John Carpenter told me to post this topic.

[DJEvil]

John Carpenter is cool. He is a very underrated director in my opinion.

I can and have watched "Big Trouble in Little China" back-to-back. It's a modern classic, with a spirit that Carpenter needs to try to create again.

But this is the horror section, ain't it?

So far as horror goes, nobody makes me cringe more than Carpenter (DeBont and Schumacher excluded, because they make me cringe unintentionally).

He's directed:

The Thing - Kurt Russell, flamethrowers, and aliens...hell, yeah!
They Live - with a SEVEN minute and 50 second fight scene between Keith David and Roddy Piper!
Prince of Darkness - Still don't have the spine to watch that one...as soon as I remember where I left it, though...
In the Mouth of Madness - Carpenter reared back his fist and in one punch knocked me on my ass for a week.
Halloween - Often touted a classic...I liked number two better (which he wrote or produced or something...)

Bottom line? He's cool.

[This message has been edited by DJEvil (edited 01-14-2000).]

[chenzzo]

You're right, but he also directed:

Vampires: James "Wranglers and a Leather Jacket make me look tough" Woods and some others dudes fight Vampires.

Village of the Damned: Christopher "Superman IV? What was I thinking?" Reeves blows himself and a bunch of kids up.

You know what they say. "A man's gotta know his limitations." At least that's what Clint Eastwood says, and that's all that really matters.

[This message has been edited by chenzzo (edited 01-14-2000).]

[DJEvil]

I knew I was forgetting something. Vampires was great.

"Way to go! F*CK with 'im, Padre!"

[SAHSTAR]

I would go for every Carpenter's film but
They Live;to me it's the weakest moment of his career.

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Santoval Atreides

[Jason Pollock]

Oh, them's fightin' words. They Live is one of the best. WWRPD? What Would Roddy Piper Do? Shoot up aliens and get into a SEVEN MINUTE AND FIFTY SECOND (DJ!) fight scene.

[Jason Pollock]

Sorry, I'm having trouble with motor skills...


[This message has been edited by Hot Animal Machine (edited 01-14-2000).]

[Jason Pollock]

And yes-VAMPIRES does quite a lot of RULING! Even Carpenter's failures are better than most people's successes-Escape From L.A.? A beautifully venemous take on the bloated Hollywood blockbuster (which was exactly what Paramount wanted). Christine? More faithful than most King fare. The only movie he has ever made that is sub par was Memoirs of an Invisible Man. That's it.

[DJEvil]

Hell, I even liked that one. Sam Neill is cool.

[Jason Pollock]

Yes, he is. I've loved watching that guy's career. And that he got to carry a movie as compelling as Mouth o' Madness is very cool. Invisible man suffers from the problem that every film in which Chevy Chase plays the romantic lead suffers. Nobody buys that. And I hate Daryl Hannah. I'm a big Jackson Browne fan because of his relationship with Daryl.

[Nick Nunziata]

Carpenter is the only remaining BADASS horror director. Respect that. The old chain smoking fella is fighting the good fight, and not every battle can be THE THING or IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS.

He should take over the Presidency. Think of all the happy kids enjoying a day off from school on Donald Pleasance Day, or the now bi-weekly ritual where Wilfred Brimley carries a few presidential aides around the White House with his hand in their cheeks like a human six-pack.

Not to mention Snake Plissken Wednesdays.

[Jason Pollock]

The day that all good children wear an eyepatch to school.

[GhostInTheMachine]

I can't believe you people liked Vampires. That movie was a piece of shit. And escape from LA blew too.

Also, I thought there was a whole big deal about how John Carpenter really didn't do Halloween. Some no name did it, but the studios tagged his name to it (or something like that).

I'll give him some credit for The Thing, but the orignal was MUCH better - its still one of my favorites to this date.

