I have a terrible sin to confess.
Despite being a cult film lover, especially movies from the 1970s and 1980s, I had never seen the entire filmography of John Carpenter.
Yes, I know the depths of my transgression. But don’t banish me from the retro-nerd kingdom just yet.
To overcorrect this wrong, I’ve rewatched or dived into the entire John Carpenter catalog.
And for fun, this article ranks all 18 feature-length films he directed from 1974 through 2010. They are divided into three tiers and listed by number, ranked from weakest to strongest.
Please note that all lists like this create controversy. That’s the fun of having an opinion! If you’ve got a gripe, feel free to share it in the comments below. I’d love to hear your (respectful) reasons I could reconsider.
This is a 2023 evaluation, and I can’t recreate the impact these had in their own day.
I’m confident of each film’s place within its tier. But there’s wiggle room in a ranked number here or there, as some of these are neck-and-neck.
Please Note: Carpenter directed a made-for-TV movie, Elvis (1979), starring Kurt Russell, but I won’t include it in this ranking.
Also left out are some scripts he wrote but didn’t direct (such as Eyes of Laura Mars) or things he produced but did not direct (such as remakes for The Fog or Halloween).
And after the rankings are done, I’ll give out a few awards, such as best theme.
Wait…Who is John Carpenter?
If you just want to get to the rankings, skip down below.
For the uninitiated who’d like an introduction, John Carpenter is most renowned for his horror and science fiction films. A director whose work stretches from 1974 to (as of this writing) 2010, he is behind several cult classics adored by genre fans today.
The multi-talented creator infamously worked magic on limited budgets. Able to direct, compose (generally by synthesizer), edit, and write, his films were covered in his fingerprints.
He had some box office hits, including the outrageously profitable Halloween (making $70 million against a ~$325,00 budget). But several Carpenter films were panned by critics, audiences, or both, only to be re-appraised as classics in time.
Carpenter’s films help link old Hollywood to 1990s-2000s directors and beyond.
A man who loved and incorporated the stylistic choices of classic director Howard Hawks, he was lectured in USC film school by the likes of Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Ford.
And Carpenter’s work has been cited as a massive influence on directors who emerged in the 90s to the present, like Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, David Gordon Green, and more.
While entertaining, his films often contain social commentary, such as warnings about authority.
As Carpenter has put it in interviews, the roots of this eye for satire came from growing up an outsider. His father, a music professor, moved his family from New York down to Bowling Green, Kentucky. According to Carpenter, Jim Crow attitudes were still alive and well in his southern surroundings, and he did not fit in.
Having listened to some of his director’s commentaries and in various interviews, despite his status, he comes across as a plain-spoken, humble guy.
But enough about the man. Let’s check out his work.
Third-Tier John Carpenter Films:
Lowest ranking doesn’t mean trash. The films listed here are worth a watch for “Carpenter completists,” as they still find a thread or two of the master’s magic (except The Ward, which we’ll get to).
But if the plot doesn’t excite you, casual viewers may want to avoid these less-fulfilling creations.
The sad trend is that most of these movies were made in the 1990s and beyond. While some have suggested the director lost it later in his career, I don’t think that’s the case.
In flashes, you experience the playful elements, like camerawork or an inspired score, that helped Carpenter strike a chord with his fans.
Filmmaking is a tough business; perhaps Carpenter was getting tired after decades in the industry. Maybe he couldn’t reach his best out of exhaustion.
I believe it’s like a rhythm 3-point shooter who hits a cold streak. He didn’t pick the best material and/or get the recipe right.
18 – The Ward (2010)
Chronological Order: 18
Budget: $10 Million
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: Kristen (Amber Heard) is taken to a mental health facility. When she learns a ghost of a former patient is haunting the place, the staff ignores her warnings. She and the other patients try to escape before the ghost can claim its next victim.
Carpenter returned from a nine-year hiatus to direct this modestly budgeted horror flick. But until I researched, I couldn’t fathom how this vapid vehicle drew him in.
Apparently, he liked the script centered on one setting and the novelty of making a film with a primarily all-female cast.
Fine. I guess when you have nothing to prove, that’s all you need.
But it’s as if he was sleepwalking. His iconic “John Carpenter’s” font is over the top of the film’s title, but it’s like an A student inexplicably blowing an exam: Without their name on the cover, you wouldn’t recognize the work.
A film that’s essentially a ghost story taking place in a psychiatric ward, it’s a slog of jump scares the script doesn’t earn.
You’re forced to follow around cliched mental patients the film is allergic to characterizing even mildly (this makes sense by the film’s end, but doesn’t make them fun to spend time with).
And when the movie lays all its cards on the table, it’s a been-there, seen-that payoff.
The main character is so victimized, and the others frequently tormented, that you can’t have any real fun in this pain exercise.
It’s sad if this is how a true legend goes out, but then again, maybe Carpenter had a good time. So at least somebody won here.
It hurts to say, but I can’t recommend this film.
17- Dark Star (1974)
Chronological Order: 1
Budget: $60,000
Genre: Science Fiction/Comedy
Synopsis: After the accidental death of their captain, the remaining crew of the Dark Star spacecraft must continue their mission: to find and destroy rogue planets. In their way? A malfunctioning ship, a snarky alien lifeform, and uncooperative talking bombs.
It’s harsh to toss Carpenter’s first film near the basement of these rankings. You’d find this effort near the top if we graded just on achievement.
Dark Star started out as an incredibly promising USC film school project.
That’s why it’s a bit of a misnomer to call it John Carpenter’s directorial debut. It was co-constructed with fellow student Dan O’Bannon, who acted, wrote, and produced the film’s special effects/production design.
A loose parody of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, it follows a group of hippie space pilots trying not to die as they drive around a breaking-down spaceship and blow up planets.
