John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
,
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
,
producerA film producer or movie producer is someone who creates the scenes and conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors...
,
editorFilm editing is part of the post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selecting and joining together shots, connecting the resulting sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
,
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
, and occasional
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres, his name is most commonly associated with
horrorHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
and
science fictionScience fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that aren't necessarily accepted by mainstream science. such as extra-terrestrial life forms, alien worlds, and time travel, often along with technological elements such as futuristic...
.
Early life
Carpenter was born in
Carthage, New YorkCarthage is a village located in the Town of Wilna in Jefferson County, New York. The population was 3,721 at the 2000 census. The village is named after the historic Carthage in North Africa....
, the son of Milton Jean (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
Carter) and Howard Ralph Carpenter, a music professor. He and his family moved to
Bowling Green, KentuckyBowling Green is the fourth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kentucky after Louisville, Lexington, and Owensboro. The population was 55,097 in 2008. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated...
in 1953. He was captivated by movies from an early age, particularly the westerns of
Howard HawksHoward Winchester Hawks was an influential American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
and
John FordJohn Ford was an American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, as well as 1950s low budget horror and science fiction films, such as
Forbidden PlanetForbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film in CinemaScope and Metrocolor directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen...
and
The Thing from Another WorldThe Thing from Another World , is a science fiction film that tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being. It stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite and Douglas Spencer...
and began filming horror shorts on
8 mm film8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
even before entering high school. He briefly attended
Western Kentucky UniversityWestern Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....
where his father chaired the music department, but transferred to the
University of Southern California'sThe University of Southern California is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, USA...
School of Cinematic ArtsThe USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
in 1968 and graduated in 1971.
Academy Award - Live Action Short Film
At USC Cinema, one of his projects as a co-writer, film editor and music composer,
The Resurrection of Broncho BillyThe Resurrection of Broncho Billy is a 1970 live action short film. It won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. * Story by: John Carpenter, Nick Castle, Jim Rokos, John Longenecker and Trace Johnston...
(1970), produced by
John LongeneckerJohn Longenecker is an American film producer, Directors Guild of America member, screenwriter and cinematographer who won an Academy Award for producing the live action short film, The Resurrection of Broncho Billy .-Biography:...
, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. The short film was blown-up to 35mm, sixty prints were made, and the film was theatrically released by Universal Studios for two years in the United States and Canada.
1970s: From student films to major theatrical releases
His first major film as director,
Dark StarDark Star is a 1974 sci-fi tongue-in-cheek comedy motion picture directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon. Dark Star was ranked #95 on Rotten Tomatoes' Journey Through Sci-Fi.-Production:...
(1974), was a sci-fi black comedy that he cowrote with
Dan O'BannonDan O'Bannon is a motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-USC:...
(who later went on to write
AlienAlien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto...
, borrowing freely from much of
Dark Star). The film reportedly cost only $60,000 and was difficult to make as both Carpenter and O'Bannon completed the film by multitasking, with Carpenter doing the musical score as well as the writing, producing and directing, while O'Bannon acted in the film and did the special effects (which caught the attention of
George LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, director and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the epic sci-fi franchise Star Wars and joint creator of the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
who hired him to do work on the special effects for
Star WarsStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released simply as Star Wars, is an American 1977 space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films continue the story, while a prequel trilogy contributes...
). Carpenter's efforts did not go unnoticed as much of Hollywood marveled at his filmmaking abilities within the confines of a shoestring budget.
Carpenter's next film was
Assault on Precinct 13Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 American action/thriller film inspired by the Howard Hawks western film Rio Bravo. It was written and directed by John Carpenter. The film tells of the fictional attack on a police precinct by the Street Thunder gang out for retribution for the death of their comrades...
(1976), a low-budget thriller influenced by the films of Howard Hawks, particularly
Rio BravoRio Bravo is a 1959 Western film, directed by Howard Hawks. The script was written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on a short story by B.H...
