John carpenter

John Howard Carpenter (Carthage, New York, January 16, 1948), artistically known as John Carpenter, is a film director, screenwriter and composer. of American soundtracks. He is described, along with David Cronenberg and Wes Craven, as one of the most important directors of the horror genre, especially in the 1970s and 1980s.

His filmography includes films that have obtained great box office successes such as Halloween (1978), The Fog (La niebla) (1980) or Starman (1984). He has also directed influential titles such as Escape from New York (1997: Rescue in New York) (1981), The Thing ( The Thing) (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (Coup in Little China) (1986) or They Live (Están vivos) (1987). Throughout his career he has obtained 22 awards, including the Saturn or those of the Cannes and Sitges Festival, in addition to another 20 nominations.

Biography

Early Years

John Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, the son of Milton Jean and Howard Ralph Carpenter, a music teacher. He moved with his family to Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1953. His fascination with music began as a child. films, particularly westerns by Howard Hawks and John Ford, as well as low-budget horror films such as The Thing from Another World and big-budget sci-fi films such as Forbidden Planet.

"I loved monster movies when I was a kid, but unfortunately, now everything is superheroes. Many of my characters are not the dumbest in the room, they are the losers, the working class. "

John Carpenter (Valencia Plaza, 2019) [1]

Soon he began shooting 8mm short films (Revenge of the Colossal Beast, Gorgo vs. Godzilla, Terror from Space and Sorcerers from Outer Space) before entering high school. He went to Western Kentucky University, where his father chaired the music department, and then transferred to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts in 1968. However, he did not finish his studies in order to make his first film. Dark Star (1974).

Film career

Student Films and Oscars

In a beginner's film course at USC Cinema in 1969 Carpenter writes and directs an 8 minute short Captain Voyeur. The short would be rediscovered in the university archives in 2011 and is interesting since it highlights elements that would appear in his later film Halloween (1978).

The following year he collaborated with producer John Longenecker as co-writer, editor and composer of The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970) which won the Oscar for best short film. The short film was enlarged to 35mm, sixty prints were made, and the film was released theatrically by Universal Studios for two years in the United States and Canada.

1970s: From student films to professional cinema

His first feature film, Dark Star (1974), was a black comedy in the science fiction genre, co-written with Dan O& #39;Bannon, who was later the screenwriter of Alien (1979), a film that freely adapted much of Dark Star to horror. With a budget of $60,000, the production process Shooting was difficult, as both Carpenter and O'Bannon completed the film taking on various roles, with Carpenter doing the musical score, writing, producing and directing, while O'Bannon acted in the film and did the effects. specials. These caught the attention of George Lucas, who hired him to do a job on special effects for Star Wars. Carpenter's work did not go unnoticed in Hollywood either: they marveled at his creative and cinematographic skills within the confines of a very small budget.

"It is indeed a worthy homage to a genre with which Carpenter grew up and for which he feels great affection and admiration. Nor is it a matter of seeing in Dark Star A great movie. It's not. It is a correct invoicing film that presents the great narrative talent of its maximum responsibility, which is fun and which is a declaration of principles and courage"

Adrián Massanet (Adrián Massanet)Espinof, 2011) [2]

His next film was Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), a low-budget thriller influenced by Howard Hawks films, particularly Rio Bravo (1959), and George A. Romero and Night of the Living Dead (1968). With a budget of $100,000, as with Dark Star, Carpenter was responsible for many aspects of the film's creation: he wrote, directed, scored, and edited the film under the pseudonym John T. Chance (the name of the character played by John Wayne in Río Bravo). Carpenter has said that he considers it his first real film since it was the first time he filmed with a shooting schedule. In that film he worked for the first time with Debra Hill, who played a prominent role in some of the most important films of his career, and a cast of experienced but relatively unknown actors such as Austin Stoker, who had previously appeared in science fiction films, disasters and blaxploitation movies, and Darwin Joston, who had worked primarily in television and had been a neighbor of Carpenter's. It subsequently received critical reappraisal in the United States where it is now generally regarded as one of the best exploitation films of the 1970s.

