john carpenter (1946-)
Born January 16, 1946. Carthage New York
American filmmaker John Carpenter is known as a multitasking filmmakers often assuming the roles of writer, producer, editor, director and music composer on his films.
After dropping out of University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in 1968, the film he wrote and scored The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970), earned an Academy Award for best live action short film. His directorial debut was Dark Star (1974), a science fiction comedy made on a small budget of $60,000. He collaborated on the film with Dan O'Bannon who would go onto work on Star Wars and Alien. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) was Carpenter's second film, but it was not until this third film, Halloween (1978) that forged his name in horror film history.
Halloween remains one of the most profitable independent films of all time, earning $65 million on a $320,000 budget. It is also credited for starting the slasher genre, paving the way for Jason, Michael and Freddy. Carpenter admitted that the music and style of the film was based on Argento's Suspiria and Friedkin's The Exorcist. Once again Carpenter played multiple roles behind the scenes writing, producing, directing and composing the famous Halloween theme.
Following the success of Halloween, Carpenter made the mystic horror film The Fog (1980), followed by the Kurt Russell sci-fi action film Escape from New York (1981). Carpenter would reteam with Russell for The Thing (1982), which would later become a cult classic. A series of box-office and critical failures through the mid-80's with genre-bending fare such as: Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live, along with poorly received remakes and sequels in the 90's with Memoires of an Invisible Man, Village of the Damned, and Escape from L.A dampened Carpenter's career, officially retiring after directing Ghosts of Mars (2001), claiming that he was burned out and that filmmaking was no longer any fun.
Since his retirement, three of Carpenter's films have been remade (Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), The Fog (2005) and Halloween (2007). After directing an episode for the Masters of Horror series, Carpenter returned to the director's chair with The Ward (2010), an independent horror film about a haunted institution.
Required Reading/Viewing:
Boulenger, Gilles. John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness. Los Angeles: Silman-James, 2001.
Cumbow, Robert C. Order in the Universe: The Films of John Carpenter. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2000.
John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies. Dir. Garry S. Grant. Image Entertainment, 2004. DVD.
Visit John Carpenter's Official Page
American filmmaker John Carpenter is known as a multitasking filmmakers often assuming the roles of writer, producer, editor, director and music composer on his films.
After dropping out of University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in 1968, the film he wrote and scored The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970), earned an Academy Award for best live action short film. His directorial debut was Dark Star (1974), a science fiction comedy made on a small budget of $60,000. He collaborated on the film with Dan O'Bannon who would go onto work on Star Wars and Alien. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) was Carpenter's second film, but it was not until this third film, Halloween (1978) that forged his name in horror film history.
Halloween remains one of the most profitable independent films of all time, earning $65 million on a $320,000 budget. It is also credited for starting the slasher genre, paving the way for Jason, Michael and Freddy. Carpenter admitted that the music and style of the film was based on Argento's Suspiria and Friedkin's The Exorcist. Once again Carpenter played multiple roles behind the scenes writing, producing, directing and composing the famous Halloween theme.
Following the success of Halloween, Carpenter made the mystic horror film The Fog (1980), followed by the Kurt Russell sci-fi action film Escape from New York (1981). Carpenter would reteam with Russell for The Thing (1982), which would later become a cult classic. A series of box-office and critical failures through the mid-80's with genre-bending fare such as: Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live, along with poorly received remakes and sequels in the 90's with Memoires of an Invisible Man, Village of the Damned, and Escape from L.A dampened Carpenter's career, officially retiring after directing Ghosts of Mars (2001), claiming that he was burned out and that filmmaking was no longer any fun.
Since his retirement, three of Carpenter's films have been remade (Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), The Fog (2005) and Halloween (2007). After directing an episode for the Masters of Horror series, Carpenter returned to the director's chair with The Ward (2010), an independent horror film about a haunted institution.
Required Reading/Viewing:
Boulenger, Gilles. John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness. Los Angeles: Silman-James, 2001.
Cumbow, Robert C. Order in the Universe: The Films of John Carpenter. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2000.
John Carpenter: The Man and His Movies. Dir. Garry S. Grant. Image Entertainment, 2004. DVD.
Visit John Carpenter's Official Page
masters of horror episode and interview
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