. As with
Dark Star, Carpenter was responsible for many aspects of the film's creation. He not only wrote, directed and scored it, but also edited the film under the pseudonym "John T. Chance" (the name of
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
's character in
Rio Bravo). Carpenter has said that he considers
Assault on Precinct 13 to have been his first real film because it was the first movie that he shot on a schedule. The film was also significant because it marked the first time Carpenter worked with
Debra HillDebra Hill was an American screenwriter and film producer, who co-wrote the horror film Halloween, its first sequel Halloween II, and The Fog.-Early life:...
, who played prominently in the making of some of Carpenter's most important films.
Working within the limitations of a $100,000 budget, Carpenter assembled a main cast that consisted of experienced but relatively obscure actors. The two leads were
Austin StokerAustin Stoker is an American actor known for his role as Lt. Ethan Bishop, the police officer in charge of the besieged Precinct 9, Division 13, in John Carpenter's Howard Hawks-inspired, 1976 film, Assault on Precinct 13...
, who had appeared previously in science fiction, disaster and
blaxploitationBlaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation." Blaxploitation films were the first to feature soundtracks of...
films, and
Darwin JostonF. Darwin Solomon was an American actor known professionally as Darwin Joston...
, who had worked primarily in television and had once been Carpenter's next-door neighbor.
The film was originally released in the United States to mixed critical reviews and lackluster box-office earnings, but after it was screened at the 1977
London Film FestivalThe Times BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening over 300 films from 60 countries. The festival, the LFF, currently in its 53rd year, is held every year by the British Film Institute and currently sponsored by The Times newspaper. The 2008 Festival ran from 15...
, it became a critical and commercial success in Europe and is often credited with launching Carpenter's career. The film subsequently received a critical reassessment in the United States, where it is now generally regarded as one of the best
exploitation filmExploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. Thus, films need something to "exploit", such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
s of the 1970s.
A long forgotten, but still very note worthy film that Carpenter both wrote and directed was the Lauren Hutton thriller
Someone's Watching Me! (aka High Rise) in 1978, a very busy year for the director. This made-for-television movie tells a very simplistic, yet rather effective tale of a single, working woman who, shortly after arriving in L.A., discovers that she is gradually being stalked and constantly observed by an unseen predator in the high rise building across from her apartment. Though a made-for-television film,
Someone's Watching Me! does stand out from others of the period. Borrowing heavily from Hitchcock classics, Carpenter slowly builds the suspense and intrigue before the final confrontation ensues, making the most out of the theory that what one can't see is far more interesting than what is shown on the screen. Although it has never received much attention, it's interesting to draw some parallels between the story, concept, and visuals in this film with those featured in the director's next immediate production,
HalloweenHalloween is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional suburban midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois, USA on Halloween. The original draft of the screenplay was titled The Babysitter Murders. John Carpenter directed the film, which stars Donald Pleasence as Dr...
.
HalloweenHalloween is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional suburban midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois, USA on Halloween. The original draft of the screenplay was titled The Babysitter Murders. John Carpenter directed the film, which stars Donald Pleasence as Dr...
(1978) was a smash hit on release and helped give birth to the
slasher filmSlasher film is a sub-genre of the horror film genre typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a chainsaw or scythe...
genre. Originally an idea suggested by producer
Irwin YablansIrwin Yablans is an independent film producer and distributor known for his work in the horror film industry. In 1976, he formed Compass International Pictures with Joseph Wolf, and served as its President...
(entitled
The Babysitter Murders), who envisioned a film about babysitters being menaced by a stalker, Carpenter took the idea and another suggestion from Yablans that it take place during Halloween and developed a story. Carpenter said of the basic concept: "Halloween night. It has never been the theme in a film. My idea was to do an old haunted house movie." The film was written by Carpenter and Debra Hill with Carpenter admitting that the film was inspired by both
Dario Argento'sDario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
SuspiriaSuspiria is a 1977 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento, and co-written by Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi, with whom Argento was romantically involved at the time. Nicolodi claims the plot was inspired by an experience of her grandmother's. The setting was originally to be a children's...
and
William Friedkin'sWilliam Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The Exorcist and The French Connection in the early 1970s...
