Fuck Yeah John Carpenter

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Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:05:57 -0400

bigbenalpha: Lil Plissken by ~Hartter

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:32:53 -0400

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Lil Plissken by ~Hartter

Post Mortem: John Carpenter

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:05:06 -0400

Post Mortem: John Carpenter:

Carpenter, originally wanting to direct Westerns, discusses some of his favorite American filmmakers.

Part one of four.

Shock Till You Drop interviews John Carpenter. Carpenter opens...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:05:05 -0400

Shock Till You Drop interviews John Carpenter.

Carpenter opens up about the industry, his fellow directors (and the new blood), horror fatigue, upcoming projects and whether he has anything left to say through the craft of filmmaking anymore.

Sound of Fear is a celebration of the music and sound design of...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:10:05 -0400

Sound of Fear is a celebration of the music and sound design of the horror film, taking place in London’s Southbank Centre on September 3 and involving an eminent international cast of artists, critics and composers.

The two-part event, staged by Sound And Music, will feature live performances and discussions focussing on the historical developments and cultural significance of horror movie music, including “the introduction of the European avant garde into popular culture via the Hammer pictures of the 50s, Bernard Herrmann’s redefinition of how horror was heard with his revolutionary score for Hitchcock’s Psycho and the influence of John Carpenter’s atmospheric genre scores of the late 70s and early 80s on a new wave of musicians working today.”

Wish I could go!

"When I was young, I was frightened of everything. I was able to take that fear and turn it into a..."

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:05:05 -0400

““When I was young, I was frightened of everything. I was able to take that fear and turn it into a lucrative career. There is nothing wrong with that. Better than being a masked killer,” says Carpenter, 63.”

- John Carpenter, in USA Today.

John Carpenter interviewed for Masters of Horror.

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:18:13 -0400

John Carpenter interviewed for Masters of Horror.

"With the advent of affordable synthesisers came the rise of the cheap synth score. In 1978, John..."

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:29:49 -0400

“With the advent of affordable synthesisers came the rise of the cheap synth score. In 1978, John Carpenter was putting the finishing touches to his third low-budget feature, Halloween. Being fond of synthesisers, and knowing his way around a piano, he elected to save money by writing and performing the score himself; a decision that helped turn his simple, elegantly shot slasher film into one of the biggest independent hits of the 1970s. For the devastatingly effective main theme, Carpenter employs an insistent metronomic pulse, but with a twist; the piano taps out five beats to the bar (shades of prog rock again). Meanwhile, the synthesiser provides a rapid “ticker-ticker-ticker-ticker” in the background. This, combined with the oblique 5/4 time signature, instils a jittery sense of something moving at the periphery of your attention, perfectly in keeping with Carpenter’s canny use of widescreen framing to create menace.”

- From Goblin to Morricone: The art of horror movie music. Stephen Thrower, for The Guardian.

This is a very cool article.

"Can you talk about the influence of horror techniques beyond the bounds of the genre? Anyone who..."

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:05:05 -0400

“Can you talk about the influence of horror techniques beyond the bounds of the genre?

Anyone who watches American news can see that our culture is driven to a large extent by fear. Hillary Clinton’s most effective attack ad, in her 2008 primary run against Barack Obama, asked the audience who would they trust to answer the tough phone call at 3am. What was startling about the visual vocabulary of the commercial is that it precisely echoed the classic opening of John Carpenter’s 1978 babysitter-killer slasher “Halloween”. When we have nightmares they look like horror movies from the 1970s. Once the ad aired Clinton’s poll numbers improved.”

- More Intelligent Life interviews Jason Zinoman, author of Shock Value.

I also liked this bit:

Why do you think there are so few female horror directors?

