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Lex M · 05-05-2004, 10:58 PM

My constant complaint about post-80s Carpenter, which I like to scream to the rafters every chance I get, is that the reason JC's body of work has become has so bad lately, is that many of his simpatico collaboraters of his early era have left him, or moved on to bigger and better things. While JC is in every way an auteur, filmmaking is still a collaborative process, and it seems like Carpenter has been working with a B-level crew over the last decade. The most devastating loss was the switch from Dean Cundey as his DP to the very bland, TV-movie-ish Gary Kibbe, who, while competent, is awfully uninspired, making little use out of JC's trademark Panavision, and instead settling for a flat look that looks, as I like to say, Made for USA Network.

Think about it. In his salad days, from 1976 with ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, through roughly THEY LIVE, Carpenter was a prolific cause celebre among genre filmmakers. He cranked out a solid, gritty, cynical, edgy B-movie about once a year, and even showed signs of maturing with the more ambitious THE THING, STARMAN, and BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. Unfortunately, at least two of those three were, at the time, pretty conspicuous bombs at the B.O., and he retreated to B pictures with the one-two punch of PRINCE OF DARKNESS and THEY LIVE. No shame in those two at all, but something funny happened around this time.

After THEY LIVE, the prolific director retreated and didn't make a movie again for over three years, not unusual for others, maybe, but certainly for Carpenter, who returned with a hired-gun job on MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN. I actually like this movie, especially Sam Neil's villain, but the JC trademarks were all missing -- the synth score, the white on black credits, the cool supporting turns from, say, Tom Atkins and Charles Cyphers.

He then returned (sort of) to form with IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, which is sadly beginning to look more and more like the last really competent JC film. Good cast, good concept. My only complaint, again, was that his style seemed a little watered down here -- the old moody synth drones replaced by wah-wah guitar straight out of the hair metal era, the somewhat flat compositions by Kibbe.

Unfortunately, it's been pretty down hill since then. VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED is watchable, but icy and mean-spirited; compare VILLAGE with ESCAPE FROM NY or THE THING, and you'll be shocked by the drop in quality in virtually every aspect of filmmaking.

ESCAPE FROM L.A. is a fun romp, and Russell is a riot in his second go at Snake Plissken, but as has been said ad nauseum, it's basically a lighter remake of the original, with shitty special effects and a bland visual style that does nothing to hide them. Whereas the earlier film was all black-and-blue murk and grit, this one's chintzy and flat, with some of the clunkiest production design to ever grace a $50 million film.

VAMPIRES and GHOSTS OF MARS -- the less said, the better. Excepting James Woods' hilarious performance in the former, these both seem like JC doing an imitation of Robert Rodriguez doing an imitation of Carpenter. Bland red-tinted lensing, dull compositions, and annoying use of dissolves which look like they're merely covering for JC not shooting enough coverage. It's weird; To hear JC on his commentary tracks, even for these films, he's still sharp as a tack. It's not like he's feeble, just maybe bored. Sadly, that boredom, or simple not caring, is showing through more and more in the films themselves.

05-05-2004, 10:58 PM	#14 (permalink)
Lex M Actor Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Los Angeles	My constant complaint about post-80s Carpenter, which I like to scream to the rafters every chance I get, is that the reason JC's body of work has become has so bad lately, is that many of his simpatico collaboraters of his early era have left him, or moved on to bigger and better things. While JC is in every way an auteur, filmmaking is still a collaborative process, and it seems like Carpenter has been working with a B-level crew over the last decade. The most devastating loss was the switch from Dean Cundey as his DP to the very bland, TV-movie-ish Gary Kibbe, who, while competent, is awfully uninspired, making little use out of JC's trademark Panavision, and instead settling for a flat look that looks, as I like to say, Made for USA Network. Think about it. In his salad days, from 1976 with ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, through roughly THEY LIVE, Carpenter was a prolific cause celebre among genre filmmakers. He cranked out a solid, gritty, cynical, edgy B-movie about once a year, and even showed signs of maturing with the more ambitious THE THING, STARMAN, and BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. Unfortunately, at least two of those three were, at the time, pretty conspicuous bombs at the B.O., and he retreated to B pictures with the one-two punch of PRINCE OF DARKNESS and THEY LIVE. No shame in those two at all, but something funny happened around this time. After THEY LIVE, the prolific director retreated and didn't make a movie again for over three years, not unusual for others, maybe, but certainly for Carpenter, who returned with a hired-gun job on MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN. I actually like this movie, especially Sam Neil's villain, but the JC trademarks were all missing -- the synth score, the white on black credits, the cool supporting turns from, say, Tom Atkins and Charles Cyphers. He then returned (sort of) to form with IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, which is sadly beginning to look more and more like the last really competent JC film. Good cast, good concept. My only complaint, again, was that his style seemed a little watered down here -- the old moody synth drones replaced by wah-wah guitar straight out of the hair metal era, the somewhat flat compositions by Kibbe. Unfortunately, it's been pretty down hill since then. VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED is watchable, but icy and mean-spirited; compare VILLAGE with ESCAPE FROM NY or THE THING, and you'll be shocked by the drop in quality in virtually every aspect of filmmaking. ESCAPE FROM L.A. is a fun romp, and Russell is a riot in his second go at Snake Plissken, but as has been said ad nauseum, it's basically a lighter remake of the original, with shitty special effects and a bland visual style that does nothing to hide them. Whereas the earlier film was all black-and-blue murk and grit, this one's chintzy and flat, with some of the clunkiest production design to ever grace a $50 million film. VAMPIRES and GHOSTS OF MARS -- the less said, the better. Excepting James Woods' hilarious performance in the former, these both seem like JC doing an imitation of Robert Rodriguez doing an imitation of Carpenter. Bland red-tinted lensing, dull compositions, and annoying use of dissolves which look like they're merely covering for JC not shooting enough coverage. It's weird; To hear JC on his commentary tracks, even for these films, he's still sharp as a tack. It's not like he's feeble, just maybe bored. Sadly, that boredom, or simple not caring, is showing through more and more in the films themselves.