STARMAN **** USA 1984 Dir: John Carpenter. 110 mins. Columbia Pictures passed on E.T. to make Carpenter’s least cynical, most tender movie – the director having endured a critical backlash thanks to the release of THE THING in the summer of the Spielberg picture. Far away from the nihilism of…
Browsing: John Carpenter
CHRISTINE **** USA 1983 Dir: John Carpenter. 110 mins Carpenter followed the critical and commercial failure of THE THING with the safer option of a Stephen King adaptation in a prolific period for big budget King movies. Its strongest asset is Keith Gordon’s interpretation of one of King’s outcast teens:…
THE THING ***** USA 1982 Dir: John Carpenter. 108 mins The horribly disturbing tagline: “Man is the warmest place to hide”. In the same year as VIDEODROME (also released by Universal) and at the height of the special make-up effects revolution, this was contemptuously received by mainstream critics disgusted by…
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK ***** USA 1981 Dir: John Carpenter. 99 mins Carpenter’s hugely influential dystopian sci-fi movie indulged his adoration of antiheroes and life-long disdain for authority, while taking the crime-ridden, pre-Giuliani state of New York City (already the subject of various vigilante movies) to its natural extreme. The…
THE FOG ***** USA 1980 Dir: John Carpenter. 91 mins Rescued in post-production by reshoots, reediting and rescoring, this brave attempt at a modern take on the old-fashioned ghost story opens with an Edgar Allen Poe quote though its influences are closer to Lovecraft, EC Comics, THE GHOSTLY GALLEON and…