This is a fascinating question. The honest answer is that I have no clue. Kathryn
Bigelow made one of the best vampire movies of all time (“Near Dark”), and there are other female directors, but not many. The fact is Hollywood is a boy’s club and institutional sexism is a problem in many genres, but horror has long been considered a particularly male genre. Yet there is now an undeniably huge female audience for horror. The smartest horror criticism is also written by a woman (Laura Miller, who mainly covers books). Cynthia Freeland’s “The Naked and the Undead is one of the most sophisticated books about horror films I’ve read in the past few years. We would have much better movies if we had more of a female perspective on screen. It was recently announced that they are remaking “Carrie”. That seems like an excellent opportunity to start balancing the scales.

Trailer for F.E.A.R. 3 with John Carpenter and Steve Niles...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:10:06 -0400

Trailer for F.E.A.R. 3 with John Carpenter and Steve Niles talking about their work on the story.

John Carpenter panel at Fright Night Film Festival. Part one of...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:05:05 -0400

John Carpenter panel at Fright Night Film Festival. Part one of three.

"1. What was it like working with John Carpenter, the man who helped create the modern horror genre?..."

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:00:35 -0400

“

1. What was it like working with John Carpenter, the man who helped create the modern horror genre? What did you do when you heard he was going to direct “The Ward”?

SHAWN: As you can imagine, working with a legendary director like John Carpenter could be an overwhelming experience, but he’s such a nice guy that it wasn’t like that at all. It was just an amazing opportunity for us. He taught us a lot as writers and filmmakers. He was always asking us to think about scenes from the perspective of the director, instead of just as writers.

MICHAEL: We were ecstatic when we first learned about it. I mean we grew up watching this man’s films so having a chance to work with him was very exciting. We spent three days with him going through the script page by page answering his questions and getting his thoughts on each scene. It was certainly a surreal experience working with someone who you admire so much.

2. How long have you been horror fans and what are some of your favorite horror films and stories?

SHAWN: I’d say that we’re movie fans more than pure horror enthusiasts. It just so happens that a lot of the movies we love are dark or have horror elements. Films like “Seven”, “Silence of the Lambs”, and let’s not forget “John Carpenter’s The Thing”.

MICHAEL: Hitchcock was a big influence growing up. They re-released his films in theaters when we were kids, and I remember watching his classics like “Rear Window”, “Psycho”, and “The Birds”. These films certainly influenced us at a young age, along with films by Polanski and Kubrick like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Shining”.

3. What was your inspiration for “The Ward”?

SHAWN: We originally wrote “The Ward” back in 2005 with the idea of making it ourselves. After our first film got made, we wrote a couple of larger spec scripts that ultimately didn’t get picked up by the studios. So the inspiration was to write something self-contained that could be shot with a limited budget. We thought the idea of five women trapped in a mental institution would make for an interesting and marketable story, and then we went from there.

MICHAEL: Mental hospitals are great because they’re already scary even without the horror or supernatural elements. This is a place where you can play with the ideas of one’s sanity, what’s real and what’s not. And I liked the idea that if something horrible was happening to one of the characters, no one would believe them. The staff would just chalk it up to them being crazy. So it gave us a lot to work with.

”

- Talking horror with the writers of John Carpenter’s The Ward, Reuters.

Joe Cornish a John Carpenter fanboy

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:18:42 -0400

Is it just me or does Joe Cornish refernce John Carpenter in like, every freaking interview? Well, nothing wrong with that. Here’s an excerpt from an interview he did with Wall Street Journal blogger, Todd Gilchrist:

Cornish said there were so many different sources of inspiration that he avoided focusing on one to ensure he didn’t neglect the others. “Whether it’s [John] Carpenter, or Walter Hill, or Spielberg or [Joe] Dante, to just devote anything one of them would be doing disservice to all the other stuff floating around in my head. But if it’s worked, then it’s worked just through instinct – not through any particular intellectual approach or too much thinking.”

