90's John Carpenter Part One

MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN

(1992)

Overall: GOOD

 

Returning after a four year break, (in which time a number of projects fell through), John Carpenter jumped on board the Chevy Chase-led vehicle Memoirs of an Invisible Man.  Based on H.F. Saint's novel of the same name, Ivan Reitman was originally set to direct, but Chase disapproved of original screenwriter William Goodman's more comedic script as he saw the film as a chance to step into more serious terrain.  The end result has noir-like narration and a predominantly serious tone, yet it still has plenty of humor scattered throughout as Chase cannot completely ditch his usual sly, smart-ass charm.  There is also some funny mileage gotten out of the invisible premise, including a visual ode to the classic, Claude Rains look.  While the cat and mouse chase plot is not necessarily remarkable, it does shy away from the more romanticized and narratively overused tropes with other similar movies.  This is to say it emphasizes the traumatic, day-to-day inconveniences and loneliness of no one being able to see you, including yourself.  An additional plus is that the prominently featured special effects have also aged quite adequately, yet a mere technical showcase it thankfully is not.

BODY BAGS
(1993)
Dir - John Carpenter/Tobe Hooper
Overall: GOOD

 

Originally devised as Showtime's answer to HBO's Tales from the Crypt, Body Bags was ultimately put out as a mere, standard anthology film instead.  Centered around John Carpenter's ghoulish Coroner, (clearly meant to be a Crypt Keeper stand-in), who introduces each segment from the macabre comfort of a morgue, Carpenter himself handles the first two "The Gas Station" and "Hair" with Tobe Hooper's "Eye" wrapping everything up.  Each story is loaded with familiar cameos and has everyone from Wes Craven, to David Naughton, Sam Raimi, Tom Arnold, and Roger Corman making an appearance, naming but a few.  "The Gas Station" is a pretty standard, predictable slasher entry, "Hair" is the most weird, "Eye" is generic yet effectively gruesome, and the linking segments with Carpenter provide a wonderful amount of campy glee.  While nothing here is overtly memorable per se, the tone stays pretty consistent and all parties involved seem to be in on the morbid fun.  This helps elevate it perhaps slightly above mediocre and if for anything else, seeing Carpenter drink formaldehyde and joke about mortuary cabinets being unable to accommodate women with breast implants is easily worth the price of admission.

VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

(1995)

Overall: MEH

Besides the wretchedly disappointing The Ward and the tired Ghost of Mars, Village of the Damned probably stands as John Carpenter’s weakest link in his otherwise more-than-watchable to wholly fantastic filmography.  As an uninspired remake to a classic, (the 1960’s version of the same name), this has an uphill battle waiting for it right out of the gate.  At this point, Carpenter had been pumping out so many movies that it is understandable that they not only began slipping in quality, but also that he would resort to taking another stab at another well respected sci-fi/horror gem, with The Thing of course being his first crack at it.  This one hardly comes close to the superior re-imagining of said, aforementioned remake though.   There are some typical Carpenter-esque moments, generally the gory death scenes, (Kristy Alley on the table and that guy on the BBQ grill come to mind).  The entire “impregnating” scene is actually very well done as well.  Really though, once the sinister offspring come of age and start barking orders, things fall apart rather quickly in both the pacing and logic department.  Mark Hamill is also oddly cast as Rev. George, coming off unintentionally schlocky in all of his scenes.  This could be said about the entire movie really, one that simply does not offer up many exciting moments to warrant its existence.

80's John Carpenter Part Two

CHRISTINE

(1983)

Overall: GOOD

 

Little time was wasted with John Carpenter's adaptation of Stephen King's Christine as the film went into production mere days after the novel was released.  Carpenter was hot off the financial and critical disaster that was The Thing, taking the director for hire job here while he was working on, (and ultimately got dropped from), Firestarter, yet another King-based project.  While the source material is one of several from the author that proves a bit difficult to take all that seriously, the resulting movie has enough fun with the concept of a demonically possessed, 1958 Plymouth Fury.  Several rock songs are used for on-the-nose, comedic effect and it is always nice to see scumbag bullies getting their comeuppance in such an over-the-top fashion.  Keith Gordon is ideally cast as the picked-on nerd turned obsessive sociopath and despite his highly questionable behavior, the story still manages to make him sympathetic since it is quite clear that his inevitable demise is entirely the evil automobile's doing.  On that note, Carpenter effectively toys a bit with the audience, shifting the behavior of Gordon's Arnie Cunningham rather abruptly while focusing more on the supporting characters.  This makes the teenager/malevolent car dynamic more creepy and unsettling, at least as much as can be allowed with such a borderline silly premise.