But over a few years, the unbelievable student film secured funding to be expanded into feature-length for theatrical release.
This is where the problems come in.
The bulk of the additional footage fails to inspire. Case in point: O’Bannon’s Sergeant Pinback battling an alien crafted from a beach ball in an elevator shaft (funny, but not for ~20 minutes).
Still, the final act of the movie, with moments like the characters frantically debating philosophy with a talking bomb, trying to persuade it not to explode, just about redeems it.
And Carpenter impressively scored the movie with synthesizers and wrote the catchy theme “Benson, Arizona” (lyrics by Bill Taylor).
For a movie disguising ice cube trays as computer consoles, I wish to give this film a bigger break.
But we gotta call ’em as we see them.
This film is more important as a piece of sci-fi history. It’s the beginnings of Carpenter but also O’Bannon. Inspired by his fight with the beachball extra-terrestrial, O’Bannon would go on to write the story for all-time classic Alien and work on special effects for George Lucas.
You can learn more about that and read our complete review of Dark Star here.
16- Christine (1983)
Chronological Order: 7
Budget: $10 Million
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: When Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) purchases a 1958 Plymouth Fury nicknamed Christine, his parents, best friend, and new girlfriend become disturbed by his newly aggressive behavior.
This Stephen King adaptation essentially doubled its money at the box office – something Carpenter badly needed then.
He didn’t think the concept of this film – a killer car that slowly takes more and more control of the teenager who owns it – was very scary. But fresh off the critical backlash of The Thing and needing work, he took the project, as he puts it, as a “job.”
But I have to go with King’s assessment: It’s boring.
The plight of the main character, Arnie, could be better. His descent into madness is more like a light switch than a slow, tense decline that holds the audience’s interest.
The film teases at creating a teen drama with a flash of horror. It could have been a captivating story where his friends and family attempt to pull Arnie back from the abyss he’s slipping into or die trying.
But the movie doesn’t go there, devolving into a predictable slog.
Still, the film has its fans and following. There are some touches of fun here – especially
Christine rolling off the production line to George Thorogood and the Destroyer’s “Bad to the Bone.”
Carpenter scored the film (along with Alan Howarth), including a nifty attack song for the killer car.
Actor Harry Dean Stanton shows up as a hard-nosed police detective. He lends some of his instant magnetism, which is always welcome.
And there are some neat practical special effects as Christine can rebuild herself (accomplished by crumpling the car inward and running the footage in reverse).
But as Carpenter himself predicted, the movie just isn’t scary.
For more, you can read our full review of Christine here.
15 – Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Chronological Order: 12
Budget: $30-40 Million
Genre: Comedy-Drama
Synopsis: When an accident turns Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) invisible, CIA agent David Jenkins (Sam Neill) attempts to capture him. On the run and grappling with his circumstances, Nick turns to his new love interest, Alice Munroe (Daryl Hannah), for help.
Another entry in the “least John Carpenter” John Carpenter movies, this picture was a big studio project that had star power in Chevy Chase and access to vaunted effects company Industrial Light and Magic.
But it also came with big-studio constraints.
A film that started as a comedy, it became Chevy Chase’s pet project — a bridge to more dramatic roles.
But this bridge had faulty architecture.
Carpenter has said Chase and co-star Daryl Hannah were a nightmare to direct.
He’s also shared his opinion that the film suffered from the studio process – taking feedback from test audiences and playing it safe with its cuts and script. For example, Carpenter suggested a wild ending where Alice gives birth to an invisible baby. Still, the studio put a halt to it.
But the film still has a few strengths.
The combination of Carpenter’s management of special effects and Industrial Light and Magic’s work still mesmerizes. The scene of the accident that renders Nick invisible, featuring a half-there office building, or the rain-soaked silhouette of an invisible Halloway are just off the quality of effects seen in a classic like Terminator 2.
And Sam Neill’s deranged Agent Jenkins, with his twisted sense of morality, is an intriguing villain.
In the hands of Carpenter, you could feel the thread of one of his familiar themes brewing here: a warning about authority.
But none of this comes together, and it’s just a mediocre film that hits story beats without making music. It never fully commits to comedy, yet is too light on character development for the audience to invest themselves in Nick.
You can read our full review of Memoirs of an Invisible Man here.
14 – Escape from L.A. (1996)
Chronological Order: 15
Budget: $50 Million
Genre: Action/Science Fiction
Synopsis: Snake Plissken is back.
This time, the president’s daughter has run off to L.A., the newest large-scale prison in this nightmare world. The problem? She nabbed the detonator to Daddy’s ultimate weapon on the way out.
With the government, again, needing his help, can Snake retrieve the detonator before it falls into the hands of a rebel leader?
Fifteen years after the release of Escape from New York, Carpenter, actor Kurt Russell, and producer Debra Hill returned for this 1996 sequel.
Armed with $50 million, the creative team was excited to finally revisit antihero Snake Plissken. And they’d have the funds to build a grand scale the original could only dream of.
The problem? Like a remake masquerading as a sequel, this follow-up completely loses the tone.
You know you’re headed for trouble as soon as you switch this movie on. It greets you with the original Escape from New York theme, but it’s been pumped up on steroids. Active drumming pounds, and distorted guitars blare over the quiet squeaking of the original piano.
I like the alternative theme in isolation, but this juiced-up anthem is a perfect metaphor for why this film disappoints.
While Escape from New York was a dark and eerie prowl through a bombed-out city, setting the scene of a nightmare, authoritarian future, its L.A. sequel is an over-the-top campy action piece shamelessly lifting all the plot beats of the original.
Snake no longer slithers through the gloom. He fights his enemies head-on like Rambo, commandeering motorcycles and blasting away. Or he inexplicably takes up surfing with help from Peter Fonda (Easy Rider) or plays basketball to the death.
