Kevin's Watch

Just a fanboy appreciation thread for this terribly underappreciated director. The guy just doesn't get the respect he deserves. Sure, you can argue that his films from the last decade weren't up to snuff with the rest of his stuff, but the guy's got a resume that's hard to beat.

-Halloween. For me, the scariest horror film ever made. This film basically created the teenage slasher film, and no one has done it better since.

-Escape From New York. Two words: Snake Plissken. Brilliant mix of dark humor, action, and social commentary. Copycats abounded.

-The Thing. Along with Alien and Aliens, the best sci-fi/horror film ever made. The effects of that film still stand up today as does the story.

-Starman. Whoa, Carpenter creates one of the best date movies ever, and Jeff Bridges receives an Oscar nomination.

-Big Trouble in Little China. Quite possibly the best film of the '80s as well as the most misunderstood. Satire and Kung-Fu, what else do you need?

-In the Mouth of Madness. A film I hated when I first saw it. Now that I get it, I love it.

-Escape from L.A. A film no one got. Great addition to the Snake Plissken legacy, and a brilliant skewering of '90s America.

The guy 's made some clunkers (Ghosts of Mars), but even with them, Carpenter's style is still worth watching.

I too love Carpenter's work, but I cannot (in any objective way) call him a 'great' director. In the same way I love Zoolander, but cannot call is a great film
My biggest problem with Carpenter is when he is involved in the script, it always peeters out near the end. The second half of many of his movies are crap. Cases in point: Mouth of Madness, Prince of Darkness, Ghosts of Mars... They all start off with a great premise but never deliver.

Escape from New York is a classic, true. But with a recent viewing I realized how dated it is. It is actually quite boring. If it was not for Kurt Russell's performance it would be unwatchable (well, Barbeau's breasts deserve a little attention... ).

Prince of Darkenss... I love the set up for this movie. Probably one of the best ever. The it dies and becomes a standard zombie-type flick


Ok, enough nit-piking... The good ones of his are:
Big Trouble in Little China. Long before Tarentino did Kill Bill, this movie sent up many genres, not the least of which is the matial arts/fantasy cinema of Japan and Hong Kong. Kurt again doing a Plissken/Clusseau role. HIlarious fun.

The Thing is actually better than the original for its FX (yah), but really for its sense of clausterphobia and paranoia. Russell again doing a great job.

But the real gem is Starman. This is a fantastic script, first (which Carpenter did not write <whew>) Jeff Bridges is AMAZING in this role and Karen Allen does a great job with him. This is touching stuff with a delicate director's touch. Nice. A near perfect movie.

OK, there is my

That's a common complaint I've heard about his films; that they don't end well. I think the issue is that audiences have been conditioned to expect that everything is wrapped up nice and neatly at the end of a film, and they're disappointed when that doesn't happen.

The ending of The Thing is extremely open-ended, but seriously, how else could it have ended? Any other way, and it would have been a standard action movie with excellent effects.

Likewise with ItMoM, I don't see any other way that the film could've ended. It took me 10 years to get to that point, but I absolutely love this film now, and the ending is a big part of that.

The Thing is one of the best horror/gore flicks ever. it does a great job of intelligently isolating it's characters, as does "Prince of Darkness" and "The FOG" (the Fog! What a great one)

Rather than the convenient trip to Crystal Lake...Carpenter's films have valid reasons why the put-upon characters are where they are and have characters, like Plisskin who are interseting in and of themselves.

I think the issue is that audiences have been conditioned to expect that everything is wrapped up nice and neatly at the end of a film, and they're disappointed when that doesn't happen.

That's not the issue for me. (heck I read SRD don't I? ) I'm not looking for a 'happy' ending, or even one that is neatly wrapped up... but I don't think the ones I mentioned carries well. The Thing is a good example of a well-ended movie. I agree. That was fantastic!
As for the questoins, "How could 'X' movie have ended differently?" ... I don't have an answer to that. I just think, ESPECIALLY in the case of Prince of Darkness, that the endings were a sort of "cop-out". He built up such a great beginning, I just really expected more from the conclusion, not re-used stuff....

I'll grant that I haven't seen Prince of Darkness in at least a decade, but I remember that ending pretty well.

I think it's just Carpenter's style to leave open endings. 25+ years later and people are still arguing about who the monster was at the end of The Thing. I think that's a good thing, and I think any other ending would have been a cop-out.

Cail wrote:I'll grant that I haven't seen Prince of Darkness in at least a decade, but I remember that ending pretty well.

I think it's just Carpenter's style to leave open endings. 25+ years later and people are still arguing about who the monster was at the end of The Thing. I think that's a good thing, and I think any other ending would have been a cop-out.

