Your Top Five Favourite John Carpenter Films

1. The Fog
2. Escape from New York
3. Christine
4. The Thing
5. Halloween

 

The Thing
Escape from New York
They Live
Assault on Precinct 13
Big Trouble in Little China

 

Hmmmm...

1. The Thing
2. They Live
3. Halloween
4. Escape From New York
5. The Fog

Bonus: Prince of Darkness.

 

The Thing
Escape From New York
Big Trouble In Little China
They Live
Vampires

 

Assault on Precinct 13
They Live
Ghosts On Mars
The Fog
Starmsn

 

1. Christine
2. Halloween
3. Big Trouble in Little China
4. Starman
5. They Live

 

1. Escape from New York
2. Big Trouble in Little China
3. They Live
4. The Thing
5. Assault on Precinct 13

 

+1

 

The Thing
They Live
Escape From New York
Assault on Precinct 13
Big Trouble in Little China

 

Starman
I watched every Carpenter film I have (which is most of them, and all of the big ones) in a span of about 2 weeks. This one probably stuck out to me the most because it's so romantic. I had a major crush on Karen Allen after this too. I caught the last third of it on tv a few weeks ago and it made me want to start a binge of his movies... which after finding this thread I may have to. Jeff Bridges has some unforgettable roles, and this isn't my favorite, but it really allowed me to see him in a different light. (The "gas" scene always cracks me up)

Halloween
A lot of times horror movies just don't scare me or get my heart racing at all. And I was expecting this to be the same because it was so old. I was wrong. I watched it alone in my dark room with headphones on and it was an amazing experience. Still have only seen this once, might have to revisit soon. Are the sequels any good?

Vampires
I have seen this one the most, because it's been on late at night a few times and I've just decided to watch it. And then of course it's on one of those channels that doesn't have commercial breaks so I watch the whole thing. It definitely loses steam, but James Woods makes it so much fun.


They Live
This movie is so much better than the meme it's become. Cheesy goodness. My roommate and I watched this and Robocop right on top of each other and couldn't decide which was better. RIP Roddy.

The Fog
I don't remember everything about this, but I remember that Adrienne Barbeau is a DJ in a lighthouse, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. And I remember reading how they shot the scene where the fog surrounds Adrienne and it was so cool and it just made me wish I could quit school and make movies for a living (I didn't... yet).

It's funny, looking at my list, that I didn't pick Escape from New York, The Thing, or Big Trouble in Little China, which aside from Halloween, are probably regarded as his best films. Which I'm fine with, as it only makes me that much more excited to see them again. One of the things that really draws me to Carpenter, is his films never feel glossed over. He seemed like he was always figuring things out and hoping they worked as he went along. Not that he was the most innovative or anything, but that he didn't steal, he figured it all out on his own. I don't think that's exactly the right way to say what I mean, or if it's even true, but I really just love the amateur feel his films have. I would love to hear others thoughts on his films instead of just lists!

(I haven't seen Someone's Watching Me, Elvis, Christine, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Body Bags, Ghost of Mars, or The Ward)

 

Dang I forgot about Village of the Damned. That would probably be on my list too. Over either They Live or The Fog.

 

#1 - The Thing

 

Not in this order, but...
Dark Star
The Fog
The Thing
Halloween
Assault on Precinct 13

 

Along with The Thing, Halloween & Assault On Precinct 13 I include:

Prince of Darkness - inexpensive little mind bender that offers intriguing ideas, some groovy gore and a little Alice Cooper. I find it highly rewatchable.

In The Mouth Of Madness - Sam Neill is great as an arrogant author caught up in an H. P. Lovecraft timewarp on his own creation. I think this was Carpenter's last great movie. Vampires is a lot of fun but his intensity and focus are going. A forgivable sin after so many years and several classics.

 

Thing
Halloween

Don't much like any of the others...

 

Escape from New York
Big Trouble in Little China
The Fog
The Thing
They Live

 

The Thing
They Live
Escape From New York
Big Trouble in Little China
In The Mouth Of Madness

 

Halloween
The Thing
The Fog
In The Mouth Of Madness
Big Trouble In Little China

 

Halloween
Christine
Big Trouble in Little China
They Live
The Thing

 

carpenter only directed, produced and wrote 4 total films, he did however, do one of those 3 things on 27 films.

i am surprised at how little money (sic) his films have made: (the following are the top 13 he has been involved with)

1 Halloween 47.0 million
2 Starman 28.7 million
3 Escape from L.A. 25.4 million
4 Escape from New York 25.2 million
5 The Fog 21.3 million
6 Christine 21.0 million
7 John Carpenter's Vampires 20.3 million
8 The Thing 19.6 million
9 Memoirs of an Invisible Man 14.3 million
10 Prince of Darkness 14.1 million
11 Ghosts of Mars 14.0 million
12 They Live 13.0 million
13 The Ward 12.8 million

 

and i am still befuddled at the fact that jeff bridges did not win an academy award for 'starman" losing to f. murray abraham......

 

That was a situation where it really was a major honor for Bridges to even be nominated. The Oscars hate to honor people who aren't in "serious movies", so noms like that - or Sigourney Weaver for "Aliens" - are real exceptions...

 

Escape From New York
The Thing
Big Trouble in Little China
Prince of Darkness
They Live

Not a fan of much else he's done.

 

1 Escape from New York
2 The Thing
3 Halloween
4 Big Trouble in Little China
5 In the Mouths of Madness

With the caveat that I still haven't seen Assault on Precinct 13. And I couldn't squeeze Dark Star into this.

Mark

 

1. Escape from New York
2. Big Trouble in Little China
3. The Thing
4. The Fog
5. Starman