"Today it is considered as one of the greatest films of our filmmaker, and it is the first to know a recent remake, something that, as we have already commented, not only does Carpenter bother, it also feels flattered. It was a notorious film by Jean-François Richet, with Ethan Hawke, Gabriel Byrne, John Leguizamo and Laurence Fishburne as the main protagonists. It lacks that something that makes the first film such an extenuating and definitive experience. "

Adrián Massanet (Adrián Massanet)Espinof, 2011) [3]

His next project was a TV thriller starring Lauren Hutton Someone's Watching Me! (1978). This film for television tells the story of a lonely working woman who, shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, discovers that she is being harassed by her neighbor across the street. Considered hers & # 34; lost film & # 34; is a work that had a discreet repercussion after its broadcast and in which a tribute to Rear Window (Rear Window) (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock is perceived.

"City and steel urban voyeurism. The vertical hive is transformed into a threatening wall of windows, from which an implacable and methodical psychopath is lurking.(...) In any case, it is a modélic thriller in terms of rhythm and intrigue, despite a couple of details that spark within this outstanding proposal. "

Manu Castro (Manu Castro)The Dark Room, 2016) [4]

Carpenter's first film to achieve major commercial success, and helped lay the foundations for the slasher subgenre of horror films, was Halloween.) (1978). Starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance in their main roles, it is an exploitation film that has given rise to a saga of films and an icon of the genre such as Michael Myers that has lasted until 2020. Originally it was an idea suggested by producer Irwin Yablans (titled The Babysitter Murders) who conceived a film about babysitters being threatened by a stalker. Carpenter took the idea and another suggestion from Yablans, who proposed its setting on Halloween night, and developed the story. The script was co-written by Debra Hill and Carpenter, who has since rejected interpretations of it as an allegory about the virtue of sexual purity and the danger of casual sexual relations. The soundtrack, also composed by the director, became very popular, admitting that he was inspired by the soundtracks of the films Suspiria (1977), directed by Dario Argento with music by Goblin, and The Exorcist (The Exorcist) (1973) directed by William Friedkin with music by Mike Oldfield. With a budget of $320,000, it grossed over $65 million which has led it to be considered one of the most successful independent films of all time.

"Halloween night was never my idea for the movie. My idea was to make a movie about an old haunted house. It's 100% exploitation cinema. I decided to make a movie that I would have loved to have seen when I was a kid, full of cheap tricks, like the haunted house at a fair, where you can walk down the hall and things jump in your face. It has been suggested that he was making some kind of moral statement. Believe me, it wasn't. In Halloween I saw the characters as teenagers just normal. »

John Carpenter (Chic Magazine[5]

"He only received bad reviews. There was only one copy and every premiere, a bad critic. Until a New York journalist said it was a masterpiece. And until today. "

John Carpenter (Diario El Mundo, 2019) [6]

At the end of the decade began what would be the first of several collaborations between Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell, whom he directed in the telefilm Elvis (1979). Adaptation to television for ABC of fragments of the life of the singer Elvis Presley, the plot focuses on the memory of aspects of his past life before beginning a series of concerts that mark his return to the stage in Las Vegas. Despite his production for the exhibition at the small screen in countries like Spain came to be released in movie theaters.

"Since his death Elvis has been retaken as the object of cinematographic worship.(...) Kurt Russell put himself in 1979 to the orders of his friend John Carpenter in a magnificent television product called simply Elvisthat in many countries (such as Spain) I have just premiered in cinemas"

Toni García (Toni García)The Country of Tentations, 2011) [7]

1980s: Successive commercial successes

The decade begins by reproducing the commercial success achieved by Halloween with the premiere of The Fog (La niebla) (1980), a ghostly revenge story co-written with Debra Hill inspired by horror comics such as Tales from the Crypt and the Quentin Lawrence-directed film The Trollenberg Terror - The Crawling Eye (The eye. The creature from another world) (1958) whose plot shows a series of monsters that hide in the clouds and dominate the locals through the use of telepathic powers. With an ensemble cast, including Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman, Tom Atkins and Rob Bottin, the production process was complex since, after seeing a first cut, he was not satisfied with the result and for the first time For once in his career he had to find a way to salvage a nearly finished film that did not meet his standards. In order to make the film more cohesive and terrifying, he shot additional footage that included a number of new scenes. Despite the production problems, and mostly negative reviews, The Fog was another commercial success: with a budget of $1 million it grossed over $21 million in the United States alone. Carpenter has He has said that The Fog is not his favorite film, yet he considers it "a minor horror classic." Today it is considered a cult film.

