John Carpenter whatcha think

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Well I think it's noticable enough that his filmography has drop down from once beinging a soild filmography with 1 or 2 fun good films with the rest beinging great. now has some barely passible flick in it. Vampires (1998),Escape from L.A. (1996), Body Bags (1993)(TV). This transition, I think started with They Live (1988) just before the 90's and really made his filmography filter with GREAT, OKAY and BAD-to-UGLY films. The 2 90's films that need to be mentioned that are above the 3 above are In the Mouth of Madness (1995) & Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992). while Memoirs ain't the greatest and it ain't no The Invisible Man, the comdic side works and the effects held the movie together.

His 3 Materpieces IMO in no particular are Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Thing, The (1982) & Halloween (1978)

Films very close to beinging masterpieces are Escape from New York (1981), Starman (1984) & Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Plus these 3 are highly enjoyable as well Prince of Darkness (1987), Christine (1983), Fog, The (1980)



1. The Thing, A+
2. Starman, A-
3. Big Trouble in Little China, B+
4. Halloween, B
5. They Live!, B-
6. Dark Star, C+
7. Assault on Precinct 13, C+
8. Escape from New York, C+
9. The Fog, C-
10. Christine, C-
11. In the Mouth of Madness, C-
12. "Elvis", C-
13. Prince of Darkness, C-
14. Memoris of an Invisible Man, C-
15. Vampire$, D+
16. Village of the Damned, D-
17. Escape from L.A., F


I think he showed lots of potential early on, but after hitting high-points with Starman, Big Trouble in Little China and most especially of course The Thing, he degenrated into strictly crud that never manages to rise above the genre anymore. Even as pure genre efforts, they're incredibly boring and lame to me. But at least he made a handful of really good movies. The rest I'd discard.
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I'm not really with you on They Live I don't consider it to be that good. As for In the Mouth of Madness what didn't you like about it.

And whats the $ at the end of Vampire$ doing there ?

were pretty close with the rest I would give Prince of Darkness, The Fog & Memoris of an Invisible Man C instead thou and Escape From L.A. would be a C- for the all out fun I had and Carpenter/Russell were having with the character and situations. I dug the Bruce Campbell Cameo as well.



I'm pretty sure the novel was called Vampire$, and that it was also the working title that made it into early advertising. I just like it, much more than the movie itself, which was ho-hum dullsville like most of his post-Big Trouble in Little China stuff.

I found In the Mouth of Madness to be boring, redundant, predictible and ninety minutes of my life I'll never get back. Compared to a real masterpiece like Jacob's Ladder, it's not even worth mentioning.

And They Live! is one of the few latter Carpenter flicks I actually just find fun, punctuated by some clever writing. It's so much fun that it doesn't even matter to me that Rowdy Roddy Piper couldn't act his way out of a paper bag if his life depended on it. "I have come here to kick @ss and chew bubblegum...and I'm all out of bubblegum." Come on, it's so self-conciously over-the-top and campy, and it has so much fun skewering the late-'80s action hero genre that was fast becoming so cliche ridden, what's not to like? Those one-liners are so intentionally bad they're genius. And the ridiculously long fist fight in the alley makes me giggle just thinking about it. The Reagan-era satire of consumerism, while about as subtle as a wet fart in church, is also just so over-the-top that I find it very amusing. Gah-damn, it's not a good movie, but it's a good time.

Can't say I feel the same way about any of his other movies after Big Trouble in Little China. Oh, well. Still haven't bothered to see Ghosts of Mars. I'm waiting for cable TV on that one, I won't even rent the frippin' thing. And sadly, that's how I feel about Carpenter's work these days.



Originally posted by Holden Pike

Still haven't bothered to see Ghosts of Mars. I'm waiting for cable TV on that one, I won't even rent the frippin' thing. And sadly, that's how I feel about Carpenter's work these days.
Sad but true Holden, sad but true.