It’s camp that isn’t well-executed satire, silly action that doesn’t fumble into schlocky brilliance.
And it features laughable CGI. You have to wonder how Snake’s entrance into L.A. via submarine (complete with that God-awful shimmery shark at ~35 seconds) could look exponentially worse than the practical-effects-powered (and animation?) flight into New York fifteen years earlier.
Carpenter has said this movie is ten times better than the original, but I have to disagree.
Still, it outranks the films below it for a few charms.
Russell plays Snake with all the kickass muscle and sneer of his original, perhaps drinking vampire blood because he looks exactly the same.
It still gives you moments of badassery, like Snake pulling a trick on the government agents at the film’s end that tops the original’s F*&^ you moment.
And it tries to capitalize on its L.A. setting with a few digs. It takes a crack at Disneyland and features undead-like ghouls (led by B-movie legend Bruce Campbell) who suffer from long-term side effects of plastic surgery.
But it’s just not good, and it’s too bad.
13 – Village of the Damned (1995)
Chronological Order: 14
Budget: $22 Million
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: An inexplicable blackout renders every citizen in small-town Midwich unconscious at precisely 10:00 AM. At 4:00 PM, they all wake. The blackout’s origins are investigated but have yet to be explained.
Weeks later, a string of pregnancies dating back to the day of the incident alarm the town doctor, Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve), and Federal Agent Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley).
10 months later, when Midwich’s new generation is born, the children exhibit strange, unexplainable behavior.
A remake of the 1960 classic of the same name, this mid-90s Carpenter movie for Universal Pictures was out to do the original novel (The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham) more justice and, of course, cash in on the update.
In an era when you couldn’t say “impregnation” on screen, the original didn’t dare tackle issues like abortion. And ever since a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers hauled in piles of cash at the box office, a new Village was in the frame.
After bouncing around for many years, the project came to Carpenter. A fan of the original film and familiar with the Northern California shooting locations, it seemed like a comfortable partnership.
But maybe it was all too safe or complacent, as this picture lacks the cutting edge you feel it needs.
The cast featured Superman, Christopher Reeve; and Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill. But the returns were anything but heroic, bringing back just $9.4 million domestically.
Carpenter said positive things about Universal, and you don’t get the feeling the studio process undercut his work here.
But he’s said it was one of the films he was least excited to make. While I would never accuse the master of mailing it in, you don’t feel he was at his best here.
Still, the film has its fandom. And in bits, I can see why.
It’s well shot, with a few moments of nifty cinematography a la moving camera.
Like many of Carpenter’s best films, it sets up an intriguing story and attempts to unfold the rest of the movie layer-by-layer, upping the tension by raising the stakes.
But its kills and scares lack fright.
You follow weakly-developed characters as a lot of time passes in the story without the depth to cover the character change.
And the way the town deals with the troubled generation, by seemingly not dealing with them, is confusing.
Though I haven’t read the novel, it strikes me as a film that couldn’t distill the book into concise, compelling pieces.
You can read our full Village of the Damned review here.
12 – Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Chronological Order: 17
Budget: $28 Million
Genre: Action/Horror/Space Western
Synopsis: In the year 2176, humankind has colonized Mars. But in the outpost of Shining Canyon, an ancient Martian race emerges, possessing its would-be conquerors.
Carpenter’s last film before a nine-year break, Ghosts of Mars, was a failure with critics and audiences.
It brought back $14 million at the worldwide box office. Critics were just as unkind, flailing the movie for not being scary.
But part of this film’s struggles were down to a misunderstanding.
Carpenter’s adventure on the red planet was always meant to be tongue-in-cheek, an over-the-top campfest.
But even though it was often misunderstood, that doesn’t mean it was particularly good for those who got it. It attempts many tricks that, while novel, don’t inspire.
For one, the movie plays with a dream-like quality, such as the heavy use of dissolve transitions. The story structure revolves around flashbacks. And as a space western, it hints at a slight subtext of pioneers vs. Native Americans.
But that artistry, even if it mattered, gets lost in the grating sound of a heavy metal soundtrack blaring over the sight of spitfire action and dumb gore.
And its one-note characters, romping around in bland costumes, are so disposable the others don’t even notice when they’re slain.
I’m shocked I have this movie this far up my list. But it outranks some of these other efforts because it at least delivers some competent, turn-your-brain-off action.
Some have suggested Carpenter was not trying by this point in his career. Considering the creative attempts here, I don’t think a lack of effort is the cause of failure. But perhaps fatigue
got in the way of execution.
You can read our full review of Ghosts of Mars here.
11 – Vampires (1998)
Chronological Order: 16
Budget: $20 Million
Genre: Horror/Western
Synopsis: Jack Crow (James Woods) and his team of hardened vampire hunters face their toughest challenge yet.
Jan Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith), a master vampire, seeks a mythical relic that could tip the balance of the secret war between vampires and humans in the bloodsuckers’ favor.
Can Crow stop him before it’s too late?
Being the “master of horror,” it seemed inevitable that Carpenter would create a vampire film, as blood-drinking ghouls are a genre staple.
And though Carpenter never directed a straight western but loved them, this sunburnt film shot gloriously in the New Mexican desert rings the closest his career gets (so far).
While it can be hard to stand out in saturated territory, Carpenter’s gritty, stripped-down vampire lore refreshingly sets this film apart.
Here the vampire hunters are exterminators, contract workers ready to hook and drag the bloodsuckers into daylight by a winch cable attached to a jeep.
And these vampires aren’t touchy-feely things saddened by the burden of living forever and allergic to holy water or garlic. They’ll just tear you in two.
