The JOHN CARPENTER THREAD
 

I kinda dig Ghosts Of Mars even if it is just a remake of the far superior Assault On Precinct 13 and believe it or not,I think Escape From L.A. is a cracking film with some great lines from snake plissken and a score that I think surpasses the 1st film.The music used when snake is suiting up is just pure classic carpenter

They live is also a favourite of mine.Roddy Piper at his best

"You? you're ok.This one? REAL ****ing ugly!" :laugh:

True,James Woods is great in the film,Tomas Ian Griffith as the villain and Sheryl Lee tied butt naked to a bed,what's not to like!

No love for Big Trouble In Little China Reaper?

The Thing is just one of those movies that I could watch everyday and never get bored of it.
All those arseholes in Hollywood that are falling over their own wallets to remake classics should watch Hawk's Thing... and Carpenters adaptation and see how a remake should be done

Halloween is still the only movie I watch that genuinely freaks me out and leaves me nervous for the night! :behindsofa:

The Fog used to terrify me as a kid. Doesn't have that affect anymore but its still a great horror flick, very creepy

Assault on Precinct 13 is pure quality

Escape from New York is a great flick too but the cheesiness of it always makes me laugh

I could never get into Big trouble....always thought it was just ridiculous

I need to get Prince of Darkness/They Live(Piper was always my fave wrestler!), been a while since I watched them

Vampires is awesome though...an absolute blast of a movie

Ghosts of Mars is pretty good too

I thought Starman was terrific. Jeff Bridges's performance was one of his finest, and thank god first choice Kevin Bacon turned it down.

My personal Carpenter faves:

The Thing
Halloween
The Fog
Assault on Precinct 13
Prince of Darkness
They Live
Escape from New York
Vampires
In the Mouth of Madness

:cool:

Yeah great fun!
Three assassins based on Shogun Assassin,what's not to like?:cool:

CHRISTINE is another one that is sorely underrated imo.

my fav is either

the thing, BTILC or prince of darkness

Watched THE FOG on Saturday night.Dean Cundey's cinematography,those long shots of deserted beaches and roads with a distant foghorn in the background,creates a sense of foreboding rarely matched....:cool:

I've not noticed this thread before, which is odd as JC is possibly my favourite director. I own nearly all of his theatrical films (just missing Dark Star, Starman and Village of the Damed). My favourite is Halloween, it just flawless imho, followed a very close second by Prince of Darkness.

The thing I really Like about John Carpenter is that he has a very distinct style with striking visuals, amazing camera work and his trademark soundtracks, The Thing with its Morricone score seems less like a JC film that the others but it's still fantastic.

Hopefully we'll see John back on form when his new film The Ward when it comes out next year!!!:rockon:

:tongue1:halloween and the thing!
cant pick my fave out of these as one is a slasher and the other supernatural/monster. both great and his best work imo!

The Thing looks absolutely stunning on Blu Ray!
As does HALLOWEEN and THE FOG.

The Fog is a classic.:nod:

slightly of topic here,but how good is b/ray? is this going to replace dvd like dvd replaced the tape?

Time will tell mate.....

http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=46

Of Carpenter's later output,I thought VAMPIRES was nowhere near as bad as was said....
However,Ghosts of Mars was almost unwatchable,as was Escape from L.A....:(

"The Fog" is the best Lovecraftian film going and makes most Lovecraft based films look rather shoddy including "In the Mouth of Madness" which is excellent in it's own right.

How about Carpenter's "Elvis" a great little film and fantastic performance from Kurt Russel. Of his recent work I found "Cigarette Burns" very impressive.

"Halloween" is my favourite, ever since it frightened the cack out of me and my mum when shown on telly back in the early 80s.

I love The Fog but I'd read that the Blu-Ray transfer is dog-sh*t. Is this a case of numptys getting on the amazon review pages with little or no understanding?

Best looking I've seen it.
I don't know what some people expect from Blu Ray...for characters to come out ot the screen and boot them in the nuts?

Best looking FOG I've seen,especially the daytime coastal and lighthouse scenes...

Thanks for the info! The Fog on BR is now a must have!

It's a shame that it's another Optimum release with bugger all in the way of extras.

I like Assualt on Precint 13 and the very similar themed Ghosts of Mars. I love films with a survive against the odds theme.
The Fog's a great film , a genuine horror classic.

So do I. It's one of the reasons why I'm such a zombie movie fan. I do like siege stories; putting disparate people together, in a crisis, and see how it pans out. Night, Dawn and Day excel at that. JC's movies too. Prince of Darkness was cool like that - the whole maths vs religion aspect was surprisingly creepy. Both PoD and GoM get ridiculed but I like both very much. The Fog is one of my all time favourite movies.

A quick geek question; Are there any recordings available of the Coup deVille's music that Stevie plays in the radio station? I have a dodgy "complete" Fog OST and an actual Coup deVille album (MP3). The latter is JC and company's attempt at a pop rock album. It's no better or worse than anything Harold Faltermeyer came up with. I know The Fog stuff from them is a little odd but it's the sort of music you play to see if anyone recognises it.:lol:

just finished watching STARMAN, it's been a while since i'd seen it and i thoroughly enjoyed it. Its like Carpenter's E.T and Close Encounters rolled into one, a beautiful film.

It's far better than E.T. I feel. That Spielberg movie is just a little too emotionally manipulative for me. JC's Starman doesn't ram that stuff at you, it's just there for you to feel or gloss over. Spielberg hits you with emotion like a Jack Hammer, mainly thanks to a incredibly moving score by John Williams.

i agree with you dude, Williams can make me cry like a little girl, his score for Schindler's list is epic.

but this is a carpenter thread and must stick to carpenter related stuff so Jack Nitzsche score for Starman is phenomenal.

Nitzsche's score is brilliant in Starman. He gives it an otherwordly atmosphere yet can move us with the theme that accompanies the resurrection of the Deer. Very touching. I'm a big girl's blouse when it comes to score to scenes.

gonna watch either The FOG or Ghosts Of Mars Tonight, but which one to chose, on one hand i like the atmospherics of The Fog and the fact that Tom Atkins is in it but on the other hand i like Pam Grier's Head on a pike and Natasha Hendstrige's boobies, they only one way to find out......FIGHT!!!!!!!!

No love for Someone's Watching Me? Bloody great for a TV movie!

It's definitely a hard one to call for my fave Carpenter. It's between Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York, Assault On Precinct 13, The Fog and Prince Of Darkness. They Live is good fun too.

They're all so good and unique in their own right. I hope we see a full-on return to form sometime because he really has deserved legendary status.

Assault looks pretty damn good on Blu-Ray too! :nod:

What won in the end? Tom Atkins or Natasha Henstridge?

Tom Atkins won but it was close, Henstridge almost made the dvd player but Atkins was closer...

Carpenter is definitely my favorite director - Favorite film would probably be a tie between Escape From NY and The Fog. But I watch them all as often as I can. His soundtracks are absolutely amazing - No one does it better.

My JC collection in all its glory.

Very Nice BZ. :thumb:

There might be a new one to add too..

From dvddrive-in

New anamorphic digitally restored Dark Star. :)

Dark Star Special Edition DVD Promo

That looks great, the version I have is pretty dodgy. May have to upgrade when I have some cash.

At some point I need to fill the gaps in my collection I'm going for all JC's theatrical releases.

I've actually never bought a version of Dark Star because I don't think there have been any that been really good from what I've read and heard. This one definitely sounds like it's the one.

Keith David was great fun in that too, the dialogue was witty and fun.

Still not bored of this film.

Was Roddy P in any other movie worth watching?