John Carpenter

Directing · 2.7 popularity

Age

Movies

112

Born: January 16, 1948
From: Carthage, New York, USA
Website: Visit site

Biography

An American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction. Most films in Carpenter's career were initially commercial and critical failures, with the notable exceptions of Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and Starman (1984). However, many of Carpenter's films from the 1970s and the 1980s have come to be viewed as cult classics, and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker. Cult classics that Carpenter directed include: Dark Star (1974), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988) and In the Mouth of Madness (1995). His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores. Carpenter is also notable for having composed or co-composed most of the music of his films; some of them are now considered cult as well, with the main theme of Halloween being considered a part of popular culture. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics. He released his first studio album Lost Themes in 2015, and also won a Saturn Award for Best Music for Vampires (1998). Carpenter is an outspoken proponent of widescreen filming, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of Dark Star and The Ward) were filmed anamorphic with a 2.35:1 or greater aspect ratio. The Ward was shot in Super 35, the first time Carpenter has ever used that system. Carpenter has stated he feels that the 35mm Panavision anamorphic format is "the best movie system there is", preferring it over both digital and 3D film. Many of Carpenter's films have been re-released on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features. Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies, and American Cinematheque'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 Registry. In 2010, writer and actor Mark Gatiss interviewed Carpenter about his career and films for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror. Carpenter appears in all three episodes of the series. He was also interviewed by Robert Rodriguez for his The Director's Chair series on El Rey Network. Many filmmakers have been influenced by Carpenter, including James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight was heavily influenced by The Thing), Guillermo del Toro, Robert Rodriguez, Edgar Wright, Danny Boyle, Nicolas Winding Refn, Bong Joon-ho, among others. The video game Dead Space 3 is said to be influenced by Carpenter's The Thing, The Fog and Halloween, and Carpenter has stated that he would be enthusiastic to adapt that series into a feature film.

Works

112 films

The Thing

19828.1

Halloween

19787.6

They Live

19887.3

The Boy Who Could Fly

19866.3

Big Trouble in Little China

19867.2

Escape from New York

19817.0

The Fog

19806.7

Starman

19846.9

Studio 666

20225.9

Dark Star

19746.0

Assault on Precinct 13

19767.3

Village of the Damned

19956.1

Memoirs of an Invisible Man

19925.9

Body Bags

19936.2

Carpenter

2026

The Silence of the Hams

19944.9

Nightmare Factory

20117.3

I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not

20256.8

Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators

2008

Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters

20248.2

Do You Remember Laurie Zimmer?

20037.5

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault

2020

In Search of Darkness: Part II

20207.7

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects

19949.0

Horror Cafe

19908.5

Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX

20086.6

In Search of Tomorrow

20226.6

The Thing Expanded

20268.5

Hollywood's Greatest Villains

20059.5

John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies

20045.5

In Search of Darkness: Part III

20227.5

In Search of Darkness

20197.5

The Perfect Scary Movie

20057.7

In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999

20257.0

In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994

20247.9

Stephen King's World of Horror

19866.1

Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest

20036.7

Scary Girl

20116.0

Bringing A Legend To Life

1979

First Works

19897.0

Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre

20006.1

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

20066.8

The American Nightmare

20006.8

The History of Metal and Horror

20215.0

Unmasking the Horror

199810.0

The Puppet Man

20167.0

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown

20087.3

Masters of Horror

20027.8

Stephen King's World of Horror

19898.0

Charlie Brown: Blockhead's Revenge

20116.2

Scoring 'Ghosts of Mars'

2001

Scoring "Resident Evil"

20024.9

Christine: Finish Line

20047.6

Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer Productions

20176.0

Hollywood's Creepiest Creatures

20047.0

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

20096.6

Christine: Fast and Furious

20048.0

Working with a Master: John Carpenter

20066.0

The Thing: Terror Takes Shape

19987.4

Tales from the Script

20096.5

Halloween: The Inside Story

20107.3

John Carpenter: Live At Primavera Sound 2016

2016

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock

2008

Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog'

19805.8

Monsterland

20096.5

The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style

20096.8

Halloween: 25 Years of Terror

20066.9

Red Desert Nights: Making Ghosts of Mars

20017.6

The Original Monster Mash

2011

Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'

20026.3

Return to 'Escape from New York'

20038.0

Halloween in Hollywood

20221.0

John Carpenter: Live From Los Angeles - Halloween Night

2025

Something to Do with Death

20036.3

Fear in the Dark

19919.0

Why Horror?

20145.9

The Wages of Sin

20037.5

An Opera of Violence

20036.8

Guns for Hire: The Making of 'The Magnificent Seven'

20007.0

The Rise of the Synths

20197.6

The Making of 'The Thing'

19827.3

Scream and Scream Again: A History of the Slasher Film

20007.0

Henchman: The Al Leong Story

20187.0

Christine: Ignition

20048.0

Snake Plissken: Man of Honor

200510.0

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet

20064.5

Carpenter on Quatermass

2014

John Carpenter: Live Retrospective

20189.3

The Making of 'They Live'

1988

Take One: Fear on Film

19827.0

Jean-Michel Jarre: A Journey into Sound

20158.0

Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon

20067.0

Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's Maestro

20087.0

It Takes a Village: The Making of Village of the Damned

2016

In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy

20086.8

Big John

20067.8

Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror

20016.8

Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock

2009

Full Moon Rising: The Charles Band Story

2026

Bloodsucking Cinema

20075.7

Halloween: Unmasked

19995.8

The Future of Fear

2011

1982: Hollywood Summer

20196.0

AGFA Mystery Mixtape #4: Follow Your Own Star

20208.0

The Debra Hill Story

2026

Monstres, l'ennemi de l'intérieur

2017

Commemoration: Howard Hawks' 'Rio Bravo'

2007

Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties

20017.0

Born to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story

20067.5

The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie

20127.0

Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of Dark Star

20104.8

After Sunset: The Life & Times of the Drive-In Theater

19955.8