Or this one in Movieline:

It all began with Cornish’s goal to find a debut project that had the perfect combination of elements: An action film with a social conscience, old school special effects, a cross-generational sound (created by Basement Jaxx and composer Steve Price, like “John Williams and John Carpenter get together and get very high,” according to Cornish), an unconventional story, and even more unconventional heroes. The resulting film is a rousing, pulsing horror-comedy blast that features familiar folks like Cornish buddy Nick Frost, but is ultimately carried away by its cast of youngsters, led by the stoic, startlingly John Boyega. (Look for Movieline’s profile of up-and-comer Boyega on Monday.)

And this one in ScreenCrave:

I’m a big fan of first films by filmmakers who are a little high concept about it, and bite off a little more than they can chew. I’m thinking about The Terminator, or Duel or Assault on Precinct 13, movies that aren’t too talky, that try to do the stuff that bigger budget movies do, but find a clever way to do it on a small scale. What’s so inspiring about Carpenter’s movies is that there isn’t a lot of chit-chat. There’s not a lot of exposition, or talk about their childhoods, or when they were ten, and you know it’s going to be repeated in the last scene as catharsis, people just react in the moment to what’s happening, and that was inspiring. Those early Carpenter films are almost set in real time as well, or in constrained time frames. I’m in my early forties, I waited a long time to make a film so I had movie blue balls, and there was a lot of stuff and movies I wanted to get in there, without explicitly referencing a particular shot or scene. I didn’t want it to be a movie of references or shots. I wanted it to be in the spirit.

And, my god, so much more—just google it. It’s great to see a contemporary filmmaker praise Carpenter for his skill as a director and composer.

Carpenter opens up about the industry, his fellow directors (and...

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:47:40 -0400

Carpenter opens up about the industry, his fellow directors (and the new blood), horror fatigue, upcoming projects and whether he has anything left to say through the craft of filmmaking anymore.

Snake Plissken Chronicles is a four part comic book mini that...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:34:47 -0400

Snake Plissken Chronicles is a four part comic book mini that picks up where Escape From New York left off. It’s in my to read pile—obviously. Chances are, it’s going to be terrible, and yet…

Beat the heat, with a terrifying Antarctic survival story

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:05:05 -0400

Suffering from heat stroke? The AV Club recommends The Thing:

The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter’s animatronics-ridden adaptation of John W. Campbell Jr.’s novella Who Goes There? is one of the masterpieces of the horror genre, and—lucky for your heat-addled little brain—it takes place at a science station in Antarctica! So, in addition to a lot of really disgusting and satisfying violence, you can look on with envy as Kurt Russell’s beard accumulates frost. The film also features stellar performances from Keith “The Arbiter From Halo” David and Wilford “Diabeetus” Brimley.

John Carpenter's Asylum

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:41:22 -0400

John Carpenter's Asylum:

More John Carpenter news from San Diego Comi-Con:

There’s a war coming and the battle ground is the City of Angels. In tunnels beneath the city, in the dark alleys among the homeless…demons lurk and Lucifer bides his time. One man knows. One man sees. One man walks those dark streets.

That’s the teaser for John Carpenter’s new webcomic, Asylum. The first issue is available now on Graphicly. The web only series will drop this Halloween.

Snake won't be escaping from New York again

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:33:43 -0400

New Line Cinema has scrapped plans for a Escape From New York remake:

If eye patch-wearing antihero Snake Plissken is going to slither in a reboot, it won’t be at New Line and Warner Bros. They’ve allowed the option to drop on a remake they’ve been developing, meaning that the reboot of the John Carpenter-directed 1981 classic is up for grabs. The original starred Kurt Russell as Snake, a tough convict dropped into a futuristic New York that has been turned into a post-apocalyptic maximum security prison. He’s charged with rescuing the president (Donald Pleasence), who is held hostage by the prison kingpin (Isaac Hayes) after his plane within the city walls. Snake’s offered a pardon if he’s successful, but fitted with a lethal device that will kill him if he tries to run or misses the deadline. New Line and producer Neal Moritz have been working on the reboot, most recently with The Crazies helmer Breck Eisner attached to direct, and a script by writers that include Allan Loeb and X-Men: First Class scribe Jamie Moss. There have been rumors of interest from Gerard Butler and Jeremy Renner. Those guys were never confirmed and more recently there was word the studio courted Tom Hardy, whose work in Inception, Warrior and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises has made him a go-to guy for tough man work. Eisner and Moritz are also working on Flash Gordon, and Eisner also is attached to The Last Witch Hunter at Summit. — Deadline

And thank god.