Going further against the type, Carpenter cast the ~50-year-old James Woods in the lead where a musclebound tough would generally do. Woods’s sarcastic Crow is no barking chihuahua; his crossbow and stakes lay waste to several who would bite.
But this movie doesn’t age well.
Crow is like an asshole at a youth baseball game, yelling at his kid to “walk it off” when their ankle is shot. He cracks homophobic jokes, breaks his own slaying rules because of course he can, and resorts to torturing a peaceful priest when he wants information.
His sidekick is Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), whose first on-screen action is zipping up his pants after taking a leak by the side of the road. If that seems incidental, it’s a deliberate first impression.
If you squint at this film and give in to its bravado, you can find yourself waltzing along to its metronome of suck-it-up horror/western twang. Watching Crow and his team burn vampires in the sun is darkly satisfying.
But for any joy the film gives you, it’s hard to overlook Crow and Montoya’s misogynistic bromance, as they openly slap around former prostitute, soon-to-be vampire Katrina (Sheryl Lee).
And the film was attacked with last-minute budget cuts. That may be why it lacks the scale of conflicts I wanted it to deliver.
You can read our full review of Vampires here.
Second-Tier John Carpenter:
If John Carpenter had only made these five movies, he’d still be a celebrated director today.
The second tier exponentially raises the fun factor. Get out your popcorn and gather your friends for these four horror films and an action romp (with a horror spice).
Each movie in this group is high on imagination and movie-making techniques, yet all are low on budget.
And though there’s a lot of horror here, it’s the pulpy, good-times variety. With an extremely low gore factor, they’re accessible to casual audiences.
Let’s check them out.
10 – Halloween (1978)
Budget: $300,000 – $325,000
Chronological Order: 3
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: On a Halloween night, six-year-old Michael Myers (Will Sandin/Nick Castle/Tony Moran) stabs his 17-year-old sister, Judith (Sandy Johnson), to death.
Fifteen years later, Myers, now a mental patient, escapes the psychiatric hospital. Stealing a car, he returns to his hometown, Haddonfield, Illinois, and begins stalking a group of neighborhood babysitters.
Meanwhile, Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) alerts the authorities of his patient’s escape. And taking matters into his own hands, he sets off for Haddonfield.
How appropriate a film that arguably started the slasher sub-genre is where the knives, no doubt, will come out for me.
Yes, I’ve got John Carpenter’s Halloween, a film many horror fans and critics could consider his masterpiece, at number 10.
We’ll get into why in a bit. Let’s start with the plaudits.
This is the indie film made for peanuts that rode a spray-painted William Shatner mask (yup!) to a staggering ~$70 million box office dollars (and who knows how much in merchandising since then) and spawned sequel after sequel, remake after remake.
Not every horror film ages well. The cursed monsters bringing audiences to scream, “Don’t go in there!” in one era might get giggles decades later.
And this movie has been ripped off ad infinitum by copycats looking to turn minor cash investments into pots of box office gold (looking at you, Friday the 13th franchise). That overproliferation could make it a stale watch today.
But you take a step back and try to put yourself in 1978, in an era of closer-knit communities and neighborhoods with unlocked doors. In that case, you can see why a stalking evil prowling the streets would be absolutely terrifying.
Most of the film takes place between two houses across from each other, a community invasion no doubt suburbia would fear.
Watching it now, for the first time, it still has a solid scare factor. I might take a peek in my bedroom closet tonight, just to make sure Michael Myers didn’t find his way in through an open window.
This should have been a mindless, exploitative B-movie, a film a young director takes on to help build a career and make some easy cash for a producer.
But instead of cheap gore or buckets of blood, Carpenter, cast, and crew rely on lighting, camerawork, and other techniques to atmospherically scare the audience into submission.
Among the constant tension, Halloween hits four specific high notes:
The innovative Steadicam sequence that begins the film, as Michael Myers stalks his sister, will never be forgotten. Unmounted cameras are common today, but the first-person view of his assault was a novel storytelling device at this moment.
Second, Carpenter’s unsettling synthesizer 5-4 time theme continually blares the spooky news that Myers is near (and is probably on every best Halloween songs playlist.)
Third, the closet scene near the film’s end is flat-out terrifying. Yet Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), in her panicking and desperation, still improvises a defense. The believability of the struggle makes it more effective.
Fourth, the finale, as we cut from shot to shot of dark hiding places, listening to the breathing of Myers. The implication? He could be anywhere. Have fun!
But enough with my stalling. I’ll get this over with.
Halloween nails its tricks, but it’s bound by the constraints of a slasher film. That makes a compelling plot, characters, and themes tough to come by.
So cut me up for not putting this in the top tier, if you must. But let’s think of this as John Carpenter is so talented he made nine films I’d recommend even more (which is a good thing).
9 – In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Budget: $8 Million
Chronological Order: 13
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: Horror author Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow) disappears before releasing his next novel.
Unable to locate Cane, Arcane Publishing files an insurance claim. Freelance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) takes the case, aided by Cane’s editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen).
When Trent and Styles’s search brings them to a small New England town, horrific sights convince Linda that the line between fiction and reality is blurring.
An homage to horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, In the Mouth of Madness is many Carpenter fans’ shout for his best of the 90s.
The movie ponders the power of literature/media over its readership – where is the line between fiction and reality? Are people too quick to follow an idea without questions?
And it features some enjoyable practical and makeup effects, including gaggles of Lovecraftian beasts, twisted human faces, and one extra creepy old lady with a nasty style of disciplining her husband.
Carpenter and crew’s camera pulls some nifty tricks, elevating the should-be-ordinary. A typical knock at Trent’s window with the back of the knuckles mimics a dreadful hand, and there are dream-within-a-dream, disguised jump scares.
