John Carpenter

"As a kid, I knew a lot of the movies I saw were hideous, but I didn't care, I loved them anyway." -John Carpenter.
John Carpenter was born on January 16th 1948 in Carthage, NY and spent his formative years being raised in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which he regards as his home town. He was inspired to become a director after seeing such films as It Came From Outer Space (IMDB), Forbidden Planet (IMDB) and Creature From The Black Lagoon (IMDB). As a younger man ne made a variety of 8mm films (Gorgon The Space Monster!) that he vows will never fall into the public domain. He was educated at Western Kentucky University (where his father, Howard, was a music professor) and the University Of Southern California, where he studied film. He has always emphasised the importance of his film schooling, especially the technical techniques he learnt and the most important thing - always make it your film. The Resurrection Of Bronco Billy (IMDB), a short film JC made as a student project, won an academy award for Best Short Live Action Film in 1970. His experiences with this film, particularly his college's insistence that they owned it, fuelled the development and eventual theatrical release of Dark Star (1974), a college project he started as a low budget film with fellow classmate Dan O'Bannon. After graduation this was expanded into feature length on a low budget of $60,000. The experience of being totally involved with the process, including final cut and script sanction, was to become a characteristic of JCs career.
JC is pretty unique among directors in that his films nearly always bear the title "John Carpenter's....". That is, the actual title of the film includes his name rather than the poster or advertising just proclaiming it as a JC film. Again, this insistence on being related to his work was partle born from his frustration with Dark Star and his early college movies. He has since said that it is very important to him (and no doubt it pleases him that his acknowledged mentor Howard Hawks also managed the same thing) that these films are recognised as his when he is gone.
JC has often said that after the release of Dark Star he half-expected his career to start immediately with him being whisked away in a limo to direct westerns for the studios. Unfortunately this didn't happen, so he started writing his way in. Two of the scripts he wrote were The Eyes Of Laura Mars (1978), a lame but successful Faye Dunaway film, and Zuma Beach (1978) (IMDB). Zuma Beach was about a rock star of sorts (played by Suzanne Sommers of "Three's Company" fame) who is down on her luck and decides to spend a day away from the hassles of work and heads to the beach to relax. The beach is filled with swimmers, mostly of the teenage variety, surfers, volleyballers, etc. Some of them recognize her, some do not. Some strike up conversations with her, etc. There is a large cast of recognizable people (or at least people who were to go on to become recognizable). Timothy Hutton, Perry Lang (star of the shortlived TV show "Riptide"), Delta Burke (star of the TV show "Designing Women"), Tanya Roberts (from "Charlie's Angels"), Rosanna Arquette, Parker Stevenson, and P.J. Soles (and you, of course, know who she is!). It was made for TV in 1978 and is really just a piece of fluff. It's mostly a day at the beach kind of movie. (Thanks to Radagast for the information). One of the leads of Zuma Beach is Michael Biehn who went on to star in The Terminator. JC has also had some other scripts of his made into movies, check out Black Moon Rising (1986) (IMDB) as an example, an amusing enough (though perhaps not intentionally amusing) future-car actioner starring Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Hamilton. Jones is a thief for hire who must retrieve his latest loot after he stashed it in the boot of a newly developed super car. Hamilton is the love interest who also happens to be the master car thief who stole the car. I don't know how much of JCs original script exists in this one apart from his original idea. His love of westerns was also exercised with El Diablo (1990) (IMDB) and Blood River (1991) (IMDB), both TV movies. El Diablo is an above average western starring Louis Gosset Jr., well worth hunting down. Blood River was optioned by John Wayne's company but never materialised as a Wayne vehicle, no doubt dissapointing huge western fan and John Wayne fan JC.
"I have emotional criteria for judging whether a script will make a good movie. If it works emotionally, then I want to do it."
Carpenter's second full length theatrical feature was Assault On Precinct 13 (1976). This is his own tribute to Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo (IMDB), one of his favourite directors movies. Though not particularly successful in America it wowed the audience in the London Film Festival and went on to become a cult hit. The films UK success brought him to the attention of Moustapha Akkad, a producer looking for someone to direct his story idea. The story involved a baby-sitter being terrorised by a homicidal maniac on the scariest night of the year. Halloween (1978) was a huge commercial success, it was the most successful independent film ever made for a number of years. The unrelenting terror and superb pacing marked Carpenters arrival into the mainstream of Hollywood directors. In the same year Carpenter also wrote and directed the TV movie Someone's Watching Me (1978), a Rear Window (IMDB) inspired thriller. This was released theatrically in Europe under the title High Rise. This film is like gold-dust, having recieved no video release but occasionally appears on TV.
