John Carpenter has rightfully earned his place among the pantheon of horror masters. He delivered some of the genre's most interesting and entertaining work in the '70s and '80s. Halloween helped established the slasher subgenre. Assault on Precinct 13 brought a new kind of gritty action to the multiplex. While some of his movies weren't appreciated on release, practically all of them are now recognized as cult classics.
Carpenter's work has also been immensely influential with the next generation of filmmakers. Dozens of directors have cited him as an influence, including Edgar Wright, Guillermo Del Toro, Danny Boyle, and Quentin Tarantino. Even today, his best movies like The Thing and They Live remain fresh and vital. His filmography includes plenty of great selections for spooky season viewing.
'The Fog' (1980) - IMDb: 6.8/10
A mysterious mist engulfs a California town, bringing with it the ghosts of sailors who perished in a shipwreck a century before. A gang of heroes fights to stop the vengeful spirits before it's too late. The Fog was Carpenter's first horror after Halloween and sees him collaborating with Jamie Lee Curtis once again.
The Fog was a financial success but received lukewarm reviews at the time. It's an assessment that Carpenter largely shares. He has said that he does not like The Fog as much as some of his other movies due to the re-shoots and low production value. Nevertheless, its critical standing has improved significantly over the last four decades, with Carpenter suggesting that it has become "a minor horror classic".
'Starman' (1984) - IMDb: 7.0/10
Starman was a major change of pace for Carpenter. He retains the sci-fi but ditches the horror for romance. The film follows an alien (Jeff Bridges) who crash lands on earth. The alien crosses paths with the widow Jenny (Karen Allen) and becomes a clone of her deceased husband.
At first, Jenny is frightened of Starman, but eventually the two fall in love. However, the NSA learns of Starman's presence and seeks to capture him, putting both their lives in danger. Starman's premise is a little goofy, but it's a surprisingly touching love story. Bridges, in particular, gives a great performance for which he received an Oscar nomination.
'Elvis' (1979) - IMDb: 7.0/10
It might come as a surprise, but after Halloween Carpenter's next project was a TV movie about the King of Rock. The film stars Kurt Russell and chronicles Elvis's life up until 1970. It's notable for being Carpenter's first collaboration with Russell, who would go on to appear in four more Carpenter films.
Elvis hasn't aged as well as many of Carpenter's other movies, but it's worth watching just to see the director at work outside of the horror genre. Russell also gives a committed and impressive performance. He deserves credit for taking on a challenging role well out of his comfort zone.
'In the Mouth of Madness' (1994) - IMDb: 7.1/10
Sam Neil stars in this supernatural horror as John Trent, an insurance investigator looking into the disappearance of a famous horror writer. Soon, the boundaries between reality and the world of the author's books begin to break down. Trent questions his own sanity, while a deeper conspiracy plays out around him.
The film is an homage to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, the writer behind influential monsters like Cthulhu. In the Mouth of Madness is a little more uneven than Carpenter's best work, but it's worth watching for Neil's performance and the impressive monsters designed by Industrial Light & Magic.
'Escape from New York' (1981) - IMDb: 7.1/10
Escape from New York takes place in a dystopian future where Manhattan Island has been converted into a massive maximum security prison. Terrorists hijack Air Force One and crash it into the prison island, leaving the president stranded. The government recruits prisoner Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) to rescue him. If he succeeds, Snake will be pardoned. He has twenty-four hours, and the clock is ticking.
The film is a great blend of big-budget imagination and gleeful B-movie sensibility. The tough, gruff Snake, in particular, might be Russell's most iconic Carpenter character. In fact, Snake influenced other sci-fi heroes, especially Solid Snake from the Metal Gear games.
'They Live' (1988) - IMDb: 7.2/10
They Live follows Nada (Roddy Piper), a man who gets hold of a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see the truth: the world is secretly controlled by skull-faced aliens in disguise. Understandably, Nada sets out to destroy these evil overlords. What follows is a wild, fun story that has aged remarkably well.
In the decades since its release, some of the images and ideas from They Live have seeped into popular culture. Its themes of conspiracies and brainwashing remain relevant. Artist Shepard Fairey cites the film as the inspiration behind his OBEY clothing brand. The nearly six-minute fight scene between Nada and his friend Frank (Keith David) influenced a similar scene in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. Not to mention, They Live is the source of the iconic line: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."
'Big Trouble in Little China' (1986) - IMDb: 7.2/10
One of Carpenter's wackier projects, Big Trouble in Little China follows truck driver Jack (Kurt Russell) who joins his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) on a mission to rescue Wang's fiancé (Suzee Pai). Their quest takes them to a hidden world beneath San Francisco's Chinatown, where they find themselves doing battle with an ancient sorcerer (James Hong).
The premise may seem a little odd, but Carpenter was attracted to the script because he had always wanted to make a martial arts movie. Unfortunately, it did not go down well with audiences at the time. Big Trouble in Little China was a flop on release, grossing just $11 million against a budget of at least $19 million. However, it had a second life on home video and has since become one of Carpenter's most beloved films.
'Assault on Precinct 13' (1976) - IMDb: 7.3/10
This gritty, low-budget independent film (which Carpenter also scored and edited) follows police officer Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) and criminal Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) as they team up to defend a precinct against a ruthless gang of well-armed criminals.
The film updates the classic Western Rio Bravo but relocates the action to a modern-day police station. It makes for one of the tensest sieges in film history, with the heroes relying on everything they have to hold off their numerically superior attackers. Carpenter packs a lot of mayhem into the film's lean, 91-minute runtime, making for one of the most economical action movies of the '70s. It was underappreciated at the time but is now rightly viewed as a classic.
'Halloween' (1978) - IMDb: 7.7/10
The early '80s were the golden age of slashers, with box office smashes like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. But neither of these movies (or their dozens of spin-offs) would be possible without the foundation laid by Halloween. Carpenter took ideas from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and repackaged them for a new generation of viewers. In the process, he crafted arguably the most influential slasher film of all time.
Halloween introduced many tropes that would become key parts of the subgenre: the final girl, a theme song for the killer, and many shots from the villain's POV. The franchise has also proven to have remarkable longevity, with the latest entry premiering in October of this year.
'The Thing' (1982) - IMDb: 8.2/10
Russell leads the cast once again, this time as a member of a team of Antarctic researchers who are hunted by an extraterrestrial shape-shifter. The alien takes the form of the crew members, quickly sowing paranoia and distrust among the group. The Thing fared poorly at the box office and received negative reviews, but has since come to be regarded as one of the defining horrors of the '80s.
The Thing stands apart from most sci-fis of its day due to its bleak, almost nihilistic narrative and muted, wintry visuals. In particular, several critics have praised its depiction of the breakdown of trust among a social group. Some have interpreted it as an allegory for Cold War-era social issues like Red Scares and McCarthyism. Even without this subtext, The Thing is great simply as a suspenseful horror. It's no surprise that many directors have taken cues from it, not least Tarantino, whose The Hateful Eight is almost a remake but in a Western setting. Hands down, it's Carpenter's masterpiece.