But although Carpenter was at the helm and provided the score, the script came from screenwriter/film executive Michael De Luca.
And the meandering script holds the film back. The second act wanders into aimless confusion, as Trent is preoccupied with poking around his hotel rather than going after Cane.
The characters are equally lacking. Sam Neill’s strong performance could breathe a sleazy charm into a skeptical Trent. Still, he needs the dialogue or clever moments to make the character memorable. There are hints of a romance between him and Linda that are never realized nor lamented.
Sutter Cane, a Stephen King parody that, all in black, looks more like Neil Gaiman, is happy to serve the dark and help end the world. But we have no idea why.
Despite the script flaws, fans of Lovecraft will enjoy it, as this bleak tale is peppered with appropriate tips of the hat from one horror icon to another.
You can read our full review for In the Mouth of Madness here
8 – The Fog (1980)
Budget: $1.1 Million
Chronological Order: 4
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: 100 years after a ship sank just offshore, an otherworldly fog creeps into Antonio Bay. Paranormal activity begins around town as different parties work to uncover the origins of the mysterious moisture.
Not to be confused with The Mist, this old-fashioned ghost story raked in $21.3 million. But the movie’s success must have been more relief than triumph.
When Carpenter assembled a rough cut, to his own horror, he realized it wasn’t scary nor making sense. Able to secure funding for reshoots, the final product is about 30% additional footage.
It’s an excellent patch job.
A film that begins with a spooky, local ghost story told by firelight, The Fog is a slow-burning tale of revenge in Antonio Bay – a small, seaside California town.
We follow different parties, each uncovering a piece of the conspiracy that wrecked the clipper ship Elizabeth Dane 100 years ago, drowning her entire crew.
Slowly paced, it’s a film like Carpenter’s change-up pitch: an atmospheric tale, inching its way to the end, revealing crumbs of truth before an impending climax.
The film features Carpenter’s eerie score – a swirling mass of ambient synthesizer sounds that whirrs up into a nasty buzz by the film’s conclusion.
And like an old-school monster film, it obscures the ghost sailors for much of the movie, adding to the mystery.
It has its shortcomings. The characters, while not threadbare, are minimally fleshed out. And the plot is pockmarked with a few pinholes, as the targets of the sailors’ revenge are as murky as the fog.
But despite these little defects, this moody tale is worth sitting through to the final, bone-chilling payoff.
You can read our full review of The Fog here.
7 – Prince of Darkness (1987)
Budget: $3 Million
Chronological Order: 10
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: A liquid-form son of Satan, trapped in an ancient glass vile and hidden for thousands of years, seeks to escape and open the door to his father’s return – unless a small group of grad students, an oddball physics professor, and a Catholic priest can stop him.
This one’s an absolute 80s horror classic. It’s bristling with creative ideas and creep-out moments that, absent blood and gore, still feel like punching high despite the small layer of cheese.
A film about a religious conspiracy could trudge down the overfarmed pathways of ancient books of prophecy or unholy relics. Yet Carpenter chooses not to. This refreshingly original concept turns into a clash of beliefs and quantum physics.
And the film features some familiar Carpenter attributes.
It takes place mostly in one setting, confining the characters and creating tension. We get creative moments of cinematography, like the fuzzy dream sequences (accomplished by running filmed footage on a television screen and shooting it).
And there are some creepy-fun special effects. Liquid drips upwards and pools at the ceiling. Drippy mirrors become portals to another dimension. And, of course, the piles of bugs and worms that definitely let you know it’s the end times.
It all plays out to Carpenter’s novel score, incorporating choir sounds and a digital refrain, like a ticking clock, that lets you know evil is coming.
Victor Wong and Donald Pleasence, two actors who worked with Carpenter on multiple occasions, build a strong rapport as they debate openly the bundling of science and religion, the fight between a God and an anti-God.
The movie’s large cast of characters runs thin at best. And though the film lays out its pieces nicely, there’s a slight snag in the second act. We run through what feels like an obligatory killing/turning phase.
But the movie finds its feet for the conclusion. In a tense climax, everything crashes together, and a panicked handful of survivors must make the right choices to prevent the apocalypse.
Be sure to watch out for rocker Alice Cooper in a cameo, the unofficial leader of a possessed army of hostile homeless people.
You can read our full review of Prince of Darkness here.
6 – Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Budget: $100,000
Chronological Order: 2
Genre: Action
Synopsis: When a Los Angeles gang hell-bent on revenge besieges a nearly empty police station, the remaining officers and convicts must band together to defend it.
Like a mashup of Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead, this gritty classic is a story of survival.
But from the opening scene, when police ambush and gun down gangsters in an alley, this urban action thriller chucks your expectations into the wastebasket.
Even this early Carpenter effort was loaded with more than shotgun shells. It exposes the blurred lines on both sides of the law, as its police and convicts can wield honor or commit crimes.
The film can slip back into its exploitative shell, like the head-scratching decision to shoot and kill a young girl on screen (a taboo that Carpenter chalks up to being young and stupid at the time).
But it features diverse casting. Principal actor Austin Stoker carries one of the few leading man roles for black action heroes (outside of blaxploitation films) in this period. The gang members, police, and convicts are diverse.
Still, this film is mainly a swashbuckler, not a societal critique. And it’s got action in bags. Isolated in a nearly defunct precinct, the unlikely alliance of police and convicts repels the attacks of the gangsters with the limited ammunition and weapons they can find.
The gangsters, who have sworn a blood oath, add an element of horror to the film. Almost like ghouls, they barely speak. And they are happy to fling themselves through windows or down corridors where their comrades have just been killed. Like ants, they all work together…making them “revengants” or “vengants”…I guess.
The film’s action sequences, though competent, date themselves. And some shots and character actions are practically looped. It’s almost like a castle defense video game with limited spawn points for its villains, as the gangsters keep coming to the same windows or other entry points.
