John Carpenter

[42ndstreetfreak]

I used to drool over Carpenter films..loved every single damn one of them...Then he stupidly killed off the heroes in "They Live" (that in no way went with the rest of the film and almost sank the good stuff that had gone before) and made the piss awful shit heap of a film "Prince of Darkness".

"Prince" is a film i hate with a vengence and to me is the very worst example of just how moronic the horror genre can be.
The Devil comes back via a woman with strawberry jam on her face, a gloopy liquid, Alice Cooper (*GAG*..WHY??) and 5 bums, an empty house and an awful, bad joke spouting Chinese guy who has to be one of the most hateful and annoying characters ever created! WOW! What an apocalypse!
When Carpenter had that fucking moron stuck in a cupboard shooting out inane one-liners as Ms Strawberry Face gurgled a bit I knew he had lost it...he was either VERY clever and knew that horror audiences had dropped many IQ levels and so needed crass jokes in a supposed serious horror film, or he knew the whole thing was so shit that there wa no way it would play straight so wrote some gags instead. Just awful!!

And he's never made a good film since...about 16/17 years of dross ("Escape from L.A"?? Oh indeed how the mighty have fallen), below average efforts ("Village of the Damned") and huge wastes of potential like "Vampires"...
The guy should have retired about 15 years ago and gone out with one of the finest batches of works a Director could have...and not subjected his legacy to suffocate under the sad heap of rubbish he's piled on top ever since.

[Bartwald]

42ndStreetFreak said:

The guy should have retired about 15 years ago and gone out with one of the finest batches of works a Director could have...and not subjected his legacy to suffocate under the sad heap of rubbish he's piled on top ever since.

Yeah, I know many people would like Carpenter to disappear in the blaze of glory after he made his last classic movie. But can you imagine how painfu it would probably be? Not knowing he'll be stuck at the Vampires level of moviemaking, we'd probably wonder why the hell did he disappear instead of giving us another thrill-packed movie. Really, I think it'd be damn tough!

[RIP]

JC is still my fave and I hope that he contimues to make films as love as he lives. ;D

[TomParrish]

John Carpenter is my favorite director, so there aren't many of his movies that I dont like.

Halloween
The Thing
Big Trouble in Little China
The Fog
Prince of Darkness


Those are my top likes of his.

[RIP]

42ndStreetFreak said:

I used to drool over Carpenter films..loved every single damn one of them...Then he stupidly killed off the heroes in "They Live" (that in no way went with the rest of the film and almost sank the good stuff that had gone before) and made the piss awful shit heap of a film "Prince of Darkness".

"Prince" is a film i hate with a vengence and to me is the very worst example of just how moronic the horror genre can be.

Well to each his own. I happen to like Prince of Darkness alot. It's not Carpenters best but it was helluva lot better than They Live and some of his other work. I also loved Vampires and Ghosts of Mars(which was kinda a remake of Assualt on Precinct 13).

[Heineken Skywalker]

From IMDB:

Debra Hill, who produced the 1979 film Halloween and co-wrote it with director John Carpenter, has died at the age of 54. She was also involved in producing and writing the sequels to the movie and formed an independent production company with Lynda Obst that made Adventures in Babysitting, Heartbreak Hotel, and The Fisher King. Other films that she produced included The Dead Zone, Head Office, Clue, and Gross Anatomy. The cause of her death was not disclosed.

[Quorthon]

John Carpenter rules.

The Thing is my favorite.

[Phoenix]

Quorthon said:

John Carpenter rules.

The Thing is my favorite.

oooooo! me too!

[DrLenera]

I also think The Thing is his masterpiece, incredibly tense and with effects that still look amazing. But I've enjoyed all his films, even the weaker ones [i.e. Ghosts Of Mars, Prince of Darkness]. They're all entertaining, even if Carpenter seems to have forgotten how to be scary these days. One thing-his DVD commenaries are good value,even if he sometimes forgets that he is supposed to be commentating on a film!

[edlefsen]

He's one of my favorites too. A quick search on imdb.com reveals "Halloween 9 (2005) (in production)". Wow! I wonder if Jamie Lee will be in it? Too bad Donald Pleasence isn't around anymore to continue the crusade against the demon Michael Meyers. Anyway I own "The Thing", and both "Escape" movies. I like "Escape From L.A." because, well, I live in the area, but yes it's not as good as "Escape From New York". I remember seeing "The Thing" in '82, at the Hawthorne Mall. I had to scrunch down in my seat with my hands over my face. People were screaming. Scared me s#!tless.

[Bartwald]

Heineken said:

From IMDB:
Debra Hill, who produced the 1979 film Halloween and co-wrote it with director John Carpenter, has died at the age of 54. She was also involved in producing and writing the sequels to the movie and formed an independent production company with Lynda Obst that made Adventures in Babysitting, Heartbreak Hotel, and The Fisher King. Other films that she produced included The Dead Zone, Head Office, Clue, and Gross Anatomy. The cause of her death was not disclosed.

As I had no internet access for the last several days this is news to me - and what sad and surprising news, for that matter!

[Quorthon]

Oh, that does suck. At least we still have good old skeletal John Carpenter...