A John Carpenter Poll

That was great, thanks. That movie is ahead of its time is so many ways, no wonder it flopped.

"in"

The new “The Ward” episode of Blank Check pod is really good - convo w Drew McWeeny about collaborating w Carpenter & a very sentimental conversation about what those last few movies were like for him etc

Upshot: Carpenter is the best, guys

Good episode. Surprised the two friends rated Assault On Precinct 13 so low - near perfect film imo, as great an example of Carpenter's stripped down approach as Escape From New York. Agree with the general "spoilt for choice" sentiment tho.

Watching “Starman.” Damn if this ain’t an underappreciated 80s classic.

Also, I forgot this was a first contact + road movie combo

Also, Carpenter didn’t do the score, Jack Nitzsche is credited

prince of darkness is my fav

The discussion of Big Trouble jogged something in my mind. I could have sworn I remember Alex Cox introducing it as part of Moviedrome and pointing out that Kurt Russell's character is a third wheel. But seemingly he didn't, although he introduced several John Carpenter films. Here's his take on Escape from New York. He describes They Live as Carpenter's most recent film, so I assume Cox's introduction was recorded in 1989 or 1990 or so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpNGOsxwZ3A

In his opinion New York was a disappointment because the special effects were no good and it wasn't shot in New York. I was disappointed with the film too, but not for those reasons. I felt that it looked great, and in any case it took place mainly at night, in a fantasy version of New York, and my hunch is that most of suburban New York doesn't look like New York either. But perhaps Alex Cox was being deliberately provocative so that he could get social media likes on Prestel or Ceefax or whatever. How did you subscribe to someone in 1990? Did you just obsessively read about them, or something? Or send them fan mail?

Every time I watch Escape from New York I think to myself "why don't I like this film more", and then I think "I remember why I don't like this film more", and I also think "Adrienne Barbeau". It has a great setup. But after Snake reaches New York he gets captured and it turns into a boring chase. Then it ends. It's as if Where Eagles Dare skipped from the opening sequences to the end, without "sit down major" and the cable car fight etc. Or imagine if The Turin Horse but they stay in the farm the whole time.

Second act? Is that what it doesn't have? It has a truncated second act. Skimming through the list of Carpenter's films it strikes me that all of the ones I have seen bar The Thing and Assault on Precinct 13 have felt disappointingly incomplete. It's as if he was compelled to make films as efficiently as possible, even if that meant writing the absolute minimum amount of story.

You should check out a BTiLC version with the Carpenter/Russell commentary. They're so pleased with Kurt's subversive ineptitude compared to Dennis Dun, makes me wish their instincts and chemistry had led to more movies together.

Feeling better about The Rock's BTiLC being a continuation instead of a remake, if it's ever made.

i watched in the mouth of madness for the first time in the past year and that is a good movie! maybe the last genuinely good movie carpenter made? definitely one of the best endings to a movie ever

The Thing was a movie I tapped out on thrice on my first three attempts within a half hour because it seemed like a boring creature feature, and only this year did I realize that's not the allure of it at all, but the Invasions of the Body Snatchers-esque assimilation. So rewatched and stuck with it and loved it this time.

One rare time a spoiler made me revisit a film

Brought the new year in with The Fog. I think it's perfect and certainly in my top 3 (er, The Thing, Big Trouble, The Fog). The credit sequence is so great. Apart from Barbeau's voice, no one speaks for the first 12 minutes; you get a series of those trademark, almost Hopper-esque, cuts from Dean Cundey - a brilliant introduction to the town and the atmosphere.

love the fog, love its mood and simplicity. not enough ghost stories.

89 minutes! It's probably a fair amount of residual trauma from seeing it as a kid, but I think it's genuinely creepy too. Also, poor Mrs Kobritz - she didn't deserve that. (In my head, she's Mrs Colditz, always has been.)

Morbs right again, Starman is grebt!

Underrated/under-remembered. Bridges got an Oscar nomination!

I can't believe I pasted a Jordan Ruimy tweet upthread smh

Underrated/under-remembered. Bridges got an Oscar nomination!

The love story angle is pretty well done too, as the alien becomes somewhat human but not fully so.