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John Carpenter DISCUSSION THREAD (1 Viewer)

Todd N

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I totally think John Carpenter is an A list director. As someone said earlier, the guy knows pacing, and he definitely can create certain moods and has a flair for horror. He has shown that he can make different kinds of films, but I think he feels constrained by lack of money to make the films he wants to make. I mean hell, how many A list horror movies (or whatever) would have been reduced to B films had they not received the financing they did?

Peace...
One

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Norm

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I think he could be an A list, but he would rather be a B list. He almost always goes for B list actors in his movies.
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Todd N

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Good point Norm. But I think it's vitally important to him, having seen him in interviews, to not 'sell out' so to speak. He wants to make his movies, his way.

Peace...
One

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Todd Terwilliger

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I suppose it comes down to your definition of the "B" Movie as opposed to a small budget picture or some other lightly funded sub-section of the "A" film canon. I, for one, do not consider Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, or Vampires as "B" pictures.
Todd.
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Scott Weinberg

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For a guy to make so many lame-o films in recent years and STILL have people love him religiously...that says something.
Carpenter is an A-list director in my eyes...yet someone who simply cannot work within the Hollywood "Studio Structure". He's a 'fanboy' director, and I mean that as a compliment.
I can't think of one other filmmaker that I've admired and analyzed for this many years.
You just watch all the discussions that pop up once the SE of The Fog hits the stores! Movie/DVD fans who haven't seen this movie in years (or maybe never) will be loving it! :) (Some time early next year was the ETA, I believe.)
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Derrik Draven

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Has "The Fog" been officially announced?
DVD Empire still doesn't show it as a pre release....
 

Justin_S

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Carpenter is my favorite director of all time, and is definitely an A-list director in my opinion. I disagree with people who say that Prince of Darkness is one of his weaker efforts. I think it and The Thing are his two BEST films. POD and The Thing are both in my top 5 favorite films. They are brilliantly made. ALL of his films are made very well actually. Other favorites from Carpenter are They Live, Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog, In the Mouth of Madness, Halloween, Christine, and Escape Fom New York. With so many wonderful films, I think Carpenter is a master filmmaker. I can't wait to see how Ghosts of Mars turns out!
 

Kevin M

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Just thought I would come back and re-start this thread to see what you guys (who early in the thread said they couldn't wait to see it) thought of Ghosts of Mars?
I haven't seen it (maybe that's a good thing from what I have read).
Also..
As long as he insists on remaking RIO BRAVO over and over (see ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, THE FOG, THE THING, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, GHOSTS OF MARS) he'll never be regarded as anything but a really accomplished journeyman.
I understand what you were saying (back in may) about most of these films as well as Night of the living Dead and others but I don't see the connection between Rio Bravo & The Thing. And even if there was one the short story that JC's The Thing was fairly closely based on, Who goes there?, is a short story from 1938 so if anything Rio Bravo takes after John W Campbell...however I still don't see the connection because in that story and in the 1982 film the plot isn't about being attacked on all sides by the "Enemy" rather as it is about trying to figure out who in your group is the "Enemy".
..god I'm anal sometimes...
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-Kevin M.
"Have a good time all the time........that's my philosophy, Marty."
[Edited last by Kevin M on September 09, 2001 at 06:59 AM]
 

Michael Allred

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Apologies if there was already one;)
Ah John Carpenter, one of the best horror directors that ever lived and unfortunately, one of the few directors who still gets work based on films made 20 years ago and not on quality work he's done in the past decade (because there really hasn't been a truly good Carpenter film since "Prince of Darkness".)
Ok, "They Live" was enjoyable and had it's moments. I know I certainly liked it but I can seperate what I enjoy from what I know to be quality. I guess "They Live" would qualify as a guilty pleasure.
"In the Mouth of Madness" was the only decent film Carpenter made in the 90's but even that film had major flaws.
and "Vampires"? OY! James Woods kept me watching it, other than his involvement, it was a tepid and amateur horror flick.
"Ghosts of Mars" pretty much sealed my opinion of him. The quality of his films went downhill on a pair of rocket roller skates in the 90's, with "Ghosts of Mars", not only did it hit the bottom, it tripped over and raked its face along the pavement for 3 miles. After I saw it I thought "Wait, is this the same guy who made The Thing?"
WHAT happened to him? Does he have no one to tell him certain things just ain't working? Instead of chain smoking cigarettes, did he accidentally puff on a tree branch soaked in paint thinner? I am baffled at how one man's career could nosedive so quickly.
Here we have his best films; "The Fog" and "The Thing". Great atmosphere (essential to any horror film being worth a damn.) Very Good; "Escape from New York", "Prince of Darkness" (I love "dark" films!) The good; "Big Trouble in Little China" and "They Live" (Super quotable movies.) Rounding them out are "Dark Star" (good for the budget they had and hey, it was a student film!) "Christine" (the car, the music, yowza) and "In the Mouth of Madness" (a mind fuck film if there ever was one.) Now, notice only one of those movies was made in the 90's.
His worst; "Vampires" (like I said, only Woods kept me watching, everything else was a joke.) "Village of the Damned" (I wanted to like it, I really did but sheesh, Kirstie Alley???) "Escape from LA" (sequel my ass, a total retread, shame on you John, you got a big studio film and you blew it.) "Starman" (Ok, Carpenter and "warm n' cuddly" don't mix in my eyes. Imagine John doing a period piece, LOL.) Of course, "Ghosts of Mars" is the worst, absolute bottom-of-the-barrel garbage. Even with his lesser films, I could find *something* interesting but I could not do so with "..Mars". Not even if you loaded me up on crack and vodka.
Now some of you might be thinking "Hey, what about Halloween?" Well, what about it? I know it's been given a strong nod by folks over the years but I ask you, when's the last time you saw it? Does it still hold up? Guys, if we're to be realistic, it's a low budget slasher film, period. Granted it's done fairly well but that's like saying "Well, Battlefield Earth at least looked good." I have to place "Halloween" in limbo for now.
One of the things I used to compliment Carpenter on was that he refused to screen his films for test audiences but now I wonder if that's such a good idea. Is he making films for his own enjoyment or for the audience? A little feedback wouldn't hurt ya John.
John Carpenter, a once great director who has faded away.
All right, am I crazy or what?
 

