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How would you evaluate his horror filmography?

posted 7 months ago by [deleted]
11 replies | jump to latest

Someone's Watching Me! is an alright made-for-tv Rear Window-esque thriller-horror. Nothing special but for the time it was made and the budget and censorship they were working with it's fine.

Body Bags, Village of the Damned, Vampires, Ghosts of Mars and The Ward are all varying degress of mediocre. I do find Ghosts of Mars to be dumb fun if you're in the mood for it and The Ward is perfectly fine just a bit plain. Vampires has a few decent moments. Nothing special amongst this bunch though.

They Live is a good movie. I consider it an action sci-fi movie rather than a horror, but it's tagged as one.

Prince of Darkness is a bit flawed but has some cool stuff going on. I thought it was quite creepy at times, the music was cool too. It's just a bit uneven, I don't care for the characters, it takes a little while to get going and it feels a bit silly at times.

In the Mouth of Madness is interesting. A good concept and it's executed fairly well. Not his best work but still a good movie.

Christine is a very good movie. Great FX for the car. One of the better Stephen King adaptations.

The Fog is great. I love the OST, it has great atmosphere, I love the location, a good cast and Cundey's photography is great. The whole concept is fairly interesting and unique. The only criticism I have of it is that it's pacing is a tad sluggish at times, especially earlier on.

Halloween is a special movie for me. I love slashers and this is one of the better ones, I do feel it's a bit overrated (it hogs all the limelight and several fanboys act like it's leagues ahead of every other slasher in existence). I think some of the sequels such as Halloween II and Halloween 4 aren't far off it. With some of the slashers that came in it's wake matching it.

The Thing is great. An action packed sci-fi horror with plenty of gore. Still I find it overrated and prefer the 2011 prequel (better pacing, better characterizations, better acting from the lead). I've never cared for any of the characters in this aside from MacReady, but it's action packed and has a cool concept with strong production values.

[–] [deleted] 7 months ago

Carpenter is considered the best horror director of all time by many and it's easy to see why. He's made a lot of good horror movies and dipped his toes into several sub-genres. I'm not sure he's my pick for number 1 but he's definitely in the top 5... possibly in the top 3.

Carpenter ranked:

Great movies;
1. Halloween
2. The Fog
3. The Thing

Very good movies;
4. Christine
5. In the Mouth of Madness
6. Prince of Darkness
7. They Live

Good movies;
8. Someone's Watching Me!

[–] DoctorThirteen (15276) 7 months ago

The Fog is his best film as far as I'm concerned. 10/10, one of the greatest horrors ever made. Halloween is stylish, tense, and obviously hugely influential. In the Mouth of Madness, Prince of Darkness, very enjoyable films. I'd probably give POD the edge. But I'm not a fan of They Live, Christine, or - I'm sorry to say - The Thing. But his great is so great that he's my favourite horror director of all. I also really like The Ward (an opinion not shared by many, I know).

Shout-out too for his soundtracks. I own two of his Lost Themes CDs. Very atmospheric stuff.

[–] [deleted] 7 months ago

But I'm not a fan of They Live, Christine, or - I'm sorry to say - The Thing.

I'm not too big on They Live either. As you can see I ranked it 7th amongst Carpenter's horror output and when you start factoring in his non-horror work then it's probably getting pushed outside the top 10.

Christine is one that's grew on me, I didn't care for it much the first time I watched it but on my most recent rewatch I really enjoyed it.

Good to see someone else who doesn't worship The Thing. I like that movie a lot but it's got to be the most overrated horror movie online at the moment. It's the highest rated horror on Letterboxd and for the past five or so years it seems to be the consensus best horror movie of all time (I remember about 15-20 years ago The Exorcist was constantly getting voted the best... then The Shining had it's spell in the sun, I guess it's The Thing's turn now).

Have you ever seen The Thing (2011)? It follows a lot of the same beats as the 1982 movie but I think it's the superior movie. For me it flows better and plays the dynamics of the group (distrust and divisions) in a better way, the characters are more likable too. A lot of people take issue with the CGI in it but I'll be damned if I let one or two iffy moments of CGI ruin a movie for me.

I also really like The Ward (an opinion not shared by many, I know).

I thought The Ward was alright but it's not a movie I'll ever rewatch.

[–] DoctorThirteen (15276) 7 months ago

'Have you ever seen The Thing (2011)? It follows a lot of the same beats as the 1982 movie but I think it's the superior movie. For me it flows better and plays the dynamics of the group (distrust and divisions) in a better way, the characters are more likable too. A lot of people take issue with the CGI in it but I'll be damned if I let one or two iffy moments of CGI ruin a movie for me.'

I haven't but I will give it a go at some point.

[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 7 months ago

I honestly prefer alot of his non-horror stuff to his horror stuff. They Live, Assault on Precinct 13, Starman, and Escape From New York have always been better than Halloween, The Fog, or Prince of Darkness. His lesser-known Elvis movie is also really good. But most of his horror was I always felt was highly stylized and very well made but with scripts that leave more to be desired.

With that said, The Thing is his best film by far and is an absolute masterpiece of cinema, and better than anything his contemporaries like Hooper, Craven, Cronenberg, and Romero ever did.

[–] Jones70 (6862) 17 days ago

Halloween, Assault on Prescient 13, They Live, Christine are my favorites.

[–] PaulIsAlive (464) 17 days ago

1. The Thing
2. The Fog
3. Halloween
4. In the Mouth of Madness
5. The Prince of Darkness

[–] Aylmer (620) 17 days ago

I feel like THE THING was the perfect balance of action with his understated style, helped a lot by interesting setting, lots of tension, and good characters who all felt like real people. Unlike the other opinions here, I think the prequel-remake is total trash, ruined by a derivative script, uninteresting kills, poor characterizations, and lack of anything new going on, not to mention the cartoony CGI overload.

HALLOWEEN I think was his best slower-paced undestated movie. It's also a good balance, and low on action and violence but makes up for it by being very original at the time, high on suspense, and just interesting to see the characterization of Michael Myers and lurks around. It makes you wonder what he's thinking the whole time in a way that's far better than any of the sequels.

THE FOG I was always disappointed by. It has excellent atmosphere but not much else. They really should not have telegraphed how many kills there were going to be so early in the film. It's great when the zombies are lurking around, but otherwise very underdeveloped and too short. If there had been 2-3 more kills with tense suspense sequences to go with them, I'd have loved this far more.

Never saw PRINCE but IN THE MOUTH totally bored me. It felt like the magic was gone. VAMPIRES and GHOSTS looked dreadful from what I saw, and I shut off BODY BAGS after 10 minutes. CHRISTINE is a totally average Stephen King adaptation. Serviceable but not particularly memorable.

So I'd say he struck gold 2 1/2 times and otherwise was a swing and a miss, sadly enough. Better batting average than Hooper though, which was 1 classic and the rest underwhelming.

[–] Aylmer (620) 17 days ago

That said, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is a horror movie in my opinion, and also extremely good. It's basically NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD but with silent gang members attacking instead of zombies. Them all being quiet and deliberate gave me the impression that they were all proto-Michael Myers's; completely evil automatons out for blood with no fear and no remorse.

[–] MovieFanGal (169) 17 days ago

The Thing
In The Mouth Of Madness
Ghosts Of Mars (I know, controversial but I love it)
Village Of The Damned
Vampires

Any others I either haven't seen or didn't care that much for.

[–] Stratego (31072) 17 days ago

Halloween is rather genius in the context of the slasher genre. The Thing is entertaining. The rest is pretty meh/crap.