John Carpenter

Directing · 2.6 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

The Boy Who Could Fly

19866.3

They Live

19887.3

Big Trouble in Little China

19867.2

Escape from New York

19817.0

The Fog

19806.7

Starman

19846.9

Studio 666

20225.9

Carpenter

2026

Village of the Damned

19956.1

Dark Star

19746.0

Body Bags

19936.2

Memoirs of an Invisible Man

19925.9

Assault on Precinct 13

19767.3

The Silence of the Hams

19944.9

I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not

20256.8

Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators

2008

Nightmare Factory

20117.3

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects

19949.0

Do You Remember Laurie Zimmer?

20037.5

John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies

20045.5

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault

2020

In Search of Darkness: Part II

20207.7

Hollywood's Greatest Villains

20059.5

Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters

20248.2

Horror Cafe

19908.5

Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX

20086.6

In Search of Darkness

20197.5

In Search of Darkness: Part III

20227.5

Stephen King's World of Horror

19866.1

Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest

20036.7

Hollywood's Creepiest Creatures

20047.0

Stephen King's World of Horror

19898.0

The Perfect Scary Movie

20057.7

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

20096.6

Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre

20006.1

Scary Girl

20116.0

In Search of Tomorrow

20226.6

In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994

20247.9

The Thing Expanded

20268.5

First Works

19897.0

Monsterland

20096.5

The History of Metal and Horror

20215.0

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock

2008

Masters of Horror

20027.8

Unmasking the Horror

199810.0

Halloween: 25 Years of Terror

20066.9

Halloween in Hollywood

20221.0

The American Nightmare

20006.8

Christine: Finish Line

20047.6

Christine: Fast and Furious

20048.0

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown

20087.3

Charlie Brown: Blockhead's Revenge

20116.2

Why Horror?

20145.9

The Making of 'The Thing'

19827.3

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

20066.8

Bringing A Legend To Life

1979

Halloween: The Inside Story

20107.3

Tales from the Script

20096.5

In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999

20257.0

Fear in the Dark

19919.0

The Puppet Man

20167.0

Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'

20026.3

Something to Do with Death

20036.3

The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style

20096.8

The Thing: Terror Takes Shape

19987.4

John Carpenter: Live From Los Angeles - Halloween Night

2025

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

20007.0

Red Desert Nights: Making Ghosts of Mars

20017.6

The Making of 'They Live'

1988

Scoring 'Ghosts of Mars'

2001

Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog'

19805.8

Scoring "Resident Evil"

20024.9

The Original Monster Mash

2011

Return to 'Escape from New York'

20038.0

Commemoration: Howard Hawks' 'Rio Bravo'

2007

Carpenter on Quatermass

2014

Take One: Fear on Film

19827.0

Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer Productions

20176.0

Scream and Scream Again: A History of the Slasher Film

20007.0

Snake Plissken: Man of Honor

200510.0

In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy

20086.8

Working with a Master: John Carpenter

20066.0

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

2016

Henchman: The Al Leong Story

20187.0

John Carpenter: Live At Primavera Sound 2016

2016

Bloodsucking Cinema

20075.7

1982: Hollywood Summer

20196.0

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet

20064.5

An Opera of Violence

20036.8

Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror

20016.8

The Rise of the Synths

20197.6

The Wages of Sin

20037.5

Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's Maestro

20087.0

Big John

20067.8

John Carpenter: Live Retrospective

20189.3

Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon

20067.0

Christine: Ignition

20048.0

Jean-Michel Jarre: A Journey into Sound

20158.0

Full Moon Rising: The Charles Band Story

2026

Monstres, l'ennemi de l'intérieur

2017

AGFA Mystery Mixtape #4: Follow Your Own Star

20208.0

Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of Dark Star

20104.8

Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties

20017.0

The Debra Hill Story

2026

The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie

20127.0

The Future of Fear

2011

Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock

2009

Halloween: Unmasked

19995.8

Born to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story

20067.5

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

19955.8