Seth Paxton

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I disagree about Halloween, as I think it's one of his best efforts in direction. So many incredible shots that really tell the tale. As I just mentioned in another Carpenter thread, you have the classic Shape stepping out of the shadows. Add to that shots like Shape looking at the guy he just nailed to the wall, etc. and you have a film that is much stronger than the average slasher film.

What happened is that JC laid the groundwork down with a great film that just happened to be a slasher film. People liked that and sought to copy it. Thus the slasher genre was truly born. However, as it is with most films, the copies were shells of the original. Few of them (including other Halloween films) had the thoughtful quality of true storytelling that JC brought to every film at the time.


And also, let's not forget the excellent Starman.

BTW, all that Thing talk in the other thread got me to pop the film in again.
 

rhett

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If there is any director out there with less of a "feminine side" than John Carpenter, I don't know who it is!
It seems that every scene is some kind of pissing contest among the characters. In this sense I think he's kind of single-note and definitely a "guy's" director.
I beg to differ. He has proven in Starman that he has the capability to make a picture that can appeal to both genders equally. Starman is such a touching and emotional film, and in my eyes, it stands as one of the best modern love stories of the past 20 years. For a man to make something as haunting and frightening as The Thing and something as beautiful and romantic as Starman, that shows A-list talent.
 

Inspector Hammer!

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So John Carpenter isn't an A-movie director, so what. Some of you speak as if being a B-movie director is a bad thing. For all of you who are disappointed somehow about John being a B-movie director, read Bruce Campbell's book If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-movie Actor. You will come away with a WHOLE different outlook and appreciation about B-movie directors and actors I guarentee it! They go through absolute hell! They probably work harder than A-list filmmakers do, and suffer 10 times as much, but they keep doing it, why? Because they love it.
John Carpenter knows he'll never win an Oscar, but he still makes movies, so what if they're B-movies? Now, having said all that, their IS a difference between a GOOD B-movie and a bad one. And the one's he's making now are definatly in the latter. I can't even remember the last good B-movie he's made, I think it was Village of the Dammned, for me anyway.
So don't be too hard on a director or actor just because he/she makes B-movies, truth is most of them are damned proud to be on that list.
 

Jordan_E

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All I gotta say on this subject is that John Carpenter has produced more than enough entertainment over the years for me to stick by him, a small price to pay for sitting in a darkened theater seeing THE THING, HALLOWEEN, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, THE FOG, and all the others. What director has a perfect track record anyway?
 

JohnS

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Well, I'll give some thoughts on some of the movies I've seen of his.
Halloween a great horror flick, probally will be the best Haloween movie ever. Also love the score.
Big Trouble in Little China having only seen this, when I bought it on DVD, from day 1.
I thought it was avergae at best. I probally have to see it again, to reevaluate it.
Escape From LA I really liked this film. Having never seen the first one, I really liked Kurt russell's character, Snake.
The movie looks cheap and is cheesy, but I think thats what makes it a fun movie.(popcorn movie)
Vampires- For a vampire movie, it's not half bad.
Loved James Woods.
Ghosts of Mars Probally being the only person who really liked this movie.
I really liked the feeling of this film.
Creatures were great, but could have explained a little more about them and their origin.
It's defintely a popcorn flick.
 

Andy Sheets

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So don't be too hard on a director or actor just because he/she makes B-movies, truth is most of them are damned proud to be on that list.
Definitely. I always liked it when Peter Jackson said that he never wants to be "important", he just wants to make the goofy movies that he likes to make, and Carpenter has that same attitude :)
 

Kevin M

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If there is any director out there with less of a "feminine side" than John Carpenter, I don't know who it is!
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Walter Hill?
How about Sam Peckinpah? :eek:
I for one liked Vampires for what it was, a farce. It didn't take itself seriously so neither did I & I enjoyed it that way.
 

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