 

STARMAN

(1984)

Overall: GOOD

 

In 1984, John Carpenter was well on his way in establishing himself as a go-to horror director which is one of the many things that makes the science fiction love story Starman such a welcome departure.  In development for a number of years with numerous screenwriters and directors attached, it finally got off the ground after E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became the biggest grossing movie ever and this acts as a more subdued, emotionally-driven counterpart to it.  Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen carry the entire film and both turn in rather superb performances.  While Bridges convincingly pulls-off a somewhat standard and benevolent fish out of water alien, Allen's trauma-induced attachment to him is genuinely heartfelt and her character's arc of being terrified, confused, and eventually in love with a being from another world is just as believable.  Noted film composer Jack Nitzsche delivers a somewhat Carpenter-esque synth score that plays prominently throughout and the movie's relatively small number of special effects shots have aged better than many from the period.  For a simple enough story with many well-established "alien from another world visits primitive, violence-prone earthlings" tropes in place, its focus is primarily in a far more interesting, compassionate place.

 

PRINCE OF DARKNESS

(1987)

Overall: GOOD

Part two in John Carpenter’s “they have nothing at all to do with each other” Apocalypse Trilogy, Prince of Darkness is another slightly above average outing in the man’s repertoire.  As a direct follow up to Big Trouble In Little China, it has a notably darker tone, execution, and premise, adhering strictly to straight horror.  The concept of physics, religion, cryptic messages from the future in dream form, zombie-like possession, and Satan made flesh all mesh together and are served up with very minimal humor.  Dennis Dun, (Wang from BTILC), pretty much carries the comic relief all by his lonesome, but it comes off very out of place with the dread-fueled seriousness of everything else.  Considering that it is a mess at times then, it still manages to be surprisingly successful.  There are some solid moments, including one of the greatest devoured-by-bugs scenes you are likely to ever find.  Similar to Carpenter's The Fog though, most of the leads are rather snore-inducing and the grand finale falls flat.   Even at his most average though which this fairly can be described as, Carpenter produces some compelling and inventive genre fare.

80's John Carpenter Part One

THE FOG

(1980)

Overall: GOOD

 

After revolutionizing the slasher film with Halloween, John Carpenter was given the chance to stick within the horror genre in a more overtly supernatural manner with The Fog.  The premise is plenty creepy, the score is the usual Carpenter-level excellence, and the slow, moody build to our ghostly visitor’s arrival is expertly done. Yet things also get a bit clunky along the way.  There is a little too much backstory which is only problematic since the characters are rather droll.  Even with this being the case, Jamie Lee Curtis still comes off as underwritten and rather useless.  While the final confrontation that bounces between church and lighthouse does have some impressively eerie visuals, it does not quite hold up compared to the earlier tension Carpenter had been building towards.  A bit underwhelming perhaps, but far from a failure with memorable set pieces and spooky atmosphere in spades.

 

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

(1981)

Overall: GOOD

One of John Carpenter's dream projects for several years before it was finally made, Escape from New York arguably remains his most well-regarded non-horror film.  It was initially written in 1976 after the Watergate scandal pushed much of the country towards more cynicism regarding their elected officials than ever before.  After the success of Halloween, Carpenter eventually got around to developing the project further with Nick Castle, (the original Michael Myers), contributing to the script.  Shot in part in East St. Louis with a relatively small budget, the dank, post-apocalyptic world is convincing despite the meager production values.  The whole film balances its contemptuous premise with plenty of humor and has a fun, knowingly B-movie tone.  It also stands as Kurt Russell's first foray into action and he does a solid, deliberately humorous Clint Eastwood anti-hero impression as the now iconic Snake Plissken.  The cast is entirely recognizable from top to bottom, with voice work from Jamie Lee Curtis and matte paintings from James Cameron as well.  As always, Carpenter and Alan Howorth's score is excellent and underplays the action quite deliberately which contributes to the movie's overall, somewhat oddball charm.