"I wanted to make a story of ghosts to the old usanza that would transport us to our childhood fears. I wanted to make a movie like Val Newton's productions like Isle of the Dead (The island of death1945 or I Walked With a Zombie (I walked with a zombie1945). I love Lewton's movies. They are very dark, everything is suggested and has that aura of melodrama. He was a real fan of that sort of thing."

John Carpenter (SyFyWire, 2020) [8]

This film was followed by another hit Escape from New York (1997: Rescue in New York) (1981) starring Kurt Russel, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine and Donald Pleasance. Action and science fiction film set in a dystopian future, in which New York City has been transformed into a perimeter prison, the plot addresses how a former World War III veteran is hired to rescue the President of the United States when, after an attack, his plane is shot down and ends up in the city. Its good commercial reception led to a sequel, also directed by Carpenter, Escape from L.A. (2013: Rescue in L.A.) (1996).

" Few films exist more purely fun and trepidating than 1997: Rescue in New York (Escape From New York, 1981), defined by Carpenter as “the most linear and rotunda story I could imagine”, in which the teacher re-inquited in his serene criticism to a demented society, building a parable of militarism and the police state in which the United States was becoming.(...) Carpenter’s initial inspiration for this film was the climate of cynicism and wild disenchantment that came to the Watergate case. Few stories have been so harsh with the figure of the President of the United States, not only as an institutional figure, but as a rotten human being and without the freedom of redemption"

Adrián Massanet (Espinof, 2011) [9]

His next film, The Thing (The Thing) (1982), is noted for its high production values, including Rob Bottin's groundbreaking special effects, effects special visuals by artist Albert Whitlock, a musical score by Ennio Morricone, and a cast that includes rising star Kurt Russell and respected character actors such as Wilford Brimley, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Keith David, and Richard Masur. The Thing was distributed by Universal Pictures. Adaptation of the film co-directed by Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks The Thing from Another World (The enigma of another world) (1951) Carpenter's version, from whose script is Commissioned by Bill Lancaster, it is more faithful to the short novel written by John W. Campbell on which both films were based. The Thing is part of what Carpenter would later call his "Apocalyptic Trilogy"; made up of The Thing, Prince of Darkness (1987) and In the Mouth of Madness (1994) with sad endings for the characters. an explicit horror film that was disliked by audiences in the summer of 1982, particularly as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) directed by Steven Spielberg had been released two weeks earlier and portrayed a much happier image of the alien visits. In an interview, Carpenter stated that the release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial could have been largely responsible for the film's poor reception. The Thing did not do too well commercially and it was Carpenter's first failure, although over the years it would end up being a cult film. In 2020, the preparation of a new version that will expand the plots of the film was confirmed.

"It is a remake of a classic of the 1950s led by Howard Hawks, it was a huge failure of criticism and taquilla that marked the director's career for the rest of the decade, it was one of the last great premieres that depended above all on the special effects performed analogically (it is premiered, in fact, the same year that Tron, the film that demonstrated the potential of digital animation effects in commercial cinema), became with the years a work of worship and is now considered one of the best science-fiction and horror films in the history of cinema."

Elisa Hernández (EfeEme, 2019) [10]

Shortly after finishing post-production on The Thing, Universal Studios offered him to direct Firestarter (1984) based on the Stephen King novel. Carpenter again hired Bill Lancaster to adapt the novel into a screenplay, which was completed in mid-1982. Carpenter had Burt Lancaster in mind for the role of Rainbird and Jennifer Connelly, then a 12-year-old girl, as Charly.. As The Thing had failed at the box office, Universal replaced Carpenter with Mark L. Lester. In 2020 Universal again announced a remake of the film scripted by Scott Teems and directed by Keith Thomas.

"The territory of the monster was the shadow. I wanted him to look, get him out. That's why I was so irritated when a group of neo-Nazis approved of They're alive. and they wanted to present the film as an image of the control that the Jews exert in society. It seemed like a joke. It's just the opposite. My cinema has always been on the side of the working class, the losers, the Indians... I see what is happening now in my country with Trump and I despair. But on the other hand, I want to believe it's transient. I'm optimistic. The future will be better. "

John Carpenter (Diario El Mundo, 2019) [11]

Ironically, Carpenter's next film, Christine (1983), was an adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name. The story revolves around a high school nerd, named Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), who buys a second-hand car that turns out to have supernatural powers. As Cunningham restores and fixes the car, he becomes strangely obsessed with it, with tragic consequences. Christine did well commercially on its theatrical release and was well received by critics, but Carpenter has said that he directed the film because it was all he was offered at the time.

