Chum's John Carpenter Film Guide
Submitted by grandpa_chum on Wed, 11/10/2004 - 10:35
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Carpenter's Films Listed Chronologically
- Ghosts of Mars (2001) Human Colonists On Mars
- Vampires(1998) James Woods In The Only Decent Vampire Hunting Movie
- Escape From L.A.(1996) Snake Saves L.A.
- Village Of The Damned(1995) Human Woman Giving Birth To Aliens
- In The Mouth Of Madness(1995) Mind-Controlling Authors
- Memoirs Of An Invisible Man(1992) Chevy Chase As An Invisible Yuppie
- They Live(1988) Aliens Controlling Our Every Move And Living Among Us
- Prince Of Darkness(1987) The Devil In A Bottle
- Big Trouble In Little China(1986) Title Says It All, Mystical Kung Fu Action/Comedy
- Starman(1984) Friendly Alien And Children Vs. The Government
- Christine(1983) Possessed Car
- The Thing(1982) Shape-Shifting Dangerous Alien In The Antartic
- Escape From New York(1981) Snake Tries To Save The President From Hell Hole That Is Future New York
- The Fog(1980) evil pirate ghosts in a veil of ominious fog
- Halloween(1978) Michael Myers
- Assault On Precinct 13(1976) Street Gang Vs. The Cops
- Dark Star(1974) Space Comedy... Sort of
Carpenter's Best
- The Fog(1980) Just great... maybe i'll get around to typing up a review.
Carpenter's Worst
- Escape From L.A.(1996) Escape From New York was pretty good, but not exactly a great movie for a sequel, the good plot was stretched a bit in the original... how could it get enough filler for a second movie... simple... it couldn't. This is a pretty terrible movie and not something i'm sure Carpenter is very proud of... the one positive is that they did actually get a decent cast with a returning Kurt russell.
My Recommendation
- They Live(1988) A great film... not quite as good as The Thing or Big Trouble In Little China but definitly one of my favorites and my most highly recommended. It's chock full of great one-liners and a surprisingly effective performance from none other than rowdy roddy piper. I coulndn't possibly think of better aliens than are in this film... they just look so cool and the ending is hilarious... a funny, political, scary, action-packed, sci-fi movie... what more could you ask for from the best of that combination... John Carpenter.
Other Carpenter Reviews
- The Thing(1982) One of my favorite Horror/Sci-Fi movies, chock full of funny but effective special effects and of course, what great movie could be without, an amazing Morricone score. The thing i really love about this film is the fact that the aliens are existent and potentially very dangerous to the human race, yet they are believable and don't need special effects or costumes to take over 3/4's of the movie... just a little here and there.
- Big Trouble In Little China(1986) Big Trouble In Little China, besides having one of the best titles around, is the best deliberate action movie I've ever seen, and some of the very few "kung fu" stuff I've ever seen(no matter how ridiculous). Aside from being an action movie it's also very funny, some of the kung fu fight scenes are so hilarious i coulnd't keep track of what was going on... maybe that is a bad thing, maybe it isn't... Kurt Russell is amazing as the tough guy in this film. It's basically Kurt Russell playing John Wayne. Great story, even better dialog, and you won't find better action sequences anywhere... and the long "kung fu" fighting scenes are actually watchable, which i can't say for ANY other film I've ever seen. Oh yeah, and i can't help thinking this movie was the inspiration for mortal kombat... if you see the movie you'll know what i mean.
Carpenter's Best Known For...
- B-Movie-Like Action Sequences
- Obscure Horror And Sci-Fi Flicks
- Making Good Movies With Kurt Russell(an oddity)
- Using Western-Like Storylines In Non-Westerns
- Funny But Effective Special Effects
Cloned From:
Halloween none of Carpenter's best?
only saw it once a long long time ago... don't recall enough to even make a comment on it... when i do i'll sure to put it in "other reviews"... unless it can kick out one of the two "best"... i wanna limit the best category to two... so it'll have to do better than those two, which i doubt.
Of your two listed movies, I have seen Big Trouble in Little China. Entertaining, but nothing more.
Halloween is by far Carpenter's best achievement as a director, screenplay writer and composer, at least for me.
I just have one question: Have you seen "The Fog"?
The description doesn't really describe anything in the film, since I don't remember any "lepers, zombies, or killer fog" being in the film. It would be better described as "evil pirate ghosts descend on small village in a veil of ominious fog."
Just wondering.
T'ho
:?)
yeah... i've never seen the fog... i just went by a plot description i got somewhere. I'll change it thanks.
I've Seen it, its really good.
Did you notice how the plot situation of Assault on Precinct 13 is rehashed as an episode in The Ghosts of Mars?
Btw, TGofM contains one of the best put-down lines ever. A male cop is trying it on with a female colleague; she puts him in his place by saying, "Listen, I might sleep with you if you were the last man on earth, but we're not on earth, are we?"
Saw the fog and it is great! definitly the best horror movie i've ever seen.
"The Fog" his best? Really think so?
Hmmm... I thought it was okay, but, like the fog in it, sorta amorphous. I find Carpenter at his best when he's working with a tight concept, constrained locale, and a small network of characters. If I'm recalling it correctly (and it's been a little while), the grid of characters in "The Fog" is kind of spread out and never really mesh -- in terms of set-up, it's probably his most slasher-like movie (with the exception of "Halloween"), establishing minor characters all over the map and having them systematically killed off by the murderer (the fog, in this case). Some good stuff, but I didn't really think it played to Carpenter's major strengths.
At the top of the list, I'd put "The Thing", "Assault on Precinct 13", "Christine", and "They Live", and I also really like "Prince of Darkness".
just to clarify... i have only seen the fog and big trouble in little china in widescreen... and we all know how pan and scan ruins carpenter movies specifically... makes them look like crap... so i guess i can't really genuinely say that the thing or they live isn't his best... because i've only seen them on tv.
Speaking of The Thing, are you familiar with this website?
No I wasn't... interesting stuff... thanks for sharing... anything specific I should be looking at... it's pretty large for one movie.
Yes, the guy's definitely a fan.
You might care to read "Who Goes There?" the very aptly titled short story by John W.Campbell Jr, upon which two movies and a novelization were based. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in August 1938. Alternatively, do read this excellent little review.
John Carpenter movies I have on DVD:
The Thing [the first dvd I ever bought. I had it for nearly a year before I got a player. I had dumbly thought it would play in my PC's CD drive.
Christine
Starman [if you are at all into impact craters, this movie's final scenes take place at The Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. (Click on the first photo and enjoy a panorama of the inside of the crater)]
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Village of the Damned