The ExorcistThe Exorcist is a 1973 U.S. horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl, and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her daughter through an exorcism conducted by two priests....
.
Carpenter again worked with a relatively small budget, $320,000. The film grossed over $65 million initially, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time.
Carpenter relied upon taut suspense rather than the excessive gore that would define later slasher films in order to make the menacing nature of the main character,
Michael MyersMichael Myers is a fictional character from the Halloween series of slasher films. He first appears in John Carpenter's Halloween as a young boy who murders his older sister, then fifteen years later returns home to murder more teenagers...
, more palpable. At times, Carpenter has described
Halloween in terms that appeared to directly contradict the more thoughtful, nuanced approach to horror that he actually used, such as: "True crass exploitation. I decided to make a film I would love to have seen as a kid, full of cheap tricks like a haunted house at a fair where you walk down the corridor and things jump out at you." The film has often been cited as an allegory on the virtue of sexual purity and the danger of casual sex, although Carpenter has explained that this was not his intent: "It has been suggested that I was making some kind of moral statement. Believe me, I'm not. In
Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers." Of the later slasher films that largely mimicked Carpenter's work on
Halloween, few have met with the same critical success.
In addition to the film's critical and commercial success, Carpenter's self-composed "Halloween Theme" remains a recognizable film music theme to this day.
In 1979, John Carpenter began what was to be the first of several collaborations with actor
Kurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. He started acting as a child in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has continued appearing in a wide variety of films since, including Follow Me, Boys!, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Barefoot Executive, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China,...
when he directed the TV movie
Elvis. The made-for-TV movie was a smash hit with viewers and critics and revived the career of Russell, who was a child actor in the 1960s.
1980s: Continued commercial success
Carpenter followed up the success of
Halloween with
The FogThe Fog is a 1980 horror movie directed by John Carpenter, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music of the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins and Janet Leigh. It was distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures...
(1980), a ghostly revenge tale (co-written by Hill) inspired by horror comics such as
Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s...
and by
The Crawling Eye, a 1958 movie about monsters hiding in clouds.
Completing
The Fog was an unusually difficult process for Carpenter. After viewing a rough cut of the film, he was dissatisfied with the result. For the only time in his filmmaking career, he had to devise a way to salvage a nearly finished film that did not meet his standards. In order to make the movie more coherent and frightening, Carpenter shot additional footage that included a number of new scenes. Approximately one-third of the finished film is the newer footage.
Despite production problems and mostly negative critical reception,
The Fog was another commercial success for Carpenter. The film was made on a budget of $1,000,000, but it grossed over $21,000,000 in the United States alone. Carpenter has said that
The Fog is not his favorite film, although he considers it a "minor horror classic".
Carpenter immediately followed
The Fog with the science-fiction adventure
Escape from New YorkEscape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Castle. The film is set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security prison...
(1981), which quickly picked up large cult and mainstream audiences as well as critical acclaim.
His next film,
The Thing (1982), is notable for its high production values, including innovative special effects by
Rob BottinRobin R. Bottin is an American special makeup effects artist.He was born in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte. His father was a foreman for a van and storage company...
, special visual effects by matte artist
Albert WhitlockAlbert J. Whitlock was an English motion picture matte artist best known for his work with Disney and Universal Studios.-Biography:...
, a score by
Ennio MorriconeEnnio Morricone, OMRI , is an Italian composer and conductor. He has composed and arranged scores for more than 500 film and television productions. Morricone is considered as one of the most influential film composers since the late 1950s...
and a cast including rising star Kurt Russell and respected character actors such as
Wilford BrimleyAllen Wilford Brimley , better known as Wilford Brimley, is an American actor. He has appeared in such films as The China Syndrome and Cocoon...