"I don't think, under any concept, that Christine It's an insignificant movie. It has a lot of fun, it is made with great professionalism, and has at least two anthological sequences. But it lacks the density of Carpenter's great cinema, the same as while laughing at the genres, or at least questions them, makes use of them to propose unforgettable adventures in their narrative strength and in their joyful teebrism.(...) neither in the direction of actors, nor in visual planning or assembly, nor in the rhythm, is appreciated by the director able to do wonders with all this in his immediately preceding film. Christine more it seems directed by an advantageous but shy principal, who narrates in good ways but never transcends mere solvency. "

Adrián Massanet (EspinOf, 2011) [12]

Starman (Starman, the man of the stars) (1984) was a film produced by Michael Douglas and Larry J. Franco whose screenplay, written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, was well received by Columbia Pictures, which preferred it to E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Douglas chose Carpenter to direct because of his reputation as an action director who can also deliver strong emotions. Starman garnered favorable reviews by Los Angeles Times, New York Times and LA Weekly. The director described her as a film he envisioned as a romantic comedy similar to It Happened One Night (1934), directed by Frank Capra and starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, but with an alien. The film received Oscar nominations - the only time this has happened in the director's career - and a Golden Globe for Jeff Bridges' portrayal of Starman, who did win the Saturn Award for this role, and also received an Academy Award nomination. Golden Globe for the best soundtrack composed by Jack Nitzsche.

"Although somehow it is the most romantic or simply touching film of Carpenter to date, its staging is a hundred percent Carpenter, and even its central character, that alien entity, has enough to do with some Carpenter heroes"

Adrián Massanet (EspinOf, 2011) [13]

The end of the decade marks a gradual return to low-budget productions after the poor reception of his action comedy Big Trouble in Little China (Coup in Little China) (1986). Although it is currently considered a cult film, and there is even a remake in which he did not participate, the film was a box office failure, raising 11 million dollars during its premiere with a budget of 25. It would be the film with the highest budget in his career, but its commercial failure in movie theaters meant that in the future it would be difficult for him to get enough financing for his projects. With a crazy script full of transgressive sequences, written by Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein, rewritten by W. D. Richter, and retouched by Carpenter, the main motivation according to the director was to make a big prank before age or impositions of the market prevented it.

(on the remake of Big Trouble in Little China"They want a movie with Dwayne Johnson, that's what they want. So they just took that title. They don't care about shit or me or my movie. That movie wasn't a hit. "

John Carpenter (Photograms, 2018) [14]

He returned to low-budget projects, such as Prince of Darkness (1987), a horror film starring Donald Pleasance and Victor Wong with influences from the BBC television series Quatermass. With a 30-day shooting schedule, the film, despite addressing issues such as Satanism and religious sects and concepts such as the cosmicism promoted in the literary works of H. P. Lovecraft, received bad reviews, which are generally considered a minor work within his filmography. It is the second of the three films in the so-called "Apocalypse Trilogy" which include The Thing (The thing) (1982) and In the Mouth of Madness (In the mouth of fear i>) (1994).

"In Carpenter's extraordinary and somewhat forgotten pseudo-satnic film, a sound band full of ominous choirs and invocations to the evil one cannot be missing, although everything in the minimalist, machacon and mysterious context"

John Tones (EspinOf, 2017) [15]

The professional fighter, and occasional actor in the film They LiveRoddy Piper

His next project, They Live (Están vivos) (1988), recaptured cult movie audiences but Carpenter would not again be a considered film director. mass cinema in his later career. Satirical science fiction and horror film is a denunciation of consumerism and social conformism in which John Nada (Roddy Piper), a worker recently arrived in Los Angeles, finds by chance some glasses that allow you to see people as they are. Thanks to those glasses, which reveal a world in black and white, he will discover that important figures in political and social life are actually aliens who have been spreading subliminal messages with which to turn men into a race of slaves. The script was written by the director and is based on the short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning by Ray Nelson.

