John Carpenter
Personal Info
Known For
Directing
Known Credits
124
Gender
Male
Birthday
1948-01-16 (78 years old)
Place of Birth
Carthage, New York, USA
John Carpenter
Biography
An American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction. Most films in Carpenter's career were initially commercial and critical failures, with the notable exceptions of Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and Starman (1984). However, many of Carpenter's films from the 1970s and the 1980s have come to be viewed as cult classics, and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker. Cult classics that Carpenter directed include: Dark Star (1974), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988) and In the Mouth of Madness (1995). His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores. Carpenter is also notable for having composed or co-composed most of the music of his films; some of them are now considered cult as well, with the main theme of Halloween being considered a part of popular culture. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics. He released his first studio album Lost Themes in 2015, and also won a Saturn Award for Best Music for Vampires (1998). Carpenter is an outspoken proponent of widescreen filming, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of Dark Star and The Ward) were filmed anamorphic with a 2.35:1 or greater aspect ratio. The Ward was shot in Super 35, the first time Carpenter has ever used that system. Carpenter has stated he feels that the 35mm Panavision anamorphic format is "the best movie system there is", preferring it over both digital and 3D film. Many of Carpenter's films have been re-released on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features. Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies, and American Cinematheque's 2002 retrospective of his films. Moreover, in 2006, the United States Library of Congress deemed Halloween to be "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 2010, writer and actor Mark Gatiss interviewed Carpenter about his career and films for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror. Carpenter appears in all three episodes of the series. He was also interviewed by Robert Rodriguez for his The Director's Chair series on El Rey Network. Many filmmakers have been influenced by Carpenter, including James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight was heavily influenced by The Thing), Guillermo del Toro, Robert Rodriguez, Edgar Wright, Danny Boyle, Nicolas Winding Refn, Bong Joon-ho, among others. The video game Dead Space 3 is said to be influenced by Carpenter's The Thing, The Fog and Halloween, and Carpenter has stated that he would be enthusiastic to adapt that series into a feature film.
Known For
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The Rifleman
The Thing
Through the Night with...
Halloween
The Movies That Made Us
Dark Star
Christine: Ignition
They Live
Nightmare Factory
Escape from New York
Big Trouble in Little China
Horror Cafe
The Fog
Bloodsucking Cinema
I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not
Crossbow
The Perfect Scary Movie
The Thing Expanded
Christine: Finish Line
The Real History of Science Fiction
Starman
Assault on Precinct 13
100 Scariest Movie Moments
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in L.A.
Village of the Damned
Studio 666
Scary Girl
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue
100 Years of Horror
Amityville: An Origin Story
Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters
Charles Band’s Full Moon Freakshow
Big John
The Director's Chair
Christine: Fast and Furious
The Boy Who Could Fly
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's Collaborators
Body Bags
A History of Horror
The Silence of the Hams
In Search of Tomorrow
Monsterland
The American Nightmare
Hollywood's Greatest Villains
In Search of Darkness: Part III
The Making of 'The Thing'
Halloween in Hollywood
The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault
In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994
Tales from the Mist: Inside 'The Fog'
In Search of Darkness: Part II
Scoring Resident Evil
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film
Halloween: Unmasked
Halloween: The Inside Story
Masters of Horror
Tales from the Script
Red Desert Nights: Making Ghosts of Mars
Scream and Scream Again: A History of the Slasher Film
The History of Metal and Horror
Stephen King's World of Horror
Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX
Guns for Hire: The Making of 'The Magnificent Seven'
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects
Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer Productions
In Search of Darkness
1982: Hollywood Summer
Why Horror?
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
First Works
The Puppet Man
Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet
Charlie Brown: Blockhead's Revenge
The Original Monster Mash
Fear in the Dark
Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror
The Thing: Terror Takes Shape
In Search of Darkness: 1995-1999
Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock
In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy
Do You Remember Laurie Zimmer?
Robby the Robot: Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon
Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock
Hollywood's Creepiest Creatures
Track Stories
Something to Do with Death
AGFA Mystery Mixtape #4: Follow Your Own Star
After Sunset: The Life & Times of the Drive-In Theater
Stephen King's World of Horror
It Takes a Village: The Making of Village of the Damned
An Opera of Violence
The Future of Fear
The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style
John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies
Henchman: The Al Leong Story
Halloween: 25 Years of Terror
Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest
Working with a Master: John Carpenter
Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre
Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog'
The Debra Hill Story
Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of Dark Star
Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock's Maestro
The Birds: Hitchcock's Monster Movie
Commemoration: Howard Hawks' 'Rio Bravo'
The Wages of Sin
The Rise of the Synths
Carpenter
Return to 'Escape from New York'
Jean-Michel Jarre: A Journey into Sound
Monstres, l'ennemi de l'intérieur
Bringing A Legend To Life
Full Moon Rising: The Charles Band Story
Carpenter on Quatermass
Born to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story
Take One: Fear on Film
Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties
The Making of 'They Live'
John Carpenter: Live Retrospective
Snake Plissken: Man of Honor
John Carpenter: Live From Los Angeles - Halloween Night
John Carpenter: Live At Primavera Sound 2016
