John Carpenter is widely considered to be a “Master of Horror”, which in many ways is accurate as the vast majority of his most critically and commercial films come from that particular genre. However, to write Carpenter off as some kind of one trick pony would be short sighted in the extreme. Carpenter’s genre movies are characterized by his mastery of the art of cinematography, and by the showcasing of engaging narratives that present the viewer with a profound commentary on the many social, racial, gender and sexual anxieties of our modern world. Sometimes misunderstood by critics, Carpenter has made some of the most intense and influential horror films ever made, most notably Halloween (1978), one of the most copied and influential horror films of all time. Carpenters classic spawned seven sequels, a remake and a sequel to the remake with another in the pipeline. Not to mention the slew of copycat slasher movies which dominated American horror in the early to mid 1980’s.
John Carpenter’s debut feature, Dark Star (1974) was produced as part of the directors masters thesis project, under the aegis of the University of Southern California (USC). Dark Star is most notable for being one of the first Sci-Fi films to portray a postmodernist future, years before the likes of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1981). Another of the films strengths is its unique and imaginative plot. The films arguable highlight being the scene in which the astronauts have a philosophical discussion with a malfunctioning nuclear warhead, trying to talk it down from detonating on board the ship. Despite it being essentially a student film, Dark Star received a limited theatrical release and became an instant cult hit, garnering positive reviews from critics and establishing Carpenter as a smart and inventive filmmaker.
After the success of Dark Star, Carpenter was able to secure funding from an English investor named Michael Myers to make his first ‘professional’ feature film. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). Effectively an urbanised remake of Howard Hawks’ classic 1959 western Rio Bravo, the film follows the story of a police station under siege by a ruthless and violent gang. A rookie cop, an enigmatic convict on his way to death row, a catatonic man and a determined woman are among the characters that must endure a terrifying, all night, onslaught at the hands of the faceless gang. With this project, Carpenter enjoyed a great deal of creative control, which gave him the opportunity to crave a stylish, ultra violent (The film is one of the very few to show graphically the murder of a child) movie which, assisted by its unrelenting score, grabs the viewer by the collar immediately and does not let go until the end credits. Even as an early entry into the directors oeuvre the film superbly showcases Carpenter’s unique widescreen style. Also, Assault on Precinct 13 clearly shows Carpenters ongoing fixation with Hawksian themes permeates the narrative of Assault, and many of the rest of his films. Heroes that are honest and trustworthy everymen and women faced with impossible odds against an evil villain, the strong bond between characters that seem to have little in common, the never ending battle of the sexes and the collapse of authority institutions.
The success of Assault on Precinct 13 (particularly in Europe) attracted the interest of Syrian investor Moustapha Akkad, who was looking for a director/screenwriter for an idea he had developed. Tentatively titled The Babysitter Murders. The result of this collaboration is one of the most financially successful and imitated independent films ever made. Halloween (1978) is quite simply a masterpiece of suspense. The unrelenting score and the slow build nature of the film’s scares frightened the life out of audiences in 1978 and have been doing the same ever since. Halloween is arguably Carpenter’s masterwork. The story of the young, virginal babysitter played brilliantly by Jamie Lee Curtis, who is stalked by the faceless evil of Michael Myers strikes a chord with audiences to this day. Another aspect of the film which particulally frightened audiences was the fact that the horror was not taking place in some far flung castle or fantastical setting but in suburbia, such an unremarkable setting that it could be anywhere, it could be taking place on your street. This sense of reality was nothing short of revolutionary in the 1970’s.
After the runaway success of Halloween, John Carpenter became one of the most sought after talents in Hollywood. As a result of this, Carpenter managed to retain a high level of creative control with a much increased budget for his next film: The Fog (1980). An eerie, atmospheric and beautifully shot ghost story, The Fog boasts one of the most beautifully crafted opening sequences of Carpenter’s entire career. The Fog was another critical and financial success for Carpenter. As a result of the success of The Fog, Carpenter finally had the level of trust with a large budget and ability to maintain creative control over such a big production to finally get his long gestating dream project off the ground. Escape From New York (1981) is a futuristic action film in which Carpenter depicts a bleak, nihilistic, brutal and fascistic America. Presided over by a totalitarian president (portrayed with gusto by Donald Pleasence) who has to be rescued from Manhattan Island which has become a maximum security prison. The man sent in to save the leader of the ‘free’ world is Snake Plissken, the very image of the outsider, played brilliantly by Kurt Russell in the role of a lifetime. In a way, Escape From New York presents a cynical view of the crime, corruption, greed, and selfishness inherent in contemporaryAmerica. The film was another huge critical and commercial success for Carpenter and is also hugely important in terms of his oeuvre as it marks the last independent film directed by him until 1987 as his next four features were all produced under the aegis of the studio system.