"A hugely minimalist film that pitylessly attacks the system of consumption among other things, portraying the human being as an authentic easily influencing blur and which is easy to master as long as it does not think for itself, all of it from a very original alien invasion."

Alberto Abuín (EspinOf, 2013) [16]

Carpenter also volunteered to direct The Exorcist III in 1989 and met with writer William Peter Blatty over the course of a week. However, the two clashed over the climax of the film and Carpenter ultimately declined the project. Blatty directed the film, which has subsequently been considered a controversial sequel, a year later. Carpenter said that even though they were fighting over the ending, there was mutual respect and they talked about their shared interest: quantum physics.

(on Dario Argento) "An afternoon I was watching one of his films I thought, 'Dario is free, he does what he wants,' and I said, 'Fuck them,' I'm going to blow up some terrifying ideas and images."

John Carpenter (Valencia Plaza, 2019) [17]

1990s: Critical and commercial decline

During the 1990s there was a gradual decline in Carpenter's career with films that obtained poor box office results and bad reviews. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Memoirs of an Invisible Man) (1992), starring Chevy Chase and Sam Neill, is the director's last production for a major studio. Body Bags (1993), co-directed with Tobe Hooper and Larry Sulkis, is a telefilm that follows in the footsteps of anthology films such as Creepshow (1982). John Carpenter's Village of the Damned (The village of the damned) (1995), adaptation of the homonymous film directed by Wolf Rilla in 1960 with Christopher Reeve and Kirstie Alley has subsequently been positively reviewed. Escape from L.A. (2013: rescue in L.A.) (1996), despite being the sequel to her hit film Escape from New York (1997: Rescue in New York) (1981) performed by Kurt Russel, the same actor as the original, did not obtain the expected results either.

"The fun is assured in 2013: rescue in L.A.and irony also, in this great adventure of Carpenter, the last of his great films, before his talent was suddenly seen, and painfully exhausted. Digna and cynica follower of the great first part, there is in it an irresistible position of bad milk and desire to spend it well at all costs. It is not only highly recommended, it is a safe bet for mask cynics and heart romantics."

Adrián Massanet (EspinOf, 2011) [18]

However, there are also notable works from this decade. The closing of his so-called "Trilogy of the Apocalypse" is In The Mouth of Madness (In the mouth of fear ) (1994) a dark horror film that once again pays homage to the American writer H. P. Lovecraft. The plot centers on John Trent (Sam Neill), an investigator for an insurance company, who is assigned a mission to find the best-selling horror writer Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) who has disappeared without a trace along with the last chapters of his next novel. During the search, the researcher will unknowingly enter the fictional world created by the writer.

"Great genre cinema, which employs archetypal elements of horror cinema, but with great astuce and intelligence, so that they seem new and fulfill their objective: to anguish the spectator."

Adrián Massanet (EspinOf, 2011) [19]

Despite his extensive career in horror and science fiction films, it would not be until 1998 when John Carpenter directed his first film dedicated to vampires: John Carpenter's Vampires ( Vampires) (1998). Based on the novel Vampire' by John Steakley, with a screenplay by Don Jacoby, it stars James Woods as the leader of a gang of vampire hunters aided by by the Catholic Church. It is his most successful film of the decade and a kind of mix of genres such as western, road movies and a revision of the classic conventions of the genre.

"The only thing that convinced Carpenter to take over the realization of Vampires it is precisely the possibility of a western of horror. The result is a vibrant tale full of horror, humor and even love that returns us to the best Carpenter, loaded with irony, bad milk and in full narrative form."

Alberto Abuín (EspinOf, 2011) [20]

2000s: Semi-retirement

Since the year 2000, John Carpenter's projects have been more sporadic, but his figure and recognition as a filmmaker have been the subject of analysis and experienced a revitalization.

