John Carpenter: a film-maker like no other. What's his best? by chrisisall

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

John Carpenter: a film-maker like no other. What's his best?

POSTED BY: CHRISISALL
UPDATED: Monday, June 27, 2005 11:57
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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 1:51 PM

Personally, I could not exist in this world without owning Big Trouble In Little China, so that would be it for me.
Although Vampires is a real close second.

What do y'all think?

Escaped from New York Chrisisall

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 2:09 PM

MUTT999

"The Thing" remake. Hands down.

"That's the buffet table....."

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 2:22 PM

GTMAN8503

Gotta go with "The Thing"

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 2:31 PM

BLUEHANDTWOBYTWO

After much debate with myself, I have to say my all-time fav film of JC's is "THE THING".
2nd-Escape From New York
3rd-The Fog
4th-Starman
5th-Halloween
6th-They Live

I actually have a "They Live" movie poster that Carpenter, Roddy Piper, and George "Buck" Flower signed. I had a chance to befriend Buck for a while before he passed away and he was the nicest fellow. He was really touched that I even knew who he was. He signed a lot of my John Carpenter dvd's since he was in 5 or 6 of them -Escape from New York, the Fog, They Live, Village of the Damned, Starman... what a nice old "hillbilly", as he called himself. Used to email me dirty jokes everyday until he passed from cancer. When I met John Carpenter at a signing for his film book, I took one for Buck and had John sign it for him. John was nice, but what a chainsmoker! And sad to say, he's looking rather old. I just found out they're re-making The Fog and I pray they don't ruin it! There was nothin wrong with the original!
~LarryL

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 2:54 PM

CHRISISALL

Thanks for that story, Larry. It'll probably be the highlight of this thread.
I too, love his remake of The Thing. It's probably his scariest flick. He hasn't made a movie I didn't like (with the notable exception of Ghosts of Mars).
Heck, I even like Escape From LA!!

I am here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And I'm all outta bubble gum Chrisisall

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 3:23 PM

REGINAROADIE

THE THING. Without a doubt, THE THING is the best gorram thing he's ever done. HALLOWEEN was a good calling card, and the original ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 was a good thriller and first movie, but it was THE THING that was Carpenter undiluted.

The blood test scene is one of the most suspenseful moments in movies, and that part where the one guy goes to shock the guy, and then the chest opens up, SHOWS FREAKING TEETH, and chomps down on the hands and bites them clean off will scare anyone. And then when the head sprouts spider legs and begins to walk off. Both highly disturbing and incredibly funny.

Those two parts were my fave moments of the film.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... ow ... ound ... round ... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?

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Wednesday, June 22, 2005 3:47 PM

DROCCULARI

Oh my, ask a tough one why don'cha! It's a lot easier to say which ones are not my favorite: Ghosts of Mars, Vampires, Escape from L.A., The Fog, Prince of Darkness. I like these movies, even love parts of them; they're just not my favorite. Take Escape from L.A. -- Peter Fonda surfing the big wave down the storm drain, Bruce Campbell (Bruce Campbell!) as the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, the hang-glider assault on the Magic Kingdom. What fun!

My favorites are Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, and Escape from New York. They Live almost makes the list: what would life be like not being able to quote, "I have come here to chew bubble-gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble-gum."; or how lame (sick) would the South Park "cripple fight" have been if it wasn't a re-enactment of the Nada and Frank knock-down-drag-out.

If I've got to choose, it's Big Trouble in Little China by a nose, ...or maybe a nose hair. I love how much fun the cast has violating the rule about avoiding long chunks of expositional dialogue, or the heros' ride down the elevator as everyone is getting high from Egg's magic potion, or just about everything else about the movie.

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 8:38 AM

CHRISISALL

But we keep trying. Like fools.

This really pisses me off to no end! Chrisisall

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 9:37 AM

DUG

Just for perversity's sake I'll vote for Dark Star.

Nothing is cooler than a living beach-ball. Unless it's an artificially intelligent thermo-nuclear device.

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 9:57 AM

MACBAKER

John shot "Escape From New York" here in St. Louis, so it holds a special appeal for me.

I know every location used in that movie. The baseball bat fight inside of Union Station, Brain's library inside of the Scotish Rite Temple near SLU, the Broadway show where Snake meets Cabby in the Fox Theater, the mined car chase on the Martin Luther King bridge, etc.

I still get a special thrill watching that movie.

I'd given some thought to movin' off the edge -- not an ideal location -- thinkin' a place in the middle.

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 10:05 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by MacBaker:
I still get a special thrill watching that movie.

You got the special edition of Escape on dvd? The picture's so crystal clear, it looks like they made it yesterday.
Did you actually get to see them filmin' it?
(what am I thinkin'? You'd have to be close to MY age to have done that...)

Just got it myself Chrisisall

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 10:17 AM

MACBAKER

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by MacBaker:
I still get a special thrill watching that movie.

