Best John Carpenter film?

"The Thing", with "Halloween" a close 2nd. "Assault" would probably be 3rd and "Escape from NY" 4th.

After that it's a mix- some decent movies, some crap, but nothing I'd call clearly GOOD...

 

I honestly prefer Escape from L.A. to Escape From New York. The hokiness really works. But anyway I chose Big Trouble in Little China as #1. It was an HBO staple in the late 80's/early 90's when I was a kid and I've seen it like a billion times. #2 would be The Thing. #3 would be They Live.

 

Assault On Precinct 13 would have gotten my vote, if he hadn't made The Thing. The Halloween stuff was fun to watch, but the only one I kept coming back to was Halloween III because the plot is so weird.

"Good" is in the eye of the beholder. It depends on what you're looking to get out of a film. I wouldn't say Carpenter is going for the same things that a director like Scorsese would, but that doesn't mean I don't have a great time with Carpenter's films. The Fog, Prince Of Darkness, and They Live are pretty decent pop horror masterpieces, the latter two with a measure of sci-fi thrown in to keep them interesting. I like those films a lot, and still watch them from time to time. But I'm not looking to get the same feeling out of them that I get from Blade Runner.

I like the atmosphere of The Fog a lot. Creepy ghost story. I like the use of science and philosophy to build the premise of Prince Of Darkness. And I like the sci-fi concept of They Live. It's cool work, and I'm okay with that. It's fun to think about. One of Carpenter's running themes has been that reality doesn't exist outside of our perception of it. In The Mouth Of Madness addresses that directly, but suffers from inconsistency and a kind of lackluster production. I still watch it from time to time though.

I also watched The Fountainhead, Erin Brockovich, and All About Eve this week. Guess my point is, it's all good when you're in the right mood.

 

Halloween just barely edging out The Thing. Both are timeless definitely. Lots of love for New York too

 

If a film as relatively tame as The Thing makes you feel nauseated, then perhaps horror movies aren't for you.....

 

I wouldn't call The Thing relatively tame considering the dog scene. That scenes is pretty damn disturbing, and I've seen a lot of disturbing films. Something about animals being killed in movies makes me more uneasy than when humans get killed.

 

Had to give some love to the oft misunderstood Big Trouble In Little China.

 

Halloween and Escape from New York.

What really amazes me is he is a great director and a great film scorer.

Chaplin is the only other director who is that accomplished. (Not a fan of Clint Eastwood's scoring)

 

I haven't really watched one since then, to be honest. I've lost interest in the genre

 

It's kind of a close call but I went with Christine. It has always been a favorite of mine since it came out.

 

What was his biggest budget movie?

 

Over the years, I've really grown to love The Fog. It's a creepy ghost story, suspenseful, terrific score, great cast. The lighthouse location is both beautiful and terrifying (because it's so isolated).

 

Even though it was a remake I say The Thing.

 

You know, funny you should mention that. Since the thread appeared, and with The Thing also being my vote in the poll, I decided to read up on it a bit.

As it turns out, both the 1951 film and Carpenter's are based on John W. Campbell, Jr.'s novella Who Goes There? and that would lead one to believe that Carpenter's film is a remake, except that the 1951 film deviated greatly from the story. That makes Carpenter's version the first fairly accurate adaptation, rather than a remake. He did pay tribute to the 1951 film by replicating the title graphic though.

 

Scariest?
The Thing.

 

"You are the duke!......you're A number 1!"

 

In the Mouth of Madness deserves an honorable mention.

 

Funny enough, it's Escape from L.A. at $50 million. I say "funny" because the CGI effects look no better than Playstation 1 FMVs. They looked bad even by '90's standards.

 

Assault On Precinct 13. It's the most pure, visceral movie he made. All the others are flawed, no matter how great the vfx or the characters are.

EFLA is a 30 millions movie. Kurt took 20 millions home. Also the effects are previz. The company went down with the effects money and there was no money to give them to another company.

 

Natasha Henstridge is in
Ghosts Of Mars -which
is pretty good,also stars
a young receding hair lined
Jason Statham as co star.

 

Tough to choose, but I'll go with Big Trouble in Little China. Escape from New York is a very close second.

 

"The Thing", followed closely by "Big Trouble in Little China".

 

In terms of rewatchability, "The Thing" is probably my top pick. "Halloween" is obviously an important one in his career as well. My favorite might be "Escape from New York", although I think that has more to do with Snake Plissken being my favorite *character* that Carpenter's movies feature.

"They Live" is off-kilter enough that I have to think about that one too.

Was very disappointed by "The Ward." I guess I should try it again, but I remember it boring me to tears in a way that even kind of middle-of-the-road stuff like his "Village of the Damned" remake or "Vampires" never did.

 

Big Trouble in Little China

It's probably not his best film, but it's certainly my favorite, so it got my vote.

 

He also pays homage to the original The Thing in Halloween as the movie that everyone is watching on TV Halloween night.