"May the film director as Halloween night, 1997: Rescue in New York or Vampires receive the award and treatment they previously obtained in the same scenario and in front of the same audience (or almost) people like Agnès Varda, Clint Eastwood or, last year, Martin Scorsese before symptom of nothing extraordinary is desired simple sensatez. And so he wanted to make clear a Cannes delivered to the director, to the cause and to The thingThe 1982 film that was designed as a prelude to everything else. We talked about the remake of Howard Hawks' tape, which, by the hand of some as spectacular as imperishable special effects, not only remains able to retain the breath of the spectator with a perfect and frigid administration of the fever, but, and this is more important, managed to read the uncertainty of his time to become a political manifest and perfect reading of the common mood and imagination. "

Luis Martínez (Diario El Mundo, 2019) [21]

The first film of the new decade was Ghosts of Mars (Ghosts of Mars) (2001) an action horror film set on Mars. A group of policemen must transfer a dangerous criminal from a mining colony to discover that its inhabitants have been possessed by a kind of spirits and primal forces of the territory that seek the death of their invaders. It received poor reviews, and only made approximately $14 million at the box office, half the budget.

"Olvidable, paupérrima, boring Carpenter movie, who tried an exciting action movie, and didn't go anywhere. A crushing critical and economic failure. No one remembers her today, except those who followed her career. Most, like me, regret it, a few, defending it in blood and fire. The best thing is to forget it and return to its great narrative triumphs. "

Adrián Massanet (EspinOf, 2011) [22]

In 2005, there were two remakes of Assault on Precinct 13, directed by Jean-François Richet and starring Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke, and The Fog (Terror in the Fog) (2005) directed by Rupert Wainwright and starring Tom Welling and Maggie Grace. In the latter case, the tape was produced by Carpenter, although in an interview he defined his participation as: «I come to greet everyone. Then I go home."

In 2007 filmmaker Rob Zombie wrote, produced and directed Halloween (Halloween: The Origin) (2007) a reimagining of the 1978 film directed by Carpenter. The film follows the original plot, with the character of Michael Myers stalking Laurie Strode and her friends on a Halloween night, under a new prism elaborated by Zombie. Its good commercial reception led to a sequel two years later, entitled Halloween II (H2) (2009) which, this time, is not based on the plot shown in Halloween II (1981) but continues the events of Halloween (2007). At the time there were discrepancies between Carpenter and Zombie, due to some comments by the latter that suggested that Carpenter's reception of the project had not been good, something denied by the filmmaker. Finally, both indicated that their personal situation and the conflict had been resolved.

"To all those fascinated with the JC/RZ dispute, it's old news. We talked on Sunday, we buried the axe of war. Let's forget it."

John Carpenter (Photograms, 2016) [23]

After Ghosts of Mars (Ghosts of Mars) (2001) John Carpenter becomes involved in the television series Masters of Horror (Masters of Terror) (2005-2007) promoted by American filmmaker Mick Garris in an attempt to bring together the best creators of the horror genre in a series. In this two-season anthology series, in addition to Carpenter, filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento, Joe Dante, John Landis and Takashi Miike participated.

"It's really fun the way these projects started. The TV documentary called Masters of Horror (presented by Bruce Campbell), about George Romero, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Guillermo Del Toro and I, and a lot of directors of horror films. Mick Garris called everyone and said, 'Hey, we should have dinner and call it the "Holy Masters Dinner!' So we met in the Valley last year: William, Tobe, myself, Sam Raimi and Carpenter, David Cronenberg was there once... a lot of people, and it was very fun, because we made the fool saying, 'The Masters of the Horror want to drink coffee!' o'The Masters of the Horror desire the dessert!'

John Landis (EspinOf, 2020) [24]

In the first season, Carpenter directed the episode Cigarette Burns (The End of the World in 35mm) (2005) which participated in the contest in the official Fantastic section at the Sitges Film Festival. Its plot shows the manager of a cinema who has a bonus looking for original and extravagant cinematographic tapes for rich people. It garnered mostly positive reviews and equally positive reactions from fans, many of whom consider it comparable to their previous horror classics. In the second season, he directed the episode Pro-life (Pro-life ) (2006) about a young woman who is raped and pregnant by a demon and wants to have an abortion, but is stopped by her father, a religious fanatic, and her three brothers.