[Jason Pollock]

The original Thing? Yes! I too am terrified of James Arness in carrot-head mode! Sends shivers down my spine.(:

Also, scary is when characters refer to each other as "mack" endlessly.

[Nick Nunziata]

Ghost,

The remake of the Thing is better than everything.

[LowShot]

I thought Vampires sucked donkey balls as well. I should have rented Blade for the 237476034th time instead of paying $7 bucks to see that crap.

[Jason Pollock]

The fact that you have willingly rented Blade 237,476,034 times tells me your opinion in regard to film is suspect. Leave Carpenter alone.

LowShot, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry... (:

[DJEvil]

I liked both of em. Blade has a higher replay value, though.

[Blofeld]

Come on, Hot Animal, pay attention -- LowShot has only rented Blade 237,476,033 times. He said he "should have" rented it 237,476,034 times...and didn't -- he watched Vampires instead.

[Jason Pollock]

Ya' know Blofeld, I live my life by two very important credos. The first-Hail and Kill-is a little something imparted to me by the Kings of Metal-Manowar. The other? What Would Roddy Piper Do?

For the first time in my life, both fail me here. Now I find myself asking-What Would Roger Moore Do-

Find me a helicopter and the nearest industrial smokestack-you're takin' a header, Stavro...

Or, more succinctly, I guess...

Curse you, Blofeld!! (:

[Johnny Butane]

Man, I just read that whole thing and I don't think one person mentioned 'Escape from New York'. But I'm not a very good reader, so maybe I missed it. Anyway, that was easily his best (besides 'Halloween', I challenge anyone to this debate), with 'The Thing' closely behind, and 'They Live' next. So there.

[DJEvil]

It's not that we didn't like it, but I didn't mention it, due to the fact that this is the horror section.

I liked the first one.

[Faust]

Let us not foget The Fog. A truly better film than Vampires and Halloween combined, but of course not as good as The Thing. Escape from LA was great if for nothing other than Bruce Campbell's cameo http://www.chud.com/board/ubbhtml/smile.gif

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Look upon me, for I am the beast

[Jason Pollock]

What a beautiful blue eye...pity there's only one of them...

[generalzod]

u call yourself Carpenter fans and never even mentioned "assault on Precinct 13"! a modern version of "Rio Bravo", I know maybe it is not mentioned because its not really a horror film, but neither is "Escape from NY" or "EFLA", very cool flick. As for "Vampires", it stunk, Woods was wasted and the story was lame....EFLA, not a bad flick, but "Escape from New York" was tons better.."The Thing" was his best after the orginal "Halloween", which is a CLASSIC!!"They Live", the only Roddy Piper movie worth a damn and one that blasts the Reagan adminstration.
"Villiage of the Damned"-sucks, I forgot "Big trouble in Little China" a great fucking movie, a classic line, "Son-of-a-bitch MUST pay"! "The Fog", very creepy, and it has Jamie Lee and another big titted star and JC's ex-wife, Adrience Barbeau...

Im done...........

[generalzod]

Russell and JC were both Excellent in the Elvis Presely bio-pic called "Elvis", brilliant from both and Russell's resemblance to the King is uncanny.

[matt]

Vampires - big disappointment. Could've done so much with the Vatican side of it, made it kind of an epic, a war being waged on vampires by the Catholic church, directed by the man in Rome, but...the story seemed kinda tacked together. I would've liked to have seen a lot more of this vampire team in action. A little more build-up before the slaughter starts. The side story with Baldwin and the Twin Peaks girl didn't do much for me. Woods was good, but the film had nowhere near the suspense that The Thing or Prince of Darkness had.

[generalzod]

Ditto to Matt's post.

[Lucky37D]

I went to my local video store and went straight over to the horror section when i noticed "John Carpenter's Starman" over there (God knows why) starring Jeff Bridges. If you thought that Vampires was a big disapointment.......

[DJEvil]

Body Bags was fun. Who knew Carpenter was a ham actor? He was great!