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Chunkblower · 07-16-2004, 11:17 PM

It's almost a universal constant that when directors put their names above the title in a possessive manner (ie. John Carpenter's Vampires... Wes Craven's New Nightmare is an exception to this rule, though I wouldn't argue the contention that we've seen the best from Craven we ever will.. another thread), that the film will suck and the directors' career is over. Really, did John Carpenter's name on the Ghosts of Mars poster really draw that many more people into the theatre? No, and reason for that is that John hasn't been able to use his name as currency for a long, long time.

He had a good run though. As many have pointed out, he's made some bonafide masterpieces: Assault, Halloween, Escape from N.Y,The Thing.. as well as several respectable genre efforts. And even many of his failures are at least entertaining, intriguing or provocative: Prince of Darkness, They Live, Big Trouble.

I don't know what the decline in his career can be attributed to for sure, but my suspicion is that he regrets not having made the western he always wanted to. It's obvious he has great passion for the genre: He's co-scripted several western Teleplays, his gushing for the genre in just about every interview he does, the constant insertion of western themes/cliches into his genre films and then his work on The Once Upon a Time in the West DVD.

And now he could probably never get it off the ground. Aside from the genre being pretty much dead, he's nowhere near the bankable director he was in the late 70'-early 80's. He's always going to have a steady income due to the royalties the Halloween franchise continues to pay him, so I'm sure he's not starving, but a natural director like Carpenter should be working.

I don't think he has had any passion for any of the projects he's done in the past 15 years. In the Mouth of Madness is probably the only halfway decent film he's done in that period, but the lustre on that one wore off after the second viewing. It's sad, because Carpenter is so enormously talented, and helped kick start the 80's horror boom that so many other directors benefitted from. I'd hate to entertain the notion that he's dried up and has nothing left.

My personal favorite John Carpenter movies will likely come as no surprise: Halloween and The Thing (in that order), though I also love The Fog, Christine, Prince of Darkness (guilty pleasure), They Live.

07-16-2004, 11:17 PM	#17 (permalink)
Chunkblower Banned Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: 612 Wharf Avenue	It's almost a universal constant that when directors put their names above the title in a possessive manner (ie. John Carpenter's Vampires... Wes Craven's New Nightmare is an exception to this rule, though I wouldn't argue the contention that we've seen the best from Craven we ever will.. another thread), that the film will suck and the directors' career is over. Really, did John Carpenter's name on the Ghosts of Mars poster really draw that many more people into the theatre? No, and reason for that is that John hasn't been able to use his name as currency for a long, long time. He had a good run though. As many have pointed out, he's made some bonafide masterpieces: Assault, Halloween, Escape from N.Y,The Thing.. as well as several respectable genre efforts. And even many of his failures are at least entertaining, intriguing or provocative: Prince of Darkness, They Live, Big Trouble. I don't know what the decline in his career can be attributed to for sure, but my suspicion is that he regrets not having made the western he always wanted to. It's obvious he has great passion for the genre: He's co-scripted several western Teleplays, his gushing for the genre in just about every interview he does, the constant insertion of western themes/cliches into his genre films and then his work on The Once Upon a Time in the West DVD. And now he could probably never get it off the ground. Aside from the genre being pretty much dead, he's nowhere near the bankable director he was in the late 70'-early 80's. He's always going to have a steady income due to the royalties the Halloween franchise continues to pay him, so I'm sure he's not starving, but a natural director like Carpenter should be working. I don't think he has had any passion for any of the projects he's done in the past 15 years. In the Mouth of Madness is probably the only halfway decent film he's done in that period, but the lustre on that one wore off after the second viewing. It's sad, because Carpenter is so enormously talented, and helped kick start the 80's horror boom that so many other directors benefitted from. I'd hate to entertain the notion that he's dried up and has nothing left. My personal favorite John Carpenter movies will likely come as no surprise: Halloween and The Thing (in that order), though I also love The Fog, Christine, Prince of Darkness (guilty pleasure), They Live. Last edited by Chunkblower : 08-20-2004 at 09:53 AM.