"With a perfect rhythm, and only achacable the fact that a certain phone call is too forced, Carpenter tells us that infernal journey with an elegance and sobriety worthy of his best cinema, and achieving something truly difficult with a history of these characteristics, risky to the satiety: that it be totally credible. From this credibility our own fear is born in a very original film, in which we can also make several readings, going from the obsession that every cynéphile has ever felt for a film that was not found, to the portrait of violence as if of a Lovecraft account it was treated. "

Alberto Abuín Cigarette Burns in EspinOf, 2007) [25]

In February 2009, it was announced that Carpenter had planned a new project, titled The Ward (Locked Up) (2010) starring Amber Heard. A year later, this horror and suspense film was released in which a young woman is admitted to a psychiatric hospital and begins to see the spirit of another girl at night. It is her first feature film since Ghosts of Mars ( Ghosts of Mars ) (2001) and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2010.

"It does not fail to draw my attention that in these times when consecrated directors, and others who are not so much, are affectionately given to cynephilic revisiting exercises in their works, someone like John Carpenter has chosen a film as The Ward to sit back in the chair of director, without obviously counting his two episodes — one exceptional, the other a little clumsy — for the series Masters of Horror. And I say this because in The Ward There is enough of the 60s cinema, when the subgender of psychological terror—exhibited by Hitchcock, and continued by British cinema, with people like Jack Clayton or the mythical Hammer— flooded the rooms then. "

Alberto Abuín (EspinOf, 2012) [26]

On October 10, 2010, the director received the Lifetime Award from the Freak Show Horror Film Festival.

The Directors' Fortnight at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival paid tribute to him throughout his career by presenting him with the Carroza d'Or award after the screening of The Thing (1982), which was the film selected by the director.

"I have nothing programmed, but I'm working on things. I've done a lot of movies and I've been burned and I've had to stop for a while. I have to have a life. My circumstances would have to be corrected to do so again. I'd like to make a little horror movie or an adventure. A project that had the right budget. Today they make young directors film movies for two million dollars when the film is written to be 10 million. So you have to squeeze everything out and I don't want to do that anymore. "

John Carpenter (Cinemania, 2019) [27]

Film technique

John Carpenter (2001)

John Carpenter's technique is characterized by the use of minimalist lighting and framing, showing great technical ability, as well as the use of Steadicam. A clear advocate of widescreen filming, all his films (with the exception of Dark Star and The Ward ) were shot in anamorphic with an aspect ratio of 2, 35:1 or greater. The Ward was shot on Super 35, the first time he had used that format. Carpenter has stated that he considers the Panavision anamorphic 35mm format "the best film system there is", above digital cinema and 3D.

"At the Film School they told me we had to fight for our own vision, so I've always protected my movies. I fought so they wouldn't put their hands on them, because in America they don't want the authors to be the owners of our works. The struggle is hard."

John Carpenter (Valencia Plaza, 2019) [28]

The music, distinctive and self-composed, is based on the use of synthesizers with piano accompaniment and an atmospheric style. Throughout his career there are some exceptions such as the soundtracks of The Thing (La cosa) (1982), composed by Ennio Morricone, Starman (Starman, The Star Man) (1984), by Jack Nitzsche, Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Memoirs of an Invisible Man) (1992), by Shirley Walker, and The Ward (Locked Up) (2010) by Mark Kilian. However, he has composed the soundtrack for all his films, some in collaboration with other composers, the most popular being Assault on Precinct 13. >) (1976) and, especially, Halloween (1978).

(on Ennio Morricone) "I did not speak Italian and he did not speak English, so we spoke the language of music. He is a majestic composer. "

John Carpenter (Valencia Plaza, 2019) [29]

His cinema is influenced by directors such as Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nigel Kneale and Orson Welles and, in his plots and style of showing horror and science fiction, in series and films of science fiction and horror anthology such as Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

Legacy

John Carpenter (2014)

Many of Carpenter's films have since been reissued in home format, initially on VHS and later on DVD, including special editions with numerous bonus content. Examples of this type are the collector's editions of Halloween, Escape From New York, Christine, The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble in Little China or The Fog. Some were reissued with a new anamorphic widescreen transfer. In the UK several of Carpenter's films have been released on DVD with audio commentary by Carpenter and his stars (They Live, with actor/wrestler Roddy Piper, Starman with actor Jeff Bridges and Prince of Darkness with actor Peter Jason).

Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies (2004) and an American Cinematheque retrospective (2002).

In 2006 the US Library of Congress deemed Halloween "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

In 2010 writer-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.

