John Carpenter Films

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Are there any fans here? I love most of them and think he really knows how to make you tense.

The best are Halloween, The Fog, The Thing. And I think the chase scene in Halloween is the most anxiety inducing sequence ever seen in a horror film. Especially with the music.

Big Trouble in Little China was an odd one but very entertaining.

What are your favorites and what are you best scenes that he did?

Of all the horror films I've seen, there were actually only two that scared the dickens out of me - The Fog and 100 Feet. It was also cool to watch the two The Thing films back to back, the prequel from last year and John Carpenter's sequel from 20 years ago. Both were well done. You'd think the older one would look dated, but it didn't. The new one kept all the buildings and trucks the same. Very good work.

The Thing is maybe my second favorite film after Blade Runner. It's Carpenter's best by a mile. Only Alien and The Shining would give it any real competition on a list of the best horror films ever made. Halloween and Escape from New York are also excellent. The Fog I found to be a totally ineffective bore, and Carpenter himself is also apparently not very fond of it. Prince of Darkness isn't all that great but it has its moments. Big Trouble in Little China I couldn't see the appeal of at all, though most Carpenter fans seem to like it. They Live and In the Mouth of Madness are quite good despite being so overlooked, and I seem to be one of the few people willing to admit that I liked Escape from L.A. nearly as much as the original film.

Like Wes Craven, he's pretty much a hit-or-miss director for me. I personally wasn't a huge fan of The Thing (flame shields up), but I loved Escape From NY, They Live, and Halloween.

I'm a life long horror fan, so I absolutely love Carpenter's films. I agree with the general consensus that The Thing is his best film. And his original version of the Fog was a far superior product compared to the miserable remake, despite the higher production cost, as with the original Halloween.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I saw Dark Star while I was in Uni, at a midnight 'underground' film festival. I thought what a talent this guy has ! ! Then The Thing, which I believe stands as one of the most claustrophobic horror films ever made. I recently read an interview where he said The Thing made no money at the box office when it was released (I went!) and it actually hurt his career.
It saddens me that he has not been able to get a film made recently.

I watched The Thing a few weeks ago. It was certainly creepy, but mostly... man, it was just an achievement in practical effects. Even now - no! ESPECIALLY now - The Thing is an outstanding use of puppetry and stop-motion. Especially when you compare it to its own 2011 prequel... man, it's just embarrassing how much that film trumps almost every Hollywood film in terms of sheer grit in its special effects. Gah. It's... it's spine-tinglingly good. Such an impressive film.

The only John Carpenter films I've ever seen are They Live and Big Trouble in Little China, so I'd say They Live was my favorite, followed by the other one.

"The Thing" is one of my all time favourite films too; the things which I hated/had trouble dealing with when younger have since become the most interesting things about it, by which I mean the "weird people" and their solitary grumpy disillusioned, permanently angry, socially bizarre, etc behaviour with each other. I could hardly bear that aspect of the film when I was younger, but loved the alien and body-horror stuff, which was wonderfully scary and icky ... but what disturbed me most was the people, and yet that is why I rewatch it now, because the portraits of people like me ( us at WP? ) are so brilliant, so rare, so real.

My other favourite Carpenter film is "The Prince of Darkness", because of the insects and worms and the old priest and the music/soundtrack, and the way he portrays the empty spaces/corridors/rooms as if they are full of something ... and the awesome moment that the black guy, supposedly dead, with axe through neck or something, comes up the stairs and along the passageway laughing softly ... it's like a perfectly choreographed dance on the thin line between pure horror and pure comedy.

Not so keen on Halloween or the Fog, though they're spooky enough I find them boring/monotonous in some way. "In the Mouths of Madness" is horrible, pretty gripping nightmare. The moment that the apparently young and sexy female cyclist turns out to be an old crone reminds me of Nicholas Roeg's amazing shocking shot of the dwarf etc, in "Don't Look Now".

He seems to have lost whatever it was though.
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Huge Carptenter fan here! I grew up watching Halloween movies and other greats such as The Fog, Escape from New York etc.

I'd have to say my personal favorite was They Live. It was probably one of Carpenter's moat entertaining!