,
Richard DysartRichard A. Dysart is an American actor, perhaps best known for his role as Leland McKenzie on the NBC legal drama L.A. Law....
,
Keith DavidKeith David Williams , better known by the stage name Keith David, is an American film, television, and voice actor. He is perhaps most known for his live action roles in such films as Crash, There's Something About Mary, Barbershop and Men at Work...
, and
Richard MasurRichard D. Masur is an American actor who has appeared in over 80 movies during his career. He served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1995 to 1999. Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.Masur was born in New York City to a high school...
.
The Thing was made with a budget of $15,000,000, Carpenter's largest up to that point, and distributed by
Universal PicturesThis is a partial listing of films produced and/or distributed by Universal Pictures, the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal.-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc...
.
Although Carpenter's film was ostensibly a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks film,
The Thing from Another WorldThe Thing from Another World , is a science fiction film that tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being. It stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite and Douglas Spencer...
, Carpenter's version is more faithful to the John W. Campbell, Jr. short story,
Who Goes There?Who Goes There? is a science fiction novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. under the pen name Don A. Stuart, published August 1938 in Astounding Stories. In 1973, the story was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the finest science fiction novellas ever written, and published with...
, upon which both films were based. Moreover, unlike the Hawks film,
The Thing has a dark, pessimistic tone and a bleak ending, which didn't appeal to audiences in the summer of 1982, when it was released in the wake of
E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Dee Wallace. It tells the story of Elliott , a lonely boy who befriends a friendly...
. Consequently, it did not perform well commercially and was Carpenter's first financial failure. Later, the movie found new life in the home video and cable markets, and it is now widely regarded as one of the best horror films and remakes ever made.
Carpenter's next film,
ChristineChristine is a 1983 horror film about a supernaturally malevolent automobile and its effects on the teenager who owns it, adapted from a novel written by Stephen King...
, was the 1983 adaptation of the
Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
novel of the same name. The story revolves around a high-school nerd named Arnie Cunningham (
Keith GordonKeith Gordon is an American actor and film director.-Biography:Gordon was born in New York City, the son of Barbara, an actress, and Mark Gordon, an actor and stage director. He grew up in an atheist Jewish family and was inspired to become an actor at the age of twelve, after seeing James Earl...
) who buys a junked 1958
Plymouth FuryThe Plymouth Fury was an automobile made by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1956 to 1978. The Fury was introduced as a premium-priced halo model .-First generation: 1956-1959:The Fury was sold only as an...
which turns out to have supernatural powers. As Cunningham restores and rebuilds the car, he becomes unnaturally obsessed with it, with deadly consequences.
Christine did respectable business upon its release and was received well by critics; however, Carpenter has been quoted as saying he directed the film because it was the only thing offered to him at the time.
One of the high points in Carpenter's career came in 1984 with the release of
StarmanJohn Carpenter's Starman is a 1984 science fiction-fantasy film directed by John Carpenter which tells the story of an alien who has come to Earth in response to the invitation found on the gold phonograph record installed on one of the Voyager space probes.The screenplay was written by Bruce A....
, a film that was critically praised but was only a moderate commercial success. Produced by
Michael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. Douglas's first television exposure was that of Karl Malden's young college-educated partner, Insp. Steve Keller, in the 1970s crime drama, The Streets of San Francisco, a role he played from 1972 to 1976...
, the script was well received by
Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, which chose it over the script for
E.T. and prompted
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern...
to go to
Universal PicturesUniversal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major American movie studios. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California...
. Douglas chose Carpenter to be the director because of his reputation as an action director who could also convey strong emotion.