Halloween was not a success from the start, it was initially savaged by the critics. While working on another TV movie, Elvis (1979), JC remembers the buzz around Halloween growing until it became obvious it was going to be a huge smash. Elvis was a biopic of the legendary rock'n'roll singer. Kurt Russell put in a fantastic performance in the lead role, the start of a long association with Carpenter. Elvis was a labour of love for JC and was a huge success in the ratings. 1979 was definitely a boom year for JC, The Los Angeles Film Critics anointed Carpenter with the 1979 New Generation Award for Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween.
The Halloween series has now become very staid, though fans will probably disagree. Carpenter stayed on as producer and writer for number II and the rather different number III. Halloween II was an interesting attempt to finish the Michael Myers saga but of course the producers wanted to milk this cash cow for as much as they could. With III Carpenter was trying to break free from the slasher mould, but the audiences wanted none of it. JC was offered the chance of helming H20 in 1999 and even Jamie Lee Curtis herself tried unsuccessfully to persuade him. Even without JCs involvement H20 still turned out to be a worthy successor to the original, wiping out the bad memories of Halloweens 4-6.
One of the major reasons cited for the success of Halloween was JC's haunting score which propelled the terrifying scenes along. Carpenter scores most of his own films (with the most notable and confusing exception being The Thing) which helps to give them that individual John Carpenter feel. When working on The Fog in post production Carpenter recalls stating that the film was flat, it failed, so he wrote a fantastic score that saved the movie. His ability to write scores is something he underplays (he consistently states he does it because he is "cheap and on-time"!). Many of his scores are available on CD and are well worth tracking down. JC actually started as a musician and his band 'The Coupe De Villes' (including Tommy Wallace) always threatens to reform and do some proper releases at some point.
"I don't deny that commercial success means a lot to me, the best reviews you can get are at the box office."
Carpenter's next theatrical project after Halloween was The Fog (1980), a very creepy ghost story set in a coastal town. This was also a big hit and confirmed his reputation as Hollywood's' premier master of horror. For his next project Carpenter took a different direction with the big action movie Escape From New York (1981), a script written during the early 70's. Kurt Russell starred as a wise cracking macho hero, totally over the top. Great fun and another great success. Flush with this string of hits Carpenter then went on to possibly his greatest achievement.
Inspired to direct by The Thing From Another World (IMDB) he decided to remake it by returning to the original source, the short story Who Goes There by John W. Campbell. This involved the use of some of the most impressive (and disgusting) special effects to date, provided by FX genius Rob Bottin and supported by some other notable effects experts. The Thing (1982) was another success but was poorly received by the critics, it was felt that the special FX overpowered the story. The haunting score was provided by Ennio Morricone, a premier soundtrack composer. This was also unusual, Carpenter had provided the marvellous soundtracks to each of his movies to date. However, some of the Morricone compositions do sound very similar to Carpenters usual electronic nightmares.
It seemed like a sure-fire winner. The master of horror fiction meets the master of horror cinema. John Carpenters next project as a director was Christine (1983), the Stephen King novel about a possessed car, teenage angst and rock'n'roll. SK admits he was disappointed with the finished project, saying it seemed lifeless and flat. I personally think it is a great film with a brilliant soundtrack. Carpenter has stated that the problem with the film was that the car was just too nice to be scary. This was his 'studio' project, the one time he has taken a job just to get some work. It was also part of his rehabilitation into Hollywood after the savage critical and commercial mauling that The Thing received.
In a further attempt to 'atone' for The Thing, Carpenter strayed into romantic territory with one of his most most critically acclaimed movies. Starman (1984) is a science fiction love story, the flip side to The Thing. It earned Jeff Bridges an Oscar nomination for his fantastic performance in the title role. The film is really scathing in its portrayal of man's fear in the face of the unknown, a marvellous and uplifting movie. Two years later sees the release of the big budget flop Big Trouble In Little China (1986), a chinese ghost story set in Chinatown, starring Kurt Russell. The flamboyant and boisterous action of the film takes precedence over any horror. An interesting attempt at an action-ghost movie, but not very successful critically or commercially. In 1984 he was also producer and writer of the enjoyable sci-fi film The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) (IMDB) after trying unsuccessfully to set it up as a directorial project for himself.