Originally posted by Holden Pike
[b]I'm pretty sure the novel was called Vampire$, and that it was also the working title that made it into early advertising. I just like it, much more than the movie itself, which was ho-hum dullsville like most of his post-Big Trouble in Little China stuff.
Yup--the book was really great, an interesting take on vampire hunting for profit, and I was disappointed beyond all belief in the film. They just butchered the story all to hell. I ranted about that movie to anyone who would listen for over a month, about the story, the casting, etc. I love Carpenter despite his many misfires, but Vampires has to be one of the worst film interpretations of a novel I've ever seen, and I've seen an awful lot of them.

And the book is titled Vampire$, and it's by John Steakley.
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Originally posted by Mary Loquacious



And the book is titled Vampire$, and it's by John Steakley.
How appropriate.



I thought so, too.



I'm not old, you're just 12.
I actually thought Ghosts of Mars was kinda fun..in a totally cheesy, midnight movie way. That actually describes all of his films tho', which is why I like most of them. Any attempts to be mainstream, and Carpenter loses me completely. I can't watch Starman at all...The man is a brilliant B movie director, and nobody does that anymore.
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I`m a massive Carpenter fan, but it does sadden me to say that the man`s movies are slipping Big time.
Ghosts of Mars is absolute tosh and easily the worst film I`ve rented this year-You would get better delivery out of a mannequin that Brit Jason Statham. And evrybody else is Ghosting on Auto-Pilot too.

The Thing, Halloween, Escape From New York, They Live, The Fog, Big Trouble in Little China ,I love them all.

I really hope he can find the right project that`ll bring him back to those heights one day.
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I've got a splitting headache
Yeah, Holden, don't even bother to watch 'Ghosts of Mars', unless it's on a local television channel. Hell, it was even worse than 'Vampires'! I'm a big fan of John Carpenter also, however, I agree he is really starting to slip. My grades of movies by Carpenter is nearly identical to Holden Pikes.

lol, I didn't realize how old some of these posts were!



A novel adaptation.
I'm not a big fan of his movies. But I dont think anyone should form an opinion about him without first listening to the band, The Coupe De Villes . Carpenter formed the band to make the theme song for Big Trouble in Little China, and they came out with an album titled "Trouble in Precinct 13", or something like that, I'm not sure. It's all pretty funny.



Love Carpenter. The Thing is on my favourite movies list. Dark Star, Big Trouble in Little China and Assault on Precinct 13 are classics!
But don't try to sell Ghosts of Mars to me as even watchable. I've seen it twice - the second time only because I thought I must have been wrong about how bad it was. I wasn't.
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He's an absolutely remarkable technical filmmaker, but his films too often suffer from bad writing.



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I'm not much of a fan of Halloween or Big Trouble In Little China, but I love Thing and both Escape movies, and I must be one of the very few who really likes Memoirs Of An Invisible Man.
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Great Director...

The Thing is by far and away his best work... Starman second.

Most fun is Big Trouble In Little China.

Love The Fog as well.

I could never get into the Escape films or Halloween though. Watchable, just not a fan.

I can't believe the guy is only 66... he looks 90...



Well I think it's noticable enough that his filmography has drop down from once beinging a soild filmography with 1 or 2 fun good films with the rest beinging great. now has some barely passible flick in it. Vampires (1998),Escape from L.A. (1996), Body Bags (1993)(TV). This transition, I think started with They Live (1988) just before the 90's and really made his filmography filter with GREAT, OKAY and BAD-to-UGLY films. The 2 90's films that need to be mentioned that are above the 3 above are In the Mouth of Madness (1995) & Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992). while Memoirs ain't the greatest and it ain't no The Invisible Man, the comdic side works and the effects held the movie together.

His 3 Materpieces IMO in no particular are Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Thing, The (1982) & Halloween (1978)

Films very close to beinging masterpieces are Escape from New York (1981), Starman (1984) & Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Plus these 3 are highly enjoyable as well Prince of Darkness (1987), Christine (1983), Fog, The (1980)
His favourite Kurt Russell film is Captain Ron – what's not to like?

I like Carpenter a lot, particularly his films with Russell, and The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China are my favourites.



John Carpenter is the horror master and horror is my favorite genre. He's a Top 5 director for me and I love every movie I've seen from him.

His Best work is Halloween in my opinion and the guy deserved an oscar for it.
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