trouble in Little China
  4. Halloween
  5. Assault on Precinct 13
31

my top of his:

  1. the thing
  2. vambires 1998
  3. they live
  4. halloween
32

The Fog and They Live had great enthusiasm, but I had the feeling that Carpenter ‘ran out of money’ during filming. They ended too fast, or suffered from ‘mist- (oop, no pun intended) missed opportunities’ to really ramp-up the plotlines.

He’s a pretty-good musician/scorer too, but had the wisdom to use Morricone to score The Thing, which I think is Carpenter’s masterpiece.

33

For all you John Carpenter fans and in particular, fans of his The Fog (count me as one), an in-depth, retrospective review:
[url]http://thedissolve.com/reviews/74-the-fog/[/url]

34

The Fog is one of those films that I want to like more than I actually do (why one might want to like a film is beyond me - you either do or you don’t surely? - but there it is). Still, I think that that’s a fair review you’ve linked to there and he’s bang right about Mr. Carpenter making for an entertaining commentary track; he certainly does on They Live, The Thing and Halloween, anyway.

Perfect John:
The Thing

Outstanding John:
They Live

Good John:
Assault on Precinct 13
Christine
Dark Star
Elvis
Escape from New York
Halloween
In the Mouth of Madness
Prince of Darkness

Okay John, I suppose:
Vampires
Big Trouble in Little China
The Fog

35

No, The Fog is better than The Assault on Precinct 13 IMHO. The Fog is very enjoyable and even if not totally unique, then Carpenter’s execution elevates the material higher. 7/10

Thanks for the link, John.

36

I’ve been a fan of John Carpenter’s films since I first saw Halloween in a theater in the late '70s. IMO, his films, like his musical scores, though seemingly ‘simple’, were filled to the brim with atmosphere.

Regarding Assault on Precinct 13, I always felt it had a sort of ‘zombie movie feel’ to it, similar in ways to the original Night of the Living Dead, but in a crime movie setting.

My favorites in order:
The Thing
The Fog
Halloween
Christine
Escape From New York
They Live!
Prince of Darkness
In the Mouth of Madness
Vampires

I really didn’t like Escape From L.A. or Ghosts of Mars. And though I feel Big Trouble in Little China is better than those two, I wasn’t overly impressed with it in '86, and to this day it’s still never really grown on me.

I rate The Fog so highly because it’s just a great, old-fashioned ghost story. There are other great ghost story movies, but this was JC’s ghost movie.

37

I got to meet Carpenter a few years ago. A very nice man, seems to love his fans.
My all time favorite Carpenter film is “Escape From New York” .I could watch that film every day.
#2 The Thing. One of the scariest films ever made.I saw it at a sneak preview, a couple of weeks before it opened and was completely blow away by it.A modern classic.
#3 Vampires. Basically a supernatural western. Loved the vampires, thought they were scary as hell. An underrated film.
#4 Halloween. The first and still the best.I saw this on opening night in '78. Lovrd every minute of it.
#5 The Fog. Plot holes you could drive a truck thru, but a wonderfully atmospheric ghost story.

38

Woo-hoo, another list :slight_smile:

  1. Assault…
  2. The Thing
  3. everything else, maybe Halloween slightly ahead of the others
39

Starting midway through last year, John Carpenter became my second most favourite film director (next to Sergio Leone) very fast. I love his style and choices of actors. I also really love his scores to the films which he usually makes himself. I’ve collected (what I see as) all his best films on DVD. Here’s a list I made for rateyourmusic.com last year of my top 10 in order:

  1. Escape From New York
  2. The Thing
  3. Big Trouble in Little China
  4. Prince of Darkness
  5. They Live
  6. The Fog
  7. In the Mouth of Madness
  8. Halloween
  9. Christine
  10. Assault on Precinct 13
40

I’ve met Carpenter, too, and he’s very nice. He’s my all-time favorite director.