After the big budget failure of Big Trouble... Carpenter returned to smaller budget films where he had more control. He intended to make a trio of these low budget films, starting with Prince Of Darkness (1987), which was the first of the multi-picture deal with Universal and Carolco. An ambitious film that successfully and chillingly explores the metaphysical aspects of pure evil. Alice Cooper had a small role as a sadistic tramp. Next up was They Live (1988). This is a great science fiction film starring the inimitable Roddy Piper, the WWF wrestling star. The third low budget film never appeared. This was a great shame, the previous two offerings showed a return to form for Carpenter. Unfortunately we had to settle for the lacklustre Memoirs Of An Invisible Man (1992), a Chevy Chase vehicle. This was originally intended as a serious piece, but the big bucks lure of funny man Chase was too much for the studio to resist. A low point in Carpenters directorial output.
After this disaster Carpenter decided to go smaller again, returning to TV to direct two segments of Bodybags (1993), a trilogy of tales in the Creepshow tradition. Carpenter also appeared in the film as the morgue attendant in the 'wraparound' story, introducing each tale with some ghoulish puns. Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directed the last segment, the end result was a good quality TV movie. Back to the cinema screen again and Village Of The Damned (1995) was a remake of another of his favourite films, originally filmed in B&W in the sixties. This was not particularly well received. I am sure it was released straight to video in the UK, but other sources assure me it had a world-wide release. Universal Pictures apologized for moving its release date forward to fill the time slot which was vacated by To Wong Foo.., which was not yet ready for release. It had an unfortunate timing in the United States, opening the week after the Oklahoma bombing in which many children were killed.
In The Mouth Of Madness(1995) was made the year before Village of the Damned, even though in the US it was released only two months before Village. Mouth of Madness received the some of the best reviews of John's career, opened the Fantastica Festival in Gerardmer last year and was nominated for Best Horror Picture at this year's Saturn Awards. It is a superb Lovecraftian tale starring Sam Neill and Jurgen Prochnow. A world famous horror author has gone missing while his books are having strange influences on people. Pure terror and pacing in the best Carpenter style, a moderate success both critically and financially.
In 1996 Carpenter got back together with Debra Hill (producer) and his old mate Kurt Russell to bring one of cinema's greatest anti-heroes back to life. Snake Plissken was back for a sequel to Escape From New York, Escape From LA (1996). Kurt Russell reprised his role and Carpenter directed again, all three principals collaborated on the story. It was released to mixed reviews and box office. It is more of a remake than a sequel, a decision made based on the fact that market research showed that Joe Public had never even heard of Escape From New York. While not exactly setting the box office alight it is on course for a successful world gross. Towards the end of 1996 JC was reported to be working on a futuristic sci-fi actioner Mutant Chronicles, based on a popular role-playing game. After a few months JC is rumoured to have fallen out with the producers, arguing that the film needed a much bigger budget to be pulled of successfully. After this a few rumours circulated about a possible Western/Sci-fi film, but no real evidence appeared.
In 1999 came Vampires (1998), an adaptation of a fantastic, action packed novel by John Steakley. It follows a band of vampire hunters who are employed by the Vatican to rid America of some of the meanest blood suckers to ever appear in print. The film was initially released in France to ecstatic critical and commercial response. The US release saw Vampires go to the top of the box office charts.
His last theatrical release was Ghosts of Mars, a film from his own script. It wasn't a huge success and was savaged by many critics.
One of his earlier screenplays, Meltdown/The Prometheus Crisis was in development but with no input from JC, but this project (a mighty Casper Van Dien vehicle!) seems to have been shelved. Silent Predators premiered on TBS during this time, a made-for-TV movie based on a very old script of JCs, Bite. Recent interviews with JC always hint at retirement (or semi-retirement at least given his involvement with non-movie projects such as the Snake Plissken books, comics, videogames, etc.) but always with a hint that he might just saddle up one more time. I hope he does.
In the last few months of 2005 JC seems to have started working again. He is currently signed on to direct Cigarette Burns, an original episode in The Masters Of Horror made-for-TV/DVD series and also is slated to direct Psychopath which is a simultaneous computer game/movie development. While neither of these seem like ideal high calibre projects they do indicate a willingness to direct again from JC. Much more interesting is an apparently "proper" cinematic project, 13th Apostle. There are also the seemingly never ending remakes of his work, currently AOP13 (great) and The Fog (unknown so far) are available with rumours of a Halloween remake.
Carpenter is a consistently successful director, while some of his films are more well received than others, none of his films have ever lost money for the studio (a pretty big achievement). He often works with the same familiar cast and crew (Kurt Russell, Debra Hill, Donald Pleasence, Tommy Wallace, Jamie Leigh Curtis,... the list goes on). His awesome talent for portraying the fantastic on the screen puts him in a league of his own.