With love and appreciation I will now attempt to RANK my favorite master works by horror/suspense legend John Carpenter. This may prove to be an enormously difficult exercise as I love almost every film by him but I feel it is necessary to talk in detail about John Carpenter's impressive body of work as a great genre filmmaker.
***Special credit to Adam Ambrosio, my friend and producer, for introducing me to John Carpenter's work in the first place and much of the horror I now truly love***
LETS ROCK AND ROLL!
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#10 FAVORITE: VAMPIRES:
Vampires is the kind of movie you grab a beer and watch with your friends. It is a fun vampire killing romp and it ain't aiming to be anything deeper.
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#9 FAVORITE: THE WARD:
Carpenter's most recent outing as a director is a great return to form. Somewhere in between One flew Over the Cookoo's Nest and In The Mouth of Madness lies The Ward, a sleek psychological thriller that stars some of the most beautiful women put onscreen together in the same shot. The film is almost like a classic haunted house tale but with a modern psychological twist - I love it for that.
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#8 FAVORITE: THEY LIVE
They live is like a video game movie...but done right! It is full of one-liners, great action and a fun plot. This film is too unique to explain so just watch it!
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#7 FAVORITE: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13
The first major work by Carpenter is an homage to John Ford cowboy pictures like Rio Bravo which include a group of cowboys (police) holding a fort (police station) against endless attackers (gang members) while sorting out their personal issues with each other. This film pre-dates Halloween and is the reason why Donald Pleasance ultimately did that film...his daughter loved Assault so much she convinced him that John Carpenter was an important young director to work with!
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#6 FAVORITE: BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA
A lighter side of Carpenter full of Indiana Jones style adventures, magic and more! This action film is a fun ride from beginning to end and includes long time John Carpenter collaborator Kurt Russel in one of his best roles.
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#5 FAVORITE: IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
What do you get when you mix a screenwriter paying homage to the work of H.P. Lovecraft and the passion of a master horror filmmaker like John Carpenter? The answer is simple: A badass horror/thriller with energy love behind it. SAM NEIL knocks this one out of the park.
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#4 FAVORITE: ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
Escape is another film that brings to the forefront John Carpenter's talent to score a film in a meaningful and unique way. There is no doubt that his films have a certain tone/feeling and this is often created by a great score. Exciting, dangerous, sleek, cool - Snake is a badass character and we end the film looking for more.
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#3 FAVORITE: THE THING
While some would argue this is John Carpenter's greatest work, I love others more. I do think this film is an incredible achievement and I could agree it is actually John Carpenter's most contained and exciting film ever - dealing more with the paranoia and fear of a terror "inside the tribe."
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#2 FAVORITE: THE FOG
Atmosphere and classic horror feeling solidify The Fog as one of my favorites. It was outranked by Halloween on the list with great difficulty and deliberation because there is an undeniable charisma to those characters and that story that is too hard to call anything other than John Carpenter's PERFECT film. The Fog is not perfect - feeling a bit slow or (even corny) in places, some characters do not stick as well as others and so on. Curtis and Pleasance are incredible and the film makes you feel like you are in this place with these people and that is why I absolutely love it.
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#1 FAVORITE: HALLOWEEN
Palpable suspense, likable characters and great directing come together to forge one of the best known and loved works of horror filmmaking EVER CRAFTED. John Carpenter's Halloween is a simple film that is both terrifying and fun to watch - two necessary parts of great horror films!