Darkchylde giveaway today at SDCC

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:21:00 -0400

San Diego Comic Con attendees should head over to the Image booth today for a Darkchylde giveaway. From 5:30 to 6:30, Randy Queen, the creator of Darkchylde, will be doing autographs and giving away copies of Dreams of Darkchylde. The new trade includes an introduction by John Carpenter, director of the upcoming film adaptation.

John is attending a con in Kentucky this week, so although you won’t be able to meet him in person, you can still get his John Hancock. Image is giving away 100 movie posters and 100 copies of Dreams of Darkchylde, all presigned by John Carpenter, and signed in person by Randy Queen.

Horror Film History: Often imitated, never equalled,...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:05:05 -0400

Horror Film History:

Often imitated, never equalled, this low budget ($325,000) masterpiece took all the suspense of Psycho and repackaged it in colour with teenage protagonists - a knowing nod to the market. Although credited with spawning the slash and gore pics of the 1980s, it contains relatively little blood, instead relying on shock and the unrelenting build up of suspense. The story is simple - teenage babysitter tries to escape the attentions of a rampaging serial killer - but Carpenter’s deft use of shadows and score (he composed it himself) made it horrifying and fresh, although subsequent over-use of its elements have turned them into clichés. There are many nods to Hitchcock, not least the casting of Jamie Lee Curtis (Janet Leigh’s daughter in her screen debut) in the main role, coupled with the Herrmannesque string notes which signal the fatal blows of the killer’s hand, and the sonorous explanations of Dr Loomis (Donald Pleasance), who is named after Sam Loomis, Marion Crane’s lover. Michael Myers is as primal and unreasoning a killer as Hitchcock’s Birds, and just as deadly and inhuman. His white-masked face emerges from the shadows only slowly; he lurks (in the widescreen, DON’T watch the Pan & scan, he’s missing half the time) on the edges, appearing as a shoulder, the back of a head, a half-glimpsed white flash until we, the audience, have enough information about his past behaviour to be truly terrified for the characters onscreen. Those who are still left alive.

It’s worth noting that Myer’s signature visage was a $2 William Shatner mask painted white by production designer Tommy Lee Wallace.

John Carpenter took the story idea (tentatively entitled The Babysitter Murders) from Irwin Yablans, and, with producer Debra Hill, wrote the script in 10 days. It’s set in the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, the kind of innocuous, everyday suburban setting that was to be revisited so successfully by the likes of Wes Craven, Sean Cunningham, Brian Yuzna and even Peter Jackson (with a NZ flavour) throughout the 1980s. Myers is the stuff of local legend - fifteen years previously he murdered his teenage sister, Judith, on Hallowe’en night, and has been incarcerated in an asylum since. But now, as the tagline tells us, is “The Night HE Came Home”, and hapless babysitter/virgin Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) finds herself the unlucky target of his bloodlust.

Much has been written about the character of Laurie Strode, one of the first Final Girls, those sole survivors (often because of her refusal to take part in sexual initiation rites) of the carnage, who overcome physical weakness and ineptitude to defeat the monster. Halloween establishes the formula for Final Girl behaviour, down to the slightly androgynous appearance, the “less popular virgin” status, and the ‘kicker’ - that re-appearance of the monster when the Final Girl thinks she has polished him (it’s always a him) off. The Final Girl can represent a patriarchal construct (the manipulated and persecuted virgin-victim who triumphs through purity and passivity, often winning by accident) or a feminist heroine, defeating the misogynist monster who would penetrate her with his blade(s).