Carpenter:
Constructed Classics
or The Thing
called Starman that wanted to Escape from New York in The Fog that could mean
Big Trouble in Little China for Christine and The Prince of Darkness if They
Live
When I was a kid there were things
that scared me, creepy noises in the night, snakes, and the elderly. However there were images that were put into
my head by certain films that stayed with me into adult hood, some of them
terrified me. Some of them were put
there by John Carpenter. The director’s
filmography spans decades, but the most interesting of his films were released
in and around the 1980’s.
The Fog
(1980), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983),
Starman (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987),
They Live (1988).
Everyone
knows about the “Halloween” movies, there have been nine films to carry the
“John Carpenter’s” Halloween name. Most
people have seen at least one if not most of them. The original from 1978 is still by far the
best, with the music, the style, and the tone that it brings to the
screen. Even watching now by today’s
standards of “Saw”-like films where you see every bloody mess-of-a-kill, there
is something about seeing so little blood and gore that can be unsettling. Carpenter understood that just as Hitchcock
did before him. The less you show and
more you imply, the more the audience will have to use their imagination, which
is indeed more terrifying.
From there
Carpenter did some TV work including a fantastic Elvis bio-pic that began his
friendship with actor Kurt Russell who together did some of their best work. Then in 1980 he released The Fog, which
carried his signature style camera work, jump scares, and eerie self-composed
score. In a plot that on paper, sounds
straight out of a Scooby Doo cartoon.
Ghost pirates coming back from the dead to terrorize a small town, which
use, you guessed it, a fog. It could
have been silly but it has some genuine frights even mixed with some of the
80’s cheesiness. After that film he
created a cult classic with afore mentioned Russell in “Escape from New York”
about world renowned criminal Snake Plissken who is forced to save the
president who has crash landed on the wrong side of Manhattan. Russell is bad ass as this iconic character,
in this gritty failed utopia of the future.
This is where Carpenter’s politics are most prominent, as well as his
anger about the issue of government control over the people it governs.
His next
film which still to this day is my favorite of all his films is “The Thing”
based on the film “Thing from another world” which in turn was based on short
story “Who goes there?” Set in the artic
as a research group gets involved with a life form that has been dug up and
thawed out and begins to tear the group apart from within. This is another glimpse in to the psyche of
Carpenter in as much it is a question of identity in a group where everything
should be obvious is now not so. Again
teaming with Kurt Russell as MacReady the group fights for survival in set
piece after set piece that continue to one up themselves, from sled dogs
getting torn apart to a nightmare defibrillation scene. And while the stop motion effects do feel a
little dated, the practical effects and the incredible amount of tension more
than make up for it in a film that is both terrifying and timeless. Also if you
pick this one up on Blu-Ray, it looks beautiful, like it was filmed last year
instead of 30 years ago.
The next couple
of films are still great in their own right and fit nicely into their
prospective categories the possessed car in “Christine” being the horror and
alien from another world “Starman” in the sci-fi. Much like “The Thing” before them, they both explore
individuality as well as the search for identity. They don’t come into the classic category mainly
because of their by the numbers approach, but they do have memorable moments
and great stand out performances by their stars Keith Gordon in “Christine” and
Jeff Bridges in “Starman”.
Then in 1986
Carpenter seems to have the most fun by doing something that was almost unheard
of at the time but is now part of the norm in Hollywood, he smashed several
genres into a wacky, funny, creepy, action-packed, completely enjoyable and his
most re-watchable film to date “Big Trouble in Little China”. Combining a western and a martial arts film
was not Carpenter’s idea, but he grabbed the ball and ran it in. Though a commercial failure it achieved cult
status when I and many others discovered it on home video. Again reteaming with Russell, Carpenter took
the character of Jack Burton and made him American almost to a fault and a
little of a parody. But the lines, and
the plays on stereotypes would make any Joss Whedon fan smile , this if truly one
of his best films.
“Prince of
Darkness” though not one of Carpenter’s best is something that should not be
forgotten. Again with a blend that not
really had been seen before with the idea of genuine supernatural evil mixed
with science. There are more images that
stick with you from this film than the storyline. It’s filled with the jump-scares and creepy
music, and while the idea is a little silly there are moments that can unnerve
the hell out of you. I think Carpenter
found a better way to tell this kind of story while still displaying his
talents as a great filmmaker that began with “The Thing” and ended in 1995 with
the underrated and at least to me still kinda hard to watch with the lights off
“In the Mouth of Madness”.
The previous
three films Carpenter considers his “Apocalyptic Trilogy” however one that I
would tack on to that train is his 1988 film “They Live” starring Rowdy Roddy
Piper as a drifter who stumbles across a pair of sunglasses that enable him to
see the global and mostly successful takeover of the human race by aliens. Most people, who don’t know the movie, know
the things that have been spoken or parodied from it, like the sunglasses that
see things as they are, in black and white, and the overly long but awesome fight
scene between Piper and Keith David. Writing
under a pseudonym Carpenter displays his usual genre blend of horror, sci-fi
and dark humor along with his distaste of at the time modernism of classics,
and the rampant mindless consumerism of America. I do have to admit that watching it as adult
the image of a dollar bill when seen through the eyes of the sunglasses reads
“This is your God” really spoke to me, as heavy handed as it is. And of course who can deny one of the
greatest lines in movie history, yes, I’m going to write it with pride. “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick
ass…and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
Overall and
up to this point (not counting him out yet) John Carpenter has cemented his
place in history as a phenomenal filmmaker that has given the world of cinema some
great films. Even though the 90’s were
not kind, with the unforgettable “Memoirs of an Invisible Man”, the probably
unintentionally funny “Village of the Damned” remake, the almost unforgivable
sequel “Escape from L.A” and the not so great “Vampires” (I’m not ashamed to
have it on my DVD shelf) Carpenter might still have something left in the
tank. I have not seen “The Ward” though
didn’t hear much good about it, however the best part of his career is that we
can go back to discover and re-discover his films, I am currently going back to
1976 to see the original “Assault on Precinct 13”. I didn’t care much for the remake but I know
without a doubt that I will see something special in the hands of one of not
just one of the masters of horror, but a true master.
--Robert L.
Castillo
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