Carpenter’s first film in the studio system was a remake of a classic Science Fiction movie for Universal. The Thing (1982) is nothing short of inspired. One of the greatest Horror films of the 80’s, Carpenter’s remake is a work of paranoid, grotesque brilliance. Carpenter’s visual style is perfectly suited to the rolling hallways and dark corners of the US Antarctic research base. The anonymous nature of the thing creates a great sense of tension amongst the film’s audience, this tension is played brilliantly by the films all male ensemble cast, headed by Kurt Russell as the charismatic MacReady. The Thing also boasts a superbly tense score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone, best known for his work on Sergio Leone’s ‘Spaghetti Westerns’. Unfortunately, The Thing received a very poor critical and financial reception at the time of its release, but in the years since then the film has been critically reassessed and is now considered to be a masterpiece and proof of John Carpenter as a visionary director, ahead of his time. His next film under the studio system was for Columbia Pictures and was an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. Christine (1983) tells the story of a teenager named Arnie Cunningham’s love for his first car, a 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine, which turns into a violent and supernatural obsession which ultimately consumes Arnie. The film was a moderate box office success and received mixed reviews from the critics. After Christine, Carpenter directed Starman (1984) again for Columbia. The film tells the story of a young widow who falls in love with an alien who assumes the form of her late husband. It is a sweet and well directed romance 
movie for which Jeff Bridges was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy award. Carpenter then crossed to Twentieth Century Fox to make one of the most interesting films of his career. Big Trouble in Little China (1986). The film’s plot centres around a charismatic trucker named Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) who stumbles into a centuries old mystical battle inChinatown. Russell’s character is in many ways the antithesis of the traditional American action hero, he is a clumsy, ignorant fool and in no way the invincible, iconic hero that American audiences in the 80’s were used to. As a result of this the film wasn’t particularly successful commercially or critically but has since been positively reassessed. Further proof that Carpenter’s work is often ahead of the time in which it was made.
After directing four films in the Hollywood studio system, Carpenter became disillusioned with the constant interference from executives and a lack of support for his visions. Carpenter’s ambition was to return to his roots in independent filmmaking. This frustration meant that Carpenter’s next two films were made in the independent arena. The move proved to be an inspired one as the two films turned out to be two of his most imaginative and provocative works. The first of these films, Prince of Darkness (1987) marks not only Carpenter’s return to independent Horror cinema but also his third collaboration with Donald Pleasence. The film is a Lovecraftian tale touching on varied subjects such as the occult, demonology and theoretical physics. Whilst Carpenter also finds room within the films plot to offer an incisive commentary on the structure of faith and religion. Prince of Darkness is one of Carpenter’s most underrated films. From a technical point of view the film is almost flawless 
and the unremitting intensity of the closing fifteen minutes is a superb example of the perfect use of pace and rhythm. In his next film, Carpenter had the opportunity to explore important issues of consumerism, poverty and class segregation in modern day Los Angeles. They Live (1988) is in many ways Carpenter’s most ambitious film to date. They Live depicts a world where specially designed sunglasses allow the wearer to see the world as it really is: All of those in positions of power and authority are actually aliens who are secretly exploiting the Earth’s resources and repressing the people of the planet. This film was way ahead of its time and in some ways predates and predicts The Matrix (1999).
After They Live, Carpenter took a four year hiatus from filmmaking, returning to the big screen in 1992 with Memoirs of an Invisible Man, which is easily his least interesting film. However, three years later in 1995, Carpenter returned with a fantastic movie which must go down as one of the very best of his career: In the Mouth of Madness is quite simply a 
staggering and visionary work. Similarly to Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness explores Lovecraftian themes of cosmic horror. This apocalyptic movie explores the provocative idea of horror novels causing schizophrenia in their readership whilst opening doors to unfathomable worlds beyond the mortal realm. The narrative style of the film is completely non-linear and Carpenter uses space and time dislocation and viewer disorientation to create a nightmarish world. Most importantly, In the Mouth of Madness is a self-aware movie which invites the viewer to think about the paradoxical nature of cinema.
After the disappointing remake of Village of the Damned (1995), Carpenter made three films which explored and deconstructed the themes of his beloved western: Escape From LA (1996), Vampires (1998) and Ghosts of Mars (2001) are, on the face of it Sci Fi/Horror movies but their narrative construction and mythological structure have more in common with the classic Westerns of John Ford and Sergio Leone and his filmmaking hero Howard Hawks. These films showcase tough and on the face of it unemotional professionals with mercenary spirits, who battle a powerful evil in the middle of a desolate landscape. By the end of their adventure, their triumph is to rediscover their human nature. All of these movies most certainly have their flaws but they do accurately represent the visual and thematic consistencies of Carpenter’s body of work.
After the financial and critical massacre of Ghosts of Mars had such a profound effect on Carpenter that he didn’t make another film for ten years. But in 2011, Carpenter finally made his return to the big screen with The Ward, a Horror/Thriller centred on the story of an institutionalised young woman (Amber Heard) who is terrified by a ghost. Although by no means his best film, The Ward comes as a very timely reminder to modern audiences what it feels like to be taken on a scare ride by a true master of Horror.
The career of John Carpenter has spanned 35 years and has had many ups and downs but what cannot be denied is the importance and influence of his work. Carpenter has directed some of the most successful, imaginative, provocative, intense and frightening films in all of cinema history. In addition to this, a number of his films were clearly ahead of their time, and have been reassessed by critics in recent years. Films such as The Thing, They Live and In the Mouth of Madness have established carpenter as a visionary of fantastical cinema.