Personal life

John Carpenter has been married twice. The first was with the actress Adrienne Barbeau whom he met during the filming of his telefilm Someone's Watching Me! (1978). The couple were married between 1979 and 1984. During those years Barbeau starred in The Fog (La niebla) (1980) and was also part of the cast of Escape from New York (1997: Rescue in New York) (1981). The couple had a son, John Cody Carpenter, born May 7, 1984.

His second marriage, from 1990 to the present, has been to producer Sandy King. King produced several of the director's later features, including They Live (1988), In the Mouth of Madness (In the mouth of fear) (1994), Escape from L.A. (2013: rescue in L.A.) (1996) and Ghosts of Mars (John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars) (2001). King also worked as a script supervisor on some of these films as well as previous films such as Starman ( Starman, the man of the stars) (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (Coup in Little China) (1986) or Prince of Darkness (The Prince of Darkness) (1987).

Carpenter appeared in an episode of the iconic animal series Animal Planet titled "It Came from Japan" where he talked about his love and admiration for the original Godzilla movie.

He is also a well-known supporter of video games and electronic arts as a means of communication and artistic expression.

Filmography

Short Films

• Revenge of the Colossal Beasts (1962)
• Terror from Space (1963)
• Warrior and the Demon (1969)
• Sorceror from Outer Space (1969)
• Gorgo versus Godzilla (1969)
• Gorgon, the Space Monster (1969)

Cinema

• Dark Star (1974)
• Assault on Precinct 13 (Assault on district police 13(1976)
• Halloween (1978)
• The Fog (The fog(1980)
• Escape from New York (1997: Rescue in New York(1981)
• The Thing (The thing(1982)
• Christine (1983)
• Starman (Starman, the man of the stars(1984)
• Big Trouble in Little China (Hit in small China(1986)
• Prince of Darkness (The prince of darkness(1987)
• They Live (They're alive.(1988)
• Memoirs of an Invisible Man (Memories of an invisible man(1992)
• In the Mouth of Madness (In the mouth of fear) (1994)
• John Carpenter's Village of the Damned (The village of the cursed(1995)
• Escape from L.A. (2013: rescue in L.A.(1996)
• John Carpenter's Vampires (Vampires) (1998)
• Ghosts of Mars (John Carpenter Mars Ghosts) (2001)
• The Ward (Locked up.) (2010)

Television

• Someone's Watching Me! (1978)
• Elvis (1979)
• Stock of bodies (1993)
• The end of the world in 35 mm (2005, for the series Masters of Horror)
• Pro-life (2006, for the series Masters of Horror)

Regular collaborators

Actor	Dark Star (1974)	Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)	Halloween (1978)	Someone's Watching Me! (1978)	Elvis (1979)	The Fog (1980)	Escape from New York (1981)	The Thing (1982)	Christine (1983)	Starman (1984)	Big Trouble in Little China (1986)	Prince of Darkness (1987)	They Live (1988)	Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)	Body Bags (1993)	In the Mouth of Madness (1995)	Village of the Damned (1995)	Escape from L.A. (1996)	Vampires (1998)	Ghosts of Mars (2001)	Total
Tom Atkins						N	N														2
Adrienne Barbeau				N		N	N	(voz)													4
Susan Blanchard												N	N								2
Dirk Blocker										N		N									2
Robert Carradine															N			N		N	3
Nick Castle	N		N				N														3
Jamie Lee Curtis			N			N	(voz)											(voz)			4
Charles Cyphers		N	N	N	N	N	N														6
Keith.								N					N								2
Frank Doubleday		N					N														2
Dennis Dune											N	N									2
George Buck Flower						N	N			N			N		N		N				6
Pam Grier																		N		N	2
Season Hubley					N		N														2
Jeff.											N		N					N			3
Peter Jason												N	N		N	N	N	N		N	7
Darwin Joston		N				N															2
Stacy Keach															N			N			2
Al Leong											N		N					N			3
Donald Li											N			N							2
Nancy Loomis		N	N			N															3
Sam Neill														N		N					2
Robert Phalen			N	N						N											3
Donald Pleasence			N				N					N									3
Kurt Russell					N		N	N			N							N			5
Harry Dean Stanton							N		N												2
Nancy Stephens			N				N														2
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa											N								N		2
David Warner															N	N					2
Victor Wong											N	N									2

Awards and distinctions

Cannes International Film Festival