Favorite Carpenter Film?!
Question: Up until halloween, I will be asking about the favorite films of the masters of horror(not the Showtime show)
Starting with John Carpenter, my faves are:
Halloween
The Fog
Escape from New York (the one of two that's not horror in my faves of his)
The Thing
Christine
They Live
Starman
Vampires
Answers: Up until halloween, I will be asking about the favorite films of the masters of horror(not the Showtime show)
Starting with John Carpenter, my faves are:
Halloween
The Fog
Escape from New York (the one of two that's not horror in my faves of his)
The Thing
Christine
They Live
Starman
Vampires
Halloween~Deservedly, it's a classic. It holds up even after all of these years. I've already watched it twice this month.
Order of preference:
The Fog
Big Trouble in Little China~~It has supernatural elements and enough "scare" moments to qualify it as horror.
Escape from New York~~It does have some horror film-type setups.
Starman~~I kept waiting for something gruesome to happen. By the way, Jeff Bridges ripped off Robert Foxworth's performance in "The Questor Tapes" (1974 TV movie)! He copied EVERYTHING from Foxworth, thus he did not deserve the Oscar! (Actually, Louis Gossett, Jr. should have received an Academy Award for "Enemy Mine".) "Starman" really isn't horror, is it? But, I do like the film. Charles (Charlie) Martin Smith has a good role, and Karen Allen is there to remind us that this talented actress should have earned more leading roles.
Vampires (I like the sequel a bit better.)
In the Mouth of Madness
Prince of Darkness~~Sadly, JC seemed to have stepped off the path and stumbled around a bit, but the premise is intriguing: Satan trapped in a cylinder in the basement of a deserted church.
Christine~~Why did they get so far away from the novel?! It does have its strengths, especially John Stockwell and Keith Gordon. Why tamper with a solid novel? They even put two characters together (played by Roberts Blossom), so it didn't even make sense when the boy changes. Still, it has some very powerful scenes.
They Live
Ghosts of Mars
P.S. Dark Star~I was going to add this before but hesitated; then, I realized that other SF films are mentioned, so I'll toss in this very weird film that was my introduction to Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon. It truly isn't horror by any means, so I'll tack it down here as a reminder for those who might not have seen this offbeat movie.
NOTE: "Halloween" (1978) didn't start it all. Slashers go back a lot farther, surfacing from time to time. Most consider "Psycho" (1960) the seminal film. Yet, in England, they had "Peeping Tom" (1960). "Last House on the Left" (1972) is still notorious since, like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974), it looks too real for comfort. Some people argue that "Black Christmas" (1974) is the first slashing stalker movie, predating "Halloween" by quite a bit. It was directed by Bob Clark of "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story" fame, who also directed "Murder by Decree" a Sherlock Holmes & Jack the Ripper film.
I sometimes wonder if those films that covered the crimes of Jack the Ripper actually could be the seeds of the fascination with stalk-and-slash stories. "Hands of the Ripper" (1971) is about the daughter of the serial killer who carries on her father's habits. In closing, here's a link to the Ripper on film:
http://www.horror-wood.com/ripper.htm
Halloween is a classic. not many people realize this but im a scaredy cat and i think michael miyers part 1 is timeless.
The Thing. Awesome flick.
They Live is so funny, great movie too, but it couldn't compete with the atmosphere of The Thing.
I would say Halloween but The Thing is pretty close. It's amazing to know the budget of Halloween and how much it made.
Halloween. the Slasher flick that started it all!!!
Dark Star, his first film. Very funny, very dark
I love to watch Creep Show. I especially like the story with the beast that some guy finds in a crate under the stairs. I used to think it looked scary, but now I just laugh, especially when people keep going under the stairs and it pops out and eats 'em. Yep!!!!