Starman was favorably reviewed by the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
,
New York Times and
LA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
and described by Carpenter as a film he envisioned as a romantic comedy similar to
It Happened One NightIt Happened One Night is an 1934 American comedy with elements of screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra, in which a pampered socialite tries to get out from under her father's thumb, and falls in love with a roguish reporter . The plot was based on the story Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams,...
only with a space alien. The film received
OscarPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
and Golden Globe nominations for
Jeff BridgesJeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. His most notable films include The Last Picture Show, Tron, Starman, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Fisher King, Fearless, The Big Lebowski, The Contender, and Iron Man.-Personal life:Jeffrey Bridges was born in Los Angeles, California,...
' portrayal of Starman and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical Score for
Jack NitzscheBernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter and film score composer.- Biography :...
.
After seeing footage of
Starman, the executive producer of the Superman movie series,
Ilya SalkindIlya Juan Salkind Dominguez, , usually known as Ilya Silkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and 80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
, offered Carpenter the chance to direct the latest Alexander–Ilya Salkind fantasy epic
Santa Claus: The MovieSanta Claus: The Movie is a 1985 Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and released in North America on November 27,...
. Salkind made the offer to Carpenter over lunch at The Ritz, and while he loved the idea of breaking from his normal traditions and directing a children's fantasy movie, he requested 24 hours to think over the offer. The next day he had drawn up a list of requirements should he direct the movie; they were: 100 percent creative control, the right to take over scriptwriting duties, being able to co-compose the movie's musical score, total editorial control, the casting of Brian Dennehey as Santa Claus and a $5 million signing-on fee (the same amount that the movie's star Dudley Moore was receiving). Team Salkind were nonplussed by his demands and withdrew their offer for him to direct. Carpenter told
Empire magazine ten years later that he wished he'd been less demanding and made the movie because he liked the idea so much and it would have changed critics' views on his limitations as a director.
Following the box office failure of his big-budget action–comedy
Big Trouble in Little ChinaBig Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American action comedy, directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell as truck driver Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed girlfriend from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown...
(1986), Carpenter struggled to get films financed. He returned to making lower budget films such as
Prince of Darkness (1987), a film influenced by the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
series
Quatermass*Professor Bernard Quatermass, a fictional scientist created by the writer Nigel Kneale* A production featuring the above character:**The Quatermass Experiment , a British TV serial...
. Although some of the films from this time did pick up a cult audience, he never again realized his mass-market potential.
1990s: Criticism and commercial decline
His 1990s career is characterized by a number of notable misfires:
Memoirs of an Invisible ManMemoirs of an Invisible Man is a 1992 film directed by John Carpenter and released by Warner Bros., with many scenes taking place in and around San Francisco. The film is based on a 1987 novel of the same name by H.F. Saint...
(1992),
Village of the DamnedJohn Carpenter's Village of the Damned is an English language 1995 science fiction–horror film directed by John Carpenter. It is marketed with the tagline "Beware the children."...
(1995) and
Escape From L.A.Escape From L.A. is a 1996 film directed by John Carpenter. The sequel to the action film Escape from New York, the film follows war hero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell...
(1996) are examples of films that were critical and box office failures. Notable from this decade is:
- In the Mouth of Madness
In the Mouth of Madness is a 1994 horror film directed by John Carpenter and written by Michael de Luca, who was at the time in charge of New Line Cinema...
(1995), yet another Lovecraftian homage, which did not do well either at the box-office or with critics.
- Vampires
Vampires is a western-horror film directed by John Carpenter in 1998. Adapted loosely from the novel Vampire$ by John Steakley, the film stars James Woods as Jack Crow, leader of a Catholic Church-sanctioned team of vampire hunters...
(1998) starred James WoodsJames Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor and comedian. Woods is best known for starring in films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Ghosts of Mississippi, Salvador, Casino and as the Disney villain Hades in Hercules.-Early life:Woods was born in Vernal, Utah...
as the leader of a band of vampire hunters in league with the Catholic Church.
