BIOGRAPHY (from Wikipedia)

John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, musician, editor and composer. Although Carpenter has worked with various film genres, he is associated most commonly with horror, action and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s.

Most films of Carpenter’s career were initially commercial and critical failures, with the notable exceptions of Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York and Starman. However, many of Carpenter’s films from the 1970s and the 1980s have come to be considered as cult classics, and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker.

Carpenter is also notable for having composed or co-composed most of his films’ music; some of them are now well-known, with the main theme of Halloween being considered a part of popular culture. He won a Saturn Award for Best Music for the film Vampires. Carpenter has released three studio albums, titled Lost Themes (2015), Lost Themes II (2016), and Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998 (2017).

DIRECTOGRAPHY

1974 – Dark Star
1976 – Assault on Precinct 13
1978 – Halloween
1978 – Someone’s Watching Me! (TV Movie)
1979 – Elvis (TV Movie)
1980 – The Fog
1981 – Escape from New York
1982 – The Thing
1983 – Christine
1984 – Starman
1986 – Big Trouble in Little China
1987 – Prince of Darkness
1988 – They Live
1992 – Memoirs of an Invisible Man
1993 – Body Bags (TV Anthology Movie)
1995 – In the Mouth of Madness
1995 – Village of the Damned
1996 – Escape from L.A.
1998 – Vampires
2001 – Ghosts of Mars
2010 – The Ward

Reviews

Poster	Movie	Year	Comments	Rating	Reviewer
	Assault on Precinct 13	1976	A great 70's crime thriller, with suspense, good acting, and a great finish all adds up to a classic old school 'them or us' movie.	8	Simon
	Halloween	1978	The original template for dozens of mediocre slasher films that followed. Carpenter's film is a masterpiece in the art of building up suspense and 'less is more' horror, with not a scene wasted, and perfectly accompanied by his chilling score.	10	Mat
	The Fog	1980	The whole film is spelled out in the opening scene killing any excitement or intrigue. The excellent score deserved a better film.	5	Gordon
	Escape From New York	1981	The pacing is uneven, but at its best this is a great action movie with a smart story and interesting characters, while Snake Plissken has endured as one of cinema's coolest anti-heroes.	8	Mat
	Escape From New York	1981	An abundance of camp and cheese does not necessarily make a bad film (just ask Flash Gordon). But add in gratuitous overacting and a plot that isn't as good as its concept and you have a 'classic' only for the Cult of Carpenter.	5	Gordon
	The Thing	1982	It will always be remembered for the amazing gross-out effects, but beyond that is a clever, claustrophobic thriller that still has you wondering who is human or not even after repeated viewings.	9	Mat
	Starman	1984	A real anomaly in John Carpenter's 80s output, and it's clear he had minimal creative input. The film is humorous and touching despite being a bit soppy at times, thanks to a superbly nuanced performance from Jeff Bridges in the lead role.	6	Mat
	Big Trouble in Little China	1986	One of John Carpenter's more commercial offerings, and as a result the subtlety and suspense of his earlier films is replaced by overblown action, dodgy special effects and a large helping of 80's cheese. Enjoyable, but not one of his best.	6	Mat
	They Live	1988	Smart and funny political-Sci Fi-satire with a brilliant turn by Roddy Piper and THAT fight scene.	8	Gordon
	In the Mouth of Madness	1994	Some of the acting is terrible and the effects have aged badly, but this is still one of the better offerings from John Carpenter's post-80s output, with an story that is as interesting as it is crazy.	6	Mat
	Escape from L.A.	1996	Few directors get the chance to remake their own films, and most of us probably wish John Carpenter hadn't bothered, as this rehash of Escape From New York offers nothing new and features some pretty awful special effects.	5	Mat
	Ghosts of Mars	2001	An admittedly limited B-list cast manages to deliver sub-standard performances across the board in a thinly-disguised rehash of Assault on Precinct 13 that had 280 times the budget but none of the class of the original.	3	Mat
	The Ward	2010	Convincing John Carpenter to direct this film probably helped with its marketing, but even he couldn’t stop this mediocre psychological horror being instantly forgettable.	5	Mat

The Verdict

DIRECTORS LEAGUE

This page will be updated as we watch more John Carpenter films and therefore his overall rating will change over time. You can see where John sits in the Directors League here.