Best of the Best Part 2: John Carpenter

Athena

Athena

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Black Thorn
John Carpenter.

He's been in the movie industry for over four decades and has experience in directing, producing, screenwriting and composing. His Halloween theme is a pop culture classic.

But, what's the best movie he ever made? You can choose from:

Captain Voyeur (1969)
Dark Star (1974)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Halloween (1978)
Someone's Watching Me! (1978)
Elvis (1979)
The Fog (1980)
Escape from New York (1981)
The Thing (1982)
Christine (1983)
Starman (1984)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
They Live (1988)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Body Bags (1993)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Village of the Damned (1995)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Vampires (1998)
Ghosts of Mars (2001)
The Ward (2010)

For me, it has to be The Thing, but I do have a massive soft spot for Big Trouble in Little China. 😉

(Thanks for the suggestion @GwenRaiden )
 
The Thing is one of my favourite movies, so I go with that. I honestly did not know he made Christine, but to be fair I haven't seen it in a long time.
 
I've only seen 2½ movies on that list. I count Halloween as half cause I wasn't paying attention. So I'm going with Big Trouble in Little China. That was a fun movie, and I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
 
Halloween without a doubt, Michael Myers is my all time favourite film serial killer (I understand how wrong that sounds)! I love the whole franchise, although the third is the weakest.

The Fog would be my second favourite from that list, it is really spooky.
 
Lot of great movies. Haven't seen all of them though.
Halloween and The Thing are two favorites. I have also always had a soft spot for Escape from New York.

But in the end I think I must pick Big Trouble in Little China as my favorite.
I love that movie.

/SK
 
Captain Voyeur, Dark Star and The Ward are the only ones I have not seen. Regrettably I have seen Ghost of Mars.
 
"Assault On Precinct 13" has always been one of my favorite "little" movies. There's just something about the character of Napoleon Wilson that has always intrigued me, and I always wished that we had known more about him. (Maybe we do, but we know him as Snake Pliskin) and the scene with Wilson and fellow criminal, Wells, counting potatoes to see who goes for help will always remain with me.

I loved "Escape From New York," "Big Trouble In Little China," "Starman," "Vampires," and all the rest (I preferred the original "Thing" with James Arness as the monster. That was another of those great "little" movies) but they just weren't the same.
 
white avenger said:
"Assault On Precinct 13" has always been one of my favorite "little" movies. There's just something about the character of Napoleon Wilson that has always intrigued me, and I always wished that we had known more about him. (Maybe we do, but we know him as Snake Pliskin) and the scene with Wilson and fellow criminal, Wells, counting potatoes to see who goes for help will always remain with me.

I loved "Escape From New York," "Big Trouble In Little China," "Starman," "Vampires," and all the rest (I preferred the original "Thing" with James Arness as the monster. That was another of those great "little" movies) but they just weren't the same.
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So much of Carpenter's other movies were established in Assault; from characters- as you mentioned, to iconic scenes & tense moments and dialogue. Assault was the proving ground for the majority of his films which came after. You can see it's influence in everything from Halloween to Escape from LA. (I cant remember Ghosts of Mars well enough)
 
Mr Trick
Mr Trick
Well sorry if I was assuming things, but considering you have seen all but three of his films it seemed a fair assumption. Maybe sometimes you should just say sorry.
Mr. Pole said:
Captain Voyeur, Dark Star and The Ward are the only ones I have not seen. Regrettably I have seen Ghost of Mars.
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The Ward is better than you might expect. It is by the numbers horror, but there are signs of the old master in there. Dark Star is great.

Its a toss up between AOP13 and Halloween for me. Escape from New York is up there too.
 
white avenger said:
"Assault On Precinct 13" has always been one of my favorite "little" movies. There's just something about the character of Napoleon Wilson that has always intrigued me, and I always wished that we had known more about him. (Maybe we do, but we know him as Snake Pliskin) and the scene with Wilson and fellow criminal, Wells, counting potatoes to see who goes for help will always remain with me.