2000s–present: Remakes and Masters of Horror
2001 saw the release of
Ghosts of MarsJohn Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is a 2001 movie directed by John Carpenter.- Plot :Set in the second half of the 22nd century, in the year 2176, the film depicts Mars as a planet that has been 84% terraformed, allowing humans to walk on the surface without wearing pressure suits...
and Carpenter's reputation remains strong; his earlier films are considered classics and (because they have continued to perform well on home video) several have been subjected to big budget remakes. 2005 saw remakes of
Assault on Precinct 13 and
The Fog, the latter being produced by Carpenter himself, though in an interview he defined his involvement as, "I come in and say hello to everybody. Go home."
More recently,
Rob ZombieRobert Bartleh Cummings , better known by his stage name, Rob Zombie, is a Grammy-nominated American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the metal band White Zombie....
has produced and directed
HalloweenHalloween is a 2007 American horror film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. The film is a remake/reimagining of the 1978 horror film of the same name, and the ninth film in the Halloween film series. The film stars Malcolm McDowell as Dr...
, a re-imagining of John Carpenter's 1978 film. It was released in 2007.
Carpenter returned to the director's chair in 2005 for an episode of
Showtime'sShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
Masters of HorrorMasters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...
series as one of the thirteen filmmakers involved in the first season. His episode,
Cigarette Burns, aired to generally positive reviews, and positive reactions from Carpenter fans, many of whom regard it as on par with his earlier horror classics. He has since contributed another original episode for the show's second season entitled
Pro-Life"Pro-Life" is the fifth episode of the second season of Masters of Horror.-Plot:Angelique is taken to an abortion clinic to have her baby, a fetus conceived by demonic rape, removed...
, about a young girl who is raped and impregnated by a demon and wants to have an abortion, but whose efforts are halted by her religious fanatic, gun-toting father and her three brothers.
A remake of
Escape from New York was planned starring
Gerard ButlerGerard James Butler is a Scottish actor known for his portrayal of King Leonidas in 300, The Phantom in the 2004 film version of The Phantom of the Opera, Gerry Kennedy in P.S. I Love You, One Two in RocknRolla, Mike Chadway in The Ugly Truth and Clyde Shelton in Law Abiding Citizen...
as Snake Plissken but he has since turned the role down.
In February 2009, It was announced that Carpenter has planned for his newest project, called
The WardThe Ward is an upcoming horror film directed by John Carpenter. The screenplay is written by Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen. It stars Amber Heard and Danielle Panabaker. It is to be released in 2010.- Plot :...
, starring
Amber HeardAmber Laura Heard is an American actress. She attended St. Michael's Catholic Academy in Austin, Texas until junior year, when she left to pursue a career in Hollywood. She has played minor roles in various television shows and movies. She is perhaps best known for her role of Greta Matthews on...
.
It will be his first movie since 2001's
Ghosts of MarsJohn Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is a 2001 movie directed by John Carpenter.- Plot :Set in the second half of the 22nd century, in the year 2176, the film depicts Mars as a planet that has been 84% terraformed, allowing humans to walk on the surface without wearing pressure suits...
.
Techniques
His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of
steadicamA Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera, which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface...
, and distinctive synthesized scores (usually self-composed). He describes himself as having been influenced by
Howard HawksHoward Winchester Hawks was an influential American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
,
Alfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
,
Nigel KnealeNigel Kneale was a Manx screenwriter who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best...
and
The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964 and remains syndicated to this day. The show consisted of unrelated vignettes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events, usually...
.
With the exception of
The Thing,
Starman, and
Memoirs of an Invisible Man, he has scored all of his films (though some are collaborations), most famously the themes from
Halloween and
Assault on Precinct 13. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and atmospherics.
Carpenter is a big fan of
widescreenA widescreen image is a film, computer or television image with a wider and shorter aspect ratio than the standard Academy frame developed during the classical Hollywood cinema era. Silent film was projected at a ratio of four units wide to three units tall, often expressed as 4:3 or 1.33:1...
, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of
Dark Star) have been filmed in anamorphic with an aspect ratio 2.35:1.