The true strength and lasting quality of the film are its characters. Enigmatic and strangely honor-bound convict Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) forms a likable bond with steady Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) and no-nonsense secretary Leigh (Laurie Zimmer). With rapid-fire “Howard Hawskian” dialogue, the triple threat watches each other’s backs.
The film is old-fashioned, unfolding slowly. Some audiences may be put off by the time it takes to bring all its players to the precinct.
But once the assault begins, there’s tension to the end, as the unlikely alliance of police and convicts fights through to nearly the final shot.
You can read our full review of Assault on Precinct 13 here.
Top-Tier Carpenter:
While you can gather your friends for a kickback viewing of this fare, you can also don your sharpest critical glasses.
Like home runs over base hits, these last five films have all the creativity of the second tier yet connect all the sweeter.
5 – Escape from New York (1981)
Budget: $6 Million
Chronological Order: 5
Genre: Science Fiction/Action
Synopsis: In an alternate 1997, the U.S. is at war with an allied China and Soviet Union (not “Russia” in 1981).
Elsewhere, crime goes so bonkers Manhattan has been walled off into a maximum security prison.
When a terrorist hijacks Air Force One, the president (Donald Pleasence) crashes into the newfound New York jail.
Running out of time before a vital peace summit, the government must turn to outlaw Snake Plissken for a covert rescue. Can Snake recover the president in time?
Forget the action component. Despite its modest budget, Escape thrives on world-building.
Featuring special effects by New World Pictures (including matte paintings and other techniques by none other than James Cameron), Carpenter and crew create a vision of a dreary, authoritarian future we all hope isn’t realized.
Shooting in a burned-out East St. Louis, subbing for New York, gave Carpenter and crew a playground. A movie filmed entirely at night, its highlights are the wide shots of Snake creeping through a city jungle of debris, literally small fires everywhere.
Kurt Russell’s turn as the Clint-Eastwood-like Snake Plissken could seem natural today, but casting the former Disney child actor was bold in ’81.
Russell thrives here. Snake’s iconic eyepatch was his creative choice, and he brings the stiff jaw and muscles the role requires.
The colorful supporting characters, played by the venerable Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, and Ernest Borgnine, take turns stealing the moment.
Though not a horror film, there’s a ghastly tone from time to time. Rather than uptown gangsters, Manhattan’s prisoners have become rag-tag ghouls. Scavengers known as “The Crazies” rise from the sewers, and most other prisoners walk around like Mad-Max-meets-vampire-film extras.
Carpenter’s story touches set the film apart, as Escape’s themes are as dark as its visuals.
He may be on a rescue, but Snake is no white knight. He walks past damsels in clear distress and doesn’t give any cigarette butts about a thing but his own hide. He’s the type of “hero” few studios allow on screen, and not too many filmmakers would dare showcase.
The president plays it noble on camera but is happy to wield a machine gun behind the scenes, if need be. And most of the side characters are loyal, so long as there’s something in it for them.
The last star of this show is John Carpenter and Alan Howarth’s rocking and popping soundtrack. From its intriguing opening theme to its poppy anthem for villain the Duke’s arrival, it’s an all-80s synthesizer fest you can practically dance to if it wasn’t so bleak and layered with intrigue.
Escape doesn’t give us breathtaking action, nor quite enough of Snake plodding through this disheveled Manhattan.
But it’s a film of nonstop creative choices and workarounds that make out into one gripping, neo-nightmare aesthetic.
You can read our full review of Escape from New York here.
4 – Starman (1984)
Budget: $24 Million
Chronological Order: 8
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance
Synopsis: When an alien Star Man (Jeff Bridges) crash lands on Earth, he stumbles into the home of Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). To avoid frightening Jenny, the shapeshifting Star Man takes on the appearance of her recently deceased ex-husband, Scott.
As the U.S. Government, alert to the crash, hunts Star Man, it’s up to Jenny to help him reach a rendezvous point with his kind. Complicating matters, he is slowly deteriorating and will die if he misses the pickup.
Can they evade the government agents and make it to the rendezvous point in time?
Starman is a moving film full of heart. Like the very best science fiction, it poses interesting questions. It contemplates loss, the nature of humanity, and even interspecies love (without being gross).
You wouldn’t have pegged the “master of horror” to have a gift for a romance, but credit Carpenter for pointing this film in the right thematic direction.
After a five-year preproduction riddled with shuffles in script and director, Carpenter came aboard and brought clarity. Rather than saddling the film with heavy political implications or emphasizing special effects, he focuses on the developing chemistry between the two lead characters as they hit the road.
With capable hands at work, the obscure romance clicks.
In an Oscar-nominated performance modeled after the twitchy movements of birds (yes, indeed), Jeff Bridges’s alien inside a human is a must-see. His curious Star Man sees humankind (the way the film puts it) as an anthropologist might, laying bare the strengths and weaknesses of a “primitive people.”
Karen Allen captivates as Jane. In explaining ordinary traffic lights or strawberry pie and trying to define concepts like love for an outsider, the depressed widow rediscovers and appreciates life again.
But even with fancy trimmings, it isn’t a cheesy, simple love story slipping into familiar cliches here.
The alien is a healer of more than just a dead deer he resurrects. He brings Jane closure over her loss while standing in the physical body of her departed husband – a profoundly moving concept. And the Star Man’s final gift to Jane will spell the end of her loneliness, a reciprocation of the kindness she’s shown him/it.
But humankind can be hostile. SETI scientist Mark Shermin (played with aplomb by Charles Martin Smith) fills out a captivating subplot as he continually struggles against the government’s intent on capturing and dissecting the Star Man.