You got the special edition of Escape on dvd? The picture's so crystal clear, it looks like they made it yesterday.
Did you actually get to see them filmin' it?
(what am I thinkin'? You'd have to be close to MY age to have done that...)

Just got it myself Chrisisall

I was a senior in High School when "Escape" was being filmmed, but only saw the Fox scenes shot. The theater is right across from my Church (3rd Baptist), and someone at the church told us about it, so we watched it from the church office window. It was like having a front row seat!

I do have the Special Edition DVD, and yes, it does look great!

I'd given some thought to movin' off the edge -- not an ideal location -- thinkin' a place in the middle.

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 10:43 AM

CHRISISALL

Mac, how would you compare Escape From New York with Escape From LA?

Call me Snake Chrisisall

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:23 AM

MOOSE

ELVIS!!!!!!

Well, dang. I was going to immediately say The Thing, but now that I think about it Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York are up there too. Though, okay, it'll have to be The Thing. That was one of the first scary movies that I watched on the big screen. That damn head sprouting legs and eye stalks and walking away gave me nightmares for weeks...

The DVD commentaries by Kurt Russell and John Carpenter on those movies are the favorites of my collection. Those two know how to have fun. (Josh and Nathan's on the episode Serenity

is a very, very close second)

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:49 AM

CHRISISALL

Moose, don't you think with all the digital technology around today they could do another Thing remake that would be better than Carpenter's? They could make the creature do even weirder stuff- he could be enormous- they could show it sucking brains through eye sockets and such!!!
(My take is no. Digital still can't give you that 'real' feeling of a living being [see Yoda in Attack of the Clones] interacting with an actual actor)

Danger! Danger! My circuits indicate a 60% probability that this thread will turn into Merrits vs. Limitations of CGI debate!

CGI's great for spaceships, though Chrisisall

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 1:06 PM

SPIKEANDJEZEBEL

Agreed - CGI would ruin a movie like The Thing. There is a visceral quality to practical effects that CGI will never be able to replicate convincingly.

I would go so far as to say that there has NEVER been a CGI effect that has been scary - can anyone think of one? (Jar Jar Binks doesn't count - that's a different kind of scary!)

"I like smackin' 'em!" - Jayne Cobb

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 1:53 PM

CHRISISALL

The scariest CGI that I ever saw was the shark coming out of the darkness in front of Lara in Tomb Raider 2, although it was more for the sudden-ness of it, the shark still looks phoney. So if you make the scariest scene in JC's The Thing a 10, that was about a .05!

I love that Question.

CGI's good for buildings, too Chrisisall

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 2:02 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Personally, I could not exist in this world without owning Big Trouble In Little China, so that would be it for me.
Although Vampires is a real close second.

What do y'all think?

Escaped from New York Chrisisall

Well I'd go with Big Trouble in Little China. I love The Thing but because it's from a remake which I also love; Big Trouble wins out on account of it being an original.

Carpenter films are perhaps the ones I re-watch the most. I've tried to figure out why and the best summation I've come up with is that he really captures the environments he sets his films in so brilliantly that I feel a part of His make-believe world.

I generally re-watch the The Fog because I feel like being by the coast - or I rewatch The Thing because I want to be cut-off from the rest of the world with no hope (yeah I get like that sometimes :) ). In this respect he's like Hitchcock - he really knows how to use his scenery to further his narrative. He's just ACE!

...and as I become older, I realise just how superbSTARMAN is. I really believe this is one of the great love stories of modern cinema. I'm rarley moved by love stories these days, on accounts of just being a bitter little cynic who's been kicked around more times than an old boot - but everytime I watch this film I can't help but feel like there's hope. It displays the very worst in people and yet the very best in a person, and that tugs the ol' heart strings. Karen Allen is just so convincing from beginning to end and Jeff Bridges well.... He's Jeff!!!! He's incredible....and that music when he walks out and brings that deer back to life is beyond anything I've experienced in a musical score before or since.... It's genius!

Have you listened to the commentary for BIg Trouble? It's hilarious!

suffering insomnia......
The
Somnambulist

www.cirqus.com

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 2:18 PM

CHRISISALL

" Well, the beer was cold, and the ciggaretts weren't stale..."
Yeah, the commentary is a piece of entertainment all to itself. They get progressivly more sloshed and start off on tangents- it's totally hi-larious.
And you're right, Starman is the thinking man's ET. The deer scene in particular gets me too. Amazing what JC can do on 1/10 the budget of other films.

The shots of Nada and Frank walking around all bruised and s@*t after their fight in They Live is downright hysterical, too.

I owned the Mustang in Starman (same year and style, not the actual vehicle) Chrisisall

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Thursday, June 23, 2005 5:32 PM

MACBAKER

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Mac, how would you compare Escape From New York with Escape From LA?

