Jan 2018
Who?
Oh yeah, the guy that made the Elvis TV movie. Yeah, that guy.
Talk about this dude here, if you're so inclined. He's a fuckin' legend, ya know?
Been revisiting his films lately, which was the inspiration to make this thread. Started with Halloween a couple weeks ago, then Assault on Precinct 13, and Escape from New York the other night. These movies are like old friends and never fail to let you down. It makes me sad to think that next generation's kids (probably even this generation?) will find these movies too slow. They're perfect. I think these three particular movies are the peak of Carpenter's mastery, with The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China right up there as well.
Upon rewatching Assault on Precinct 13, it occured to me how similar certain shots (and lighting) in the film seemed to have been recreated by Dan O'Bannon in Return of the Living Dead. I know that Carpenter and O'Bannon worked together early in their careers, so I'm leaning toward it not being a coincidence.
And of course, no Carpenter thread could exist without mentioning the man's exceptional musical compositions. Eerie, subtle electronic scores that really set the mood. You know it when you hear a John Carpeneter theme, or at least, someone who was influenced by the man. I can't imagine his movies without it.
Oh yeah, the guy that made the Elvis TV movie. Yeah, that guy.
Talk about this dude here, if you're so inclined. He's a fuckin' legend, ya know?
Been revisiting his films lately, which was the inspiration to make this thread. Started with Halloween a couple weeks ago, then Assault on Precinct 13, and Escape from New York the other night. These movies are like old friends and never fail to let you down. It makes me sad to think that next generation's kids (probably even this generation?) will find these movies too slow. They're perfect. I think these three particular movies are the peak of Carpenter's mastery, with The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China right up there as well.
Upon rewatching Assault on Precinct 13, it occured to me how similar certain shots (and lighting) in the film seemed to have been recreated by Dan O'Bannon in Return of the Living Dead. I know that Carpenter and O'Bannon worked together early in their careers, so I'm leaning toward it not being a coincidence.
And of course, no Carpenter thread could exist without mentioning the man's exceptional musical compositions. Eerie, subtle electronic scores that really set the mood. You know it when you hear a John Carpeneter theme, or at least, someone who was influenced by the man. I can't imagine his movies without it.
His movies had a distinct tone and feel to them, because of his synthy soundtracks, and awesome cinematography. I say "was", because he hasn't made a good movie since the 90s. The 80s was his heyday, but he'd been working steadily since the mid-70s. His first most notable movie is Dark Star, and it's not a bad start at all. A highly amusing, and surprisingly eerie/hilarious space movie. Then, he took a serious turn and assaulted precinct 13. Everything from then on is gold.
One thing that helped make these movies great were his collaborators. It was a great team, with Dean Cundey on cinematography, JC and Alan Howarth on music, and the use of several of his regular actors, like Charles Cyphers, Donald Pleasence, Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Peter Jason, Tom Atkins, Keith David, Dick Warlock, and George Buck Flower, among others. He had a good formula, and gave us a lot of classics.
Top 5 JC Movies:
Halloween
Big Trouble in Little China
Escape from New York
The Thing
They Live
It's safe to say that Kurt Russell and John Carpenter are an epic team. Too bad they haven't worked together on anything in ages. I'm sure Kurt could still do Snake Plissken.