Industrial Light and Magic bring special effects, like the Star Man’s transformation, which are still quite serviceable today. And some nicely-timed humor keeps the movie from getting too heavy.
Complaints are hard to find here. It leaves you wanting slightly more at its conclusion as Star Man and Jenny struggle to reach the rendezvous point. And in a moment of distress, Jenny unrealistically convinces a total stranger to drop everything and help her in a diversion that could mean prison time.
But unless you’ve got a heart of stone, Starman is a joy.
3 – They Live (1988)
Budget: $3 million
Chronological Order: 11
Genre: Science Fiction/Action/Horror
Synopsis: In Los Angeles, drifter Nada (Roddy Piper) discovers a pair of sunglasses that, when worn, reveal an alien conspiracy to control humankind. Knowing the truth, he resists.
Made for only $3 million, Carpenter pushed this would-be B-movie with a professional wrestler as a leading man (no disrespect) to open No. 1 at the box office.
More polished films sit lower on this list. They Live crashes to number three because it’s Carpenter at his most subversive (and probably most pop-culturally memorable). A lurid critique of Reganism is the film’s showpiece, and it nails the skewer.
They Live’s aliens aren’t here on vacation, to take your natural resources, or breed with your women.
They’re just capitalist assholes.
And the film is some of Carpenter’s wackiest fun, like the nonsensical, seemingly never-ending brawl on concrete over trying on a pair of sunglasses.
But the crown jewel is the film’s technique of flip-flopping, whenever Nada raises or lowers the sunglasses, between our distorted reality in color and the truth in vintage black and white.
With matte paintings, plain typefaces for the now-exposed subliminal messages/commands, and ghoulish alien costumes, They Live creates a ~1950s sci-fi breed of alien control. The vintage aesthetic links the film’s horror to the post-WWII “good old days” of a conservative America.
Credit to Carpenter for casting Roddy Piper in the lead role of Nada (Spanish for nothing). The pockfaced Piper, who endured many hard times in his personal life, is a built-of-bricks and mullet-rocking stand-in for a working-class Joe America.
And credit to Piper, who rocks the role. He’s a Canadian; but tell me if there’s anything more American, more of a call for freedom, than Roddy Piper, shotgun in hand, U.S. flag in the background, and his “chew bubblegum and kick ass” speech (lines Piper wrote himself).
Nada is crashing in an encampment/soup kitchen. Despite his struggles, he tells newfound friend Frank Armitage (the wonderful Keith David) that he still believes in the American dream, much to Frank’s bemusement.
But when Nada’s curiosity leads to him donning the glasses, uncovering a sickening truth about his world, he loses the illusion that hard work will get him out of his scrape. Sold a lie and his understanding of the world crumbled, with nothing to lose, he’s the right man for the resistance.
The film loses some thrust in the second and third acts. Though it’s enjoyable to the end, once the film’s critique is out of the bag, its societal message sent and received, you’re left with a cobbly plot and waves of all-right action.
Even so, They Live is an all-time science fiction classic whose warning we must continue to heed. Carpenter has said Reganism never left, and I think he’s right.
I hope we can track down Nada’s lost box of sunglasses.
2 – Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Budget: $19-25 Million
Chronological Order: 9
Genre: Fantasy/Action/Comedy
Synopsis: Truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) tries to help his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) rescue his fiance from Chinese gangsters.
But as the rescue becomes more supernatural, Burton is the last to realize he’s in way over his head.
I’ve visited San Francisco Chinatown multiple times. Sadly, I’ve never found the firepole that takes me to the boggy underground crawling with ancient demons, nor the back alley where street gangs duke it out with high-flying kicks.
This martial arts fantasy was a running joke most critics and audiences didn’t get back in 1986. But in the years since, like many Carpenter films, it’s gotten a reappraisal, now regarded by many as one of his best.
Big Trouble is an oddity. Its layers of absurdity come flying, leaving no time to process the madness.
And its supposed hero struggles to keep up. Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton, a mock John Wayne, is (mostly) a blowhard.
And Burton’s confusion works as comedy and exposition. The characters around him, with Howard-Hawksian rapid-fire dialogue, try to explain the latest supernatural wrinkle for the audience as much as for Burton.
Burton and Wang Chi are like a parody of Indiana Jones and Short Round (though unlikely a direct reference).
Here the white would-be-hero is the sidekick. Burton accidentally knocks himself out while the capable Wang Chi and his Chinese friends do most of the rescuing.
Two-thousand-year-old dark-sided sorcerer Lo Pan (James Hong) is a delight, reveling in his ghoulishness. And Victor Wong’s Chinatown tour guide/light-sided sorcerer Egg Shen is the oddest wise man, plain speaking in the face of the unordinary.
The camp that felt out of step in Ghosts of Mars glides here – Burton with his chest puffed out, Egg Shen and Wang Chi (hardly) explaining the latest bolt of lightning that’s been tossed.
Hitting almost 40 years old, this film’s effects, rooted in puppets, practicals, and what I think is rotoscoping, still work. And its brilliant sets, recreating Chinatown and incorporating myth and lore, build the adventure.
Some feel the movie presses on to its next trick so fast you never get to know the people taking you along for the ride. While I can see that point, I don’t think deep characters matter in a film this wild, nor when part of the goal is to poke at archetypes.
In the 80s with Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Rambo and Commando, audiences (and allegedly 20th Century Fox’s marketing team) didn’t quite know what to do with Jack Burton’s misadventure.
But these days, this one’s a certified classic. This movie lands at No. 2 because it’s John Carpenter’s biggest adventure and arguably him at his most fun.
1 – The Thing (1982)
Budget: $15 Million
Chronological Order: 6
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: A remote U.S. Antarctic research station is interrupted when Norwegian scientists in a helicopter chase and shoot at a dog.