Legacy
With a career that has spanned over thirty years, John Carpenter has attained a reputation as a respected independent filmmaker. Although some of Carpenter's films have not been commercially or critically successful upon initial theatrical release, Carpenter has developed a large cult following through home video releases of his films. Many of his films, most notably
The Thing, have been rediscovered on VHS, laserdisc and DVD and have since been embraced by many fans - interesting, as
The Thing was initially Carpenter's first big setback. The film was considered excessively dark, did not do well at the box office and Rob Bottin's effects were considered too grotesque for a mainstream audience. Retrospectively, the film has gained much critical appreciation.
Four years later,
Big Trouble in Little China was also poorly received by audiences and critics alike, an eclectic mix of genres that was years ahead of its time. This film, like
The Thing, found its audience on VHS and DVD years after its theatrical release.
Escape From L.A and
Ghosts of Mars was also poorly received by audiences and critics but like many other film of Carpenter including
The Thing and
Big Trouble in Little China, they found there audiences on VHS and DVD years after their theatrical release.
Many of Carpenter's films have been re-released on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features. Examples of such are: the collector's editions of
Halloween,
Escape From New York,
Christine,
The Thing,
Assault on Precinct 13,
Big Trouble In Little China and
The FogThe Fog is a 1980 horror movie directed by John Carpenter, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music of the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins and Janet Leigh. It was distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures...
. Some have been re-issued recently with a new anamorphic widescreen transfer. In the UK, several of Carpenter's films have been released on DVD with audio commentary by Carpenter and his stars (
They Live, with actor/wrestler
Roddy PiperRoderick George Toombs ), better known by his ring name "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler and film actor currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment...
,
Starman with actor Jeff Bridges and
Prince of Darkness with actor
Peter JasonPeter Jason is an American actor who performs in many plays, movies, and TV commercials, including Desperate Housewives and Deadwood. In his free time he makes his own furniture out of wood. He has appeared in 12 Walter Hill films, has acted in over 100 commercials and plays, has been in many TV...
) that have not been released in the United States .
In recent years, Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film
John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies, and his status as a respected filmmaker has been reinforced by
American CinemathequeThe American Cinematheque is an independent, non-profit cultural organization in Los Angeles dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the Moving Image in all its forms. It is considered among the premier organizations of its kind in America....
's 2002 retrospective of his films. Moreover, in 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed
Halloween to be "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.
Personal life
Carpenter was romantically involved with his creative partner,
Debra HillDebra Hill was an American screenwriter and film producer, who co-wrote the horror film Halloween, its first sequel Halloween II, and The Fog.-Early life:...
, from the time they worked on
Assault on Precinct 13 until Carpenter met his future wife, actress
Adrienne BarbeauAdrienne Jo Barbeau is an American television, film, character and musical theatre actress, as well as the author of two books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, Bea Arthur's divorced daughter Carol Traynor in the sitcom Maude, and in...
, on the set of his 1978 television movie,
Someone's Watching Me.
Despite the end of their romantic relationship, Carpenter and Hill continued to collaborate on films and were able to maintain their friendship. Working with both Carpenter and Barbeau on
The Fog, however, was reportedly an emotionally difficult experience for Hill.
Carpenter was married to Barbeau from January 1, 1979 to 1984. During their marriage, Barbeau starred in
The Fog, and also appeared in
Escape from New York. The couple had one son, John Cody Carpenter (born May 7, 1984).
Carpenter has been married to producer Sandy King since 1990. King produced a number of Carpenter's later feature films, including:
They Live,
In the Mouth of Madness,
Ghosts of Mars and
Escape from L.A. She also functioned as script supervisor for some of these films as well as
Starman,
Big Trouble in Little China and
Prince of Darkness.
Further reading
- Conrich, Ian & Woods, David. The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror (Directors' Cuts), Wallflower Press (2004). ISBN 1-904764-14-2.
- Muir, John Kenneth. The Films of John Carpenter, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2005). ISBN 0-7864-2269-6.
External links