Call me Snake Chrisisall

Please tell me you're kidding!!! LOL

Even brief appearances by Bruce Campbel and Peter Fonda couldn't save that POS! Not Carpenters best work!

I'd given some thought to movin' off the edge -- not an ideal location -- thinkin' a place in the middle.

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Monday, June 27, 2005 6:09 AM

CHRISISALL

Escape From NY is a really good movie, I love the tone, the photography, almost everything!
But from the dark-comedy POV, Escape From LA is a whole lot funnier. I know, it's derivative in the extreme, it's got the cheesy CGI, blagh, blagh - but the flick has me L-in'OL every time!
Maybe it's just me, Army of Darkness has the same effect on me (just to a higher degree).

The more things change the more they stay the same Chrisisall

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Monday, June 27, 2005 6:59 AM

MACBAKER

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Escape From NY is a really good movie, I love the tone, the photography, almost everything!
But from the dark-comedy POV, Escape From LA is a whole lot funnier. I know, it's derivative in the extreme, it's got the cheesy CGI, blagh, blagh - but the flick has me L-in'OL every time!
Maybe it's just me, Army of Darkness has the same effect on me (just to a higher degree).

The more things change the more they stay the same Chrisisall

Not a fan of "Escape From LA", but "Army of Darkness" is one of my favorite Bruce Campbell movies. I have two versions of it on DVD, the theatrical release, and the "Offical Bootleg Edition" with an alternate ending. Bruce's commentary on that DVD is almost more enjoyable than the film.

I'd given some thought to movin' off the edge -- not an ideal location -- thinkin' a place in the middle.

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Monday, June 27, 2005 7:11 AM

CHRISISALL

Army Of Darkness is my most viewed film, beating out Enter The Dragon and Star Wars at something over 150 viewings (I managed a video store when it came out and watched it on the monitors every day).

Swear to God, Eddie Chrisisall

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Monday, June 27, 2005 8:06 AM

NAKEDANDARTICULATE

2 words THE THING
Best quote has to be from They Live

"I've come here to do 2 things,chew bubblegum and kick ass and i'm all outta bubblegum."

"Hamsters is nice."

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Monday, June 27, 2005 8:29 AM

MIKEMARCHI42

Quote:
Originally posted by dug:
Just for perversity's sake I'll vote for Dark Star.

Nothing is cooler than a living beach-ball. Unless it's an artificially intelligent thermo-nuclear device.

I pretend to like THE THING best, but I'll watch BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA a half-dozen times a year -- usually popping the DVD in whenever I run across it on regular TV.

DARK STAR has always held a special place -- I picked it up on DVD last week, and discovered that the humor I remember doesn't seem quite as funny when you're showing it to someone else.
Wife: "This is awful"
Me: "Yeah, but it's funny."
Wife: "Not a whole lot."
Me: "But the bomb. Come on, you have to love the bomb."

*sigh*

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Monday, June 27, 2005 9:46 AM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

When I saw the post title, I knew who had written this thread...

Big Trouble sure, Vampires, great, The Fog (Mmmmmm...Adrian Barbeau), Halloween (Yes, I genuinely love this movie) Escape From New York, The Thing, These are all great movies Oh, and Starman...I know all of these have been mentioned...Christine (Hey, best use of Harlem Nocturne ever!)

But, when JC missteps, he does it HARD...Escape From LA...Escape from my living room, more like it. Ghost from Mars...I think I'm going to be sick...Memoirs of an Invisible Man...I've been trying to forget it...

But his highs are always so much better than the lows...And that anamorphic widescreen he's always shooting in makes all the work look so pretty...

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Monday, June 27, 2005 10:00 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
But, when JC missteps, he does it HARD...Escape From LA...Escape from my living room, more like it.

That's it. I'm all alone in loving Escape From LA!
I can't help it, it cracks me up. It's almost like a Mad magazine send up of the original, to me.
I just got Village of the Damned, and while very far from his best, it's a real good flick (for $6.99,that is).

Sad story, got a smoke? Chrisisall

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Monday, June 27, 2005 11:29 AM

MANWITHPEZ

Important people don't do field work.

I liked Village of the Damned...Its a far cry from the original, but still, I enjoyed seeing it in the theater, and should probably own it on DVD now...I'll have to look for it.

You know, I haven't watched Vampire$ in awhile, but I think I will tonight...that's a great movie, and was James Woods cool in that flick or what?

"Give me the cross, Jack..."

"This cross?"

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

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Monday, June 27, 2005 11:57 AM

CHRISISALL

Night Stalker used to be my all time favourite Vampire flick. That was replaced by JC's Vampires.
It's so good, I've put some thought to replacing my dvd of it with the superbit dvd (although the dvd I have is superb, can't see how much better it could look...)
James Woods made the movie! " Pole-smoking fashion victim" gets me every time. Ha ha ha
And shame on me- I don't own Starman. Next on my list.

Mahogony..teak..Chrisisall

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