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.