I loved "Escape From New York," "Big Trouble In Little China," "Starman," "Vampires," and all the rest (I preferred the original "Thing" with James Arness as the monster. That was another of those great "little" movies) but they just weren't the same.
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Have you've seen the remake? Its not bad actually.
 
Mr Trick said:
The Ward is better than you might expect.
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Co0l. Remind me why I would care.
 
I've no desire to see it and I am not a Carpenter fan. I don't much care about Carpenter at all, it's just you assuming things about me again.
 
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Mr Trick
Mr Trick
I really don't get the question. You're clearly a Carpenter fan so I assume you would watch it.
Mr. Pole said:
Co0l. Remind me why I would care.
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He was just making a suggestion after you said you hadn't seen the movie. If you don't care, that's fine, but that remark came across a little rude....
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
I have rectified that problem
Mr Trick said:
Have you've seen the (Assault On Precinct 13) remake? Its not bad actua
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The remake was good, certainly. All of Carpenter's pictures have been good. The remake just didn't have the "little picture" charm for me that the original did. It's sort of like the first "Night Of The Living Dead" (not the remake) movie will always be the best. It was the original, and everything else was just derivative. The same with Carpenter's "Halloween." He introduced a virtually unstoppable human monster that was, at the time, original and unique. The sequels, as wall as the Freddy Kruger, Friday the 13th, and all of the others that followed, might have had bigger budgets, but they were all just copies of what was basically a simple idea. Making it bigger, bloodier, with more special effects and bigger name actors doesn't make it better
 
white avenger said:
The remake was good, certainly. All of Carpenter's pictures have been good. The remake just didn't have the "little picture" charm for me that the original did. It's sort of like the first "Night Of The Living Dead" (not the remake) movie will always be the best. It was the original, and everything else was just derivative. The same with Carpenter's "Halloween." He introduced a virtually unstoppable human monster that was, at the time, original and unique. The sequels, as wall as the Freddy Kruger, Friday the 13th, and all of the others that followed, might have had bigger budgets, but they were all just copies of what was basically a simple idea. Making it bigger, bloodier, with more special effects and bigger name actors doesn't make it better
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Completely agree. And Halloween was an important film too in setting the slasher blueprint. The second one was pretty good too.
 
I can't remember if it was a remake of The Fog I saw, maybe it was the original I don't know. But I do remember it as being badly made, the continuation in some scenes wasn't very clever. They even had a Ford pick up drive on a road then it was shown the tyre marks it made in the mud but the tyres had a different tread. Now I class John Carpenters films in the same category as Stephen King, in the 'avoid if at all possible'. I do find them hard to understand and poorly made and thereby they are of no interest to me.
 
Mr Trick
Mr Trick
Not at all. But John Carpenter has made 20 plus films and if you have only seen one then I think its fair to say that you can't judge him based on that.
ILLYRIAN said:
I can't remember if it was a remake of The Fog I saw, maybe it was the original I don't know. But I do remember it as being badly made, the continuation in some scenes wasn't very clever. They even had a Ford pick up drive on a road then it was shown the tyre marks it made in the mud but the tyres had a different tread. Now I class John Carpenters films in the same category as Stephen King, in the 'avoid if at all possible'. I do find them hard to understand and poorly made and thereby they are of no interest to me.
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Well considering you can't even remember if it was Carpenter's version you saw I don't think that is enough to dismiss his films. You should check out more.
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
So you have decided I'm not allowed to have my own opinion are you?
Wow, that's a lot of movies I haven't watched and some that I hardly remember anything of. I want to say Big trouble in little China but I honestly can't remember one scene from it so I'll pass on this one.
 
GwenRaiden said:
Have you not seen Halloween? I thought everyone had seen that movie!/QUOTE]
I have. It's included in the "some that I hardly remember anything of". It's not my kind of movie so it hasn't stayed in memory.
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GwenRaiden
GwenRaiden
Have you not seen Halloween? I thought everyone had seen that movie!
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