Cail...Did you ever see the Dark Horse Comics Series "Thing From Another World" that answered that very question?

As a rule, I don't read comics, and regardless, Carpenter ended his movie the way he did specifically not to answer the question.

I'm not entiely sureabout this, but I think Carpenter gave his blessing and input on the story. But as for the movie itself...I loved the ending...I loved EVERYTHING about that movie.

My favorite moment? when the fat dude

Spoiler

was revealed to be a thing after the heart attack, when his whole chest became a mouth of razor filled teeth....then his head removed itslef and became a spider...

I was giggling and squealing like a baby (I was 13 or 14 at the time).

That may be, but in his commentary on the DVD he (and Kurt Russell) is (are) quite clear that the ambiguity of the ending was exactly the point.

Cail wrote:That may be, but in his commentary on the DVD he (and Kurt Russell) is (are) quite clear that the ambiguity of the ending was exactly the point.

What was your favorite Thing moment?

I think the whole film's a masterpiece. I love the ending with Mac and Childs passing the bottle back and forth, and Mac says, "Why don't we just wait here for a little while... see what happens?"

my favourite moments are the moments of uncertainty. "Hey, who was that running through the snow?" "OK, everyone's tied up now, let's see whose blood reacts to fire..." "What sent the Russians off the deep end? Hmmm, let's go check out their place..."

The gory moments are classic because there had not been anything done like that up to that point. Great, violent images wich had a lasting effect.


To get to my earlier point about what bothers me about some of his movies... it is not about ambiguity ... in fact that is what is so good about them... "Is that really Satan in that green thing?" "What the heck does all this code mean?" ... i don't need an answer, but I do require a continuation of the mood, mystery and 'feel' of a movie. PoD and ItMoM didn't satisfy me.

Usivius wrote:
my favourite moments are the moments of uncertainty. "Hey, who was that running through the snow?" "OK, everyone's tied up now, let's see whose blood reacts to fire..." "What sent the Russians off the deep end? Hmmm, let's go check out their place..."

The gory moments are classic because there had not been anything done like that up to that point. Great, violent images wich had a lasting effect.


To get to my earlier point about what bothers me about some of his movies... it is not about ambiguity ... in fact that is what is so good about them... "Is that really Satan in that green thing?" "What the heck does all this code mean?" ... i don't need an answer, but I do require a continuation of the mood, mystery and 'feel' of a movie. PoD and ItMoM didn't satisfy me.

Yeah the PoD was not very satisfying in the end...the whole "transmission from the brotherhood of sleep" was a great mood setter.... the zombie kill-fest not quite so satisfying.

the whole "transmission from the brotherhood of sleep" was a great mood setter

exactly! That was great! I was hooked with that!

Cool interview.

Apparently they're remaking In the Mouth of Madness now.

Cail wrote:Just a fanboy appreciation thread for this terribly underappreciated director. The guy just doesn't get the respect he deserves. Sure, you can argue that his films from the last decade weren't up to snuff with the rest of his stuff, but the guy's got a resume that's hard to beat.

-Halloween. For me, the scariest horror film ever made. This film basically created the teenage slasher film, and no one has done it better since.

-Escape From New York. Two words: Snake Plissken. Brilliant mix of dark humor, action, and social commentary. Copycats abounded.

-The Thing. Along with Alien and Aliens, the best sci-fi/horror film ever made. The effects of that film still stand up today as does the story.

-Starman. Whoa, Carpenter creates one of the best date movies ever, and Jeff Bridges receives an Oscar nomination.

-Big Trouble in Little China. Quite possibly the best film of the '80s as well as the most misunderstood. Satire and Kung-Fu, what else do you need?

-In the Mouth of Madness. A film I hated when I first saw it. Now that I get it, I love it.

-Escape from L.A. A film no one got. Great addition to the Snake Plissken legacy, and a brilliant skewering of '90s America.

The guy 's made some clunkers (Ghosts of Mars), but even with them, Carpenter's style is still worth watching.

This post is pure gold.

My all time favorite John Carpenter directed film is Darkstar. It wouldn't have been as funny with an actual budget. He did a great job with what he had to work with.

After that The Thing, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Starman and...They Live. Yep. They Live really sucks on so many levels but the 15 minute street fight scene is priceless.

Dang, aTOMic beat me to it, was about to mention They Live and Dark Star. Love In the Mouth of Madness, The Thing and Starman. PofD had some cool moments but lost track of it's premise...Ghosts of Mars really sucked.

Oh yeah, thank God Dark Star didn't have a budget.