 

THEY LIVE

(1988)

Overall: GOOD

 

The bubblegum line, the epic, five-plus minute, South Park inspiring Keith Davis vs. Roddy Piper brawl, the quite iconic monster design of "they"...  As a follow-up to the quite sinisterly toned Prince of Darkness, John Carpenter keeps things pretty much on the sly, humorous side with They Live; another in a slew of the director's memorable works from the decade.  Though it has a heavy-handed, anti-commercialism theme unmistakably apparent, the tone balances the laugh-out-loud satire quite well with something like Piper first putting on the subliminal, X-ray messages glasses and wondering from street, to store, to bank.  Just as Big Trouble in Little China had that perfect blend between fun, 80s action and comedy, They Live replaces all the mystical kung-fu with social commentary.  Carpenter's script cleverly plays its messages just serious enough to notice while keeping the atmosphere from getting too heavy.  Another of the director's hallmarks is the excellent synth score between he and collaborator Alan Howarth, which further gives the film its auteur style.

70's John Carpenter

DARK STAR

(1974)

Overall: MEH

 

Imagining 2001: A Space Odyssey on a fifty-dollar budget gives one a pretty accurate description of John Carpenter's Dark Star.  Taking place in outer space of course, there are machines turning against their operators and a dude surfing through the cosmos to fill in for the starchild.   Otherwise though, anyone expecting the life-changing, cinematic experience that Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece was will certainly feel a bit under-served.  No point in comparing them further as Dark Star began life as a mere student film and the debut from both Carpenter and Dan O’Bannon, with the former doing his usual writing, directing, and scoring while the latter co-writes, edits, provides most of the "special" effects, and stars as the goofball Sgt. Pinback.  There is an undeniable camp element here, solely from the fact that the budget is so obviously under-equipped for such a project.  The famous “beach ball” alien that Pinback does battle with is laugh-out-loud silly and the script for the most part is intentionally hilarious.  While the razor-thin production values and some incompetent acting are forgivable, the arduous pacing is less so, making the whole thing more interesting in parts than enjoyable as a whole.

 

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13

(1976)

Overall: MEH

 

Graduating from student film to low-key, exploitation shoot-em-up, John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is the first of the filmmaker's works to adhere to some of his auteur aesthetics.  Given a real, be it quite conservative budget to work with and shot in widescreen Panavision, Carpenter also provided a textbook synth score that is as memorable as any of his future soundtracks.  The plot has often been described as a hybrid of Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead and it essentially fits into both horror and western genres by its construction.  A small group of hard-edged, occasionally wise-cracking characters that would otherwise be in direct opposition to each other all hold off against a violent gang that is deliberately unemotional and zombie-like.  Carpenter makes solid use out of the meager production values and the largely unrecognizable cast turn in tight performances, but the pacing is extremely rough.  By Carpenter's own admittance, he extended each scene as long as possible to get the most mileage out of the quick production schedule and it certainly shows.  It needs a little more excitement to crank up the tension effectively, coming off instead as merely a dull B-movie with some cult appeal.

 

SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME!

(1978)

Overall: MEH

Premiering on NBC a mere month after Halloween was theatrically released, John Carpenter's Someone's Watching Me! admittingly served as a learning experience for the filmmaker.  He began working on his game-changing slasher masterpiece very shortly after shooting wrapped here, experimenting with several stylistic techniques and thriller tropes for the first time.  Originally, Carpenter was approached by Warner Bros. to pen a script based on a real life story of a Chicago woman being stalked, which eventually led to him being allowed to direct.  The result has an unnerving enough premise and Carpenter creates a slow building, paranoia-fueld tension which is only hampered by the neutered, network television format.  The pro-feminism angle is unmistakable as Lauren Hutton's protagonist is not only clever and likeable, but more forceful and aggressive than the usual damsel in distress by comparison.  Besides her aforementioned, voyeuristic sociopath, she also fends off chauvinistic advances elsewhere and Adrienne Barbeau plays a sassy lesbian to further make it more progressive.  The pacing drags a bit after awhile and there are some plausibility issues here or there, but it is certainly a meritable watch for Carpenter completists.