John Carpenter
John Carpenter
Director: Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, Christine
This is an 8" x 10" non-glossy photograph autographed by John Carpenter
Legendary writer-director John Carpenter is one of the select few movie directors whose name exudes horror. He's a pioneer and a maverick who started outside the Hollywood system and worked his way in, shaping the standards of horror within the mainstream cinema. Through several decades of filmmaking, he's shown his versatility by directing not only horror, but also action, drama, comedy and science fiction -- often melding multiple genres within the same movie. On most of his films, he serves as a cinematic "triple threat," writing, directing and even composing the musical scores, making him the quintessential horror Renaissance man.
His feature-length debut was a science fiction movie, the black comedy Dark Star, a film that grew out of a student project began while he attended the University of Southern California. It garnered enough attention that funding was raised to expanded it into a full-length film.
In Assault on Precinct 13, the 1976 tale of an understaffed police station defending itself against an onslaught of vicious gang members, the sense of dread foreshadowed the terror he would instill in audiences with Halloween (1978), one of the most influential horror movies of all time. This movie - about a psychopath who, after killing his older sister as a child, returns home 15 years later to resume his murder spree - was a phenomenon, becoming the most successful independent production to date and spurring a landslide of "slasher" movies in the early '80s.
With Halloween, Carpenter (who also wrote the script) established many of the standards that would become the hallmark of slashers for decades to come: the masked, mute killer with almost superhuman tenacity, the virginal "good girl" heroine, the rowdy teenaged victims, the trademark weapon, the childhood trauma, even the opening-scene murder and open-ended closing.
John utilized his newfound stardom to attack more ambitious productions, starting with 1980's The Fog, an old-fashioned campfire ghost story about spirits seeking revenge on a town for a century-old crime.
After the action film Escape From New York in 1981, he returned to horror the following year with his biggest production yet, the shape-shifting alien flick The Thing. Although it didn't perform as well as expected at the box office, John was asked to direct the latest Stephen King movie, Christine, at the height of the author's popularity.
Next, John directed the big-budget alien drama Starman, a film that earned him the best mainstream reviews of his career and led to an Oscar nomination for its star, Jeff Bridges.
In Big Trouble in Little China, he blended horror, comedy, action, science fiction and martial arts in an unrivaled spectacle. His next projects included the religious horror of Prince of Darkness (1987) and the alien invasion of They Live (1988).
The 21st century has witnessed a resurgence in interest in John Carpenter's films. Both Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog were remade with sizeable budgets (and limited involvement from the director) in 2005. Many of his other directorial efforts have begun to receive critical acclaim and cult followings after their release on video and DVD. In the Mouth of Madness, Prince of Darkness, They Live and The Thing all consistently rank high on horror fans' lists of his body of work.
While his scripting days are behind him for the moment, in 2011, he jumped behind the lens to helm The Ward (written by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen), a supernatural thriller set in a mental institution.
John Carpenter Official Website