After the U.S. researchers adopt the dog, they soon learn the animal is not quite what it appears.
The little pukefest that could.
Landing on greatest-of-all-time lists for both science fiction and horror films, The Thing is Carpenter’s masterpiece.
It gives me and any other fan sharing an opinion great satisfaction to continue to redeem a film that nearly ruined a treasured director’s career.
Though The Thing mildly profited at the box office, I struggle to think of another film in any genre trashed with such force on its release by seemingly every critic yet heralded so highly today.
And it wasn’t just the creature effects and gore that put off or distracted critics. Many complained about the pacing, characters, bleakness, and that it lacked drama.
Were they asleep in the theater during moments like the infamous blood test scene?
With Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial released just two weeks before, perhaps critics and audiences just weren’t ready for this downbeat type of alien visitation (but their kids were going to love it).
But let’s agree to disagree and get to what makes this effort an all-time classic.
All the contributors to The Thing rocked their pieces.
Rob Bottin (with help from legend Stan Winston) and crew created creature effects that still gross me beyond out today. The blood disgusts most people, but I’m more scarred to learn that a mix of mayonnaise, creamed corn, microwaved bubble gum, and K-Y Jelly played big roles here.
But if you’re dealing with an all-imitating, all-consuming life form, the disgusting gore is actually appropriate. What feels gratuitous to some can be seen as expositional blood and guts, as they show you just how terrifying this alien life form is and how it will assimilate our planet if our heroic characters can’t stop it from escaping the research station (and for the record, I’m no gore hound. I gross out easily).
Accomplished cinematographer Dean Cundey, Carpenter, and crew lit and shot the film beautifully and with impeccable care. Fans have poured over theories as to who is turned and when, but the careful shooting (to my knowledge) never tips its hand without the subtlest of intended clues.
The warmly lit interiors are contrasted by the blue light of the cold outside. The creatures are kept in just enough darkness to keep the rails of the effects from showing through. And the wide shots give us a feeling that anything can creep into our view at any moment.
There’s the dreadful, “thump thump” Carpenter-like score from Ennio Morricone and the brilliant performances from Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, and the rest of an accomplished cast.
The pacing never drops, beginning with the Norwegian helicopter chasing the dog and plunging us straight in.
Even Jed, a wolfdog who plays the Dog Thing, somehow nails his role (fans agree: that dog looks like he has shifty eyes and is NOT to be trusted).
But of all the little elements you can pick out, it’s the overwhelming paranoia that matters. From start to finish, the film is unsettling. With danger lurking inside the walls, there’s no half-time in Bill Lancaster’s script.
It demonstrates everything about humanity – how we can unite or fall apart under duress. Our loss of trust in one another could be our downfall.
And since all of these creative folks rolled up to John Carpenter, you’ve got to blame the manager here (in a good way.)
So please watch The Thing in the dark on a big, wide screen. Just maybe have a bucket with you.
Some Bonus Awards:
So there you have my John Carpenter film rankings.
Because we’re full of love here, I’d like to give out a few awards while we’re at it.
Best John Carpenter Main Theme: Assault on Precinct 13
I’m gonna get heat for going away from Halloween’s iconic 5/4 time haunting, but this is my list.
Simplistic but broiling with heat and tension, the theme from Assault on Precinct 13 is all you need to get the adrenalin pumping. It’s like the anthem for a sordid streets showdown, if ever there was one.
Best Overall John Carpenter Score: Prince of Darkness
How do you pick a winner amongst so many gems?
Honorable mentions go to the ambient swirling atmosphere of The Fog and the eerie flash-punk of Escape from New York.
But Prince of Darkness has the score that arguably best complements the movie.
Its theme’s refrain, “doo da dum,” sounds like a ticking clock. The intriguing choral sounds play to the science and religious subject matter. Just watch the opening title credits, and you’re hooked.
Most Surprising or Underrated John Carpenter Film: Prince of Darkness
Starman seems a somewhat forgotten classic, but considering Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Academy Award, you can’t say it went under the radar.
Prince of Darkness picks up a second win here. Its flaws placed it in the second tier, but there’s just something so fun about this one’s march toward evil and the novel combination of science and religious conspiracy.
Most Disappointing John Carpenter Film: Escape From L.A.
It turns out that Escape from New York, a movie stretching a modest budget, may have benefitted from the restriction.
Carpenter says L.A. is a ten times better film than its New York clone, but I’m afraid I have to disagree with the master.
L.A. is like a sour aftertaste that smashes that initial burst of flavor, making it hard to go in for a second drink. We’re lucky it was the sequel, or we’d have never got the original.
Final Thoughts on John Carpenter’s Films:
Though his later filmmaking struggled to hit his previous heights, from 1976 to 1988, John Carpenter went on a fantastic run of 9 classic movies that are adored today (10 if you count Christine, which some would).
Full of imagination, swiping at authority, or poking at society, his best movies remind you that a film can both entertain while pointing to something thematically more significant.
A man who could handle a big production if asked, Carpenter thrived on stretching small budgets and having complete creative control.
Though he seems to be happy making music, watching basketball, and playing video games today, the legend hasn’t ruled out a return.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on John Carpenter’s films and the elements that have made him a creative force.
No doubt your list may look a little different than mine. I’d love to hear about why in the comments below.
To Recap:
First Tier
- The Thing
- Big Trouble in Little China
- They Live
- Starman
- Escape from New York
Second Tier
6. Assault on Precinct 13
7. Prince of Darkness
8. The Fog
9. In the Mouth of Madness
10. Halloween
Third Tier
11. Vampires
12. Ghosts of Mars
13. Village of the Damned
14. Escape from L.A.
15. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
16. Christine
17. Dark Star
18. The Ward
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