Latent Image - March 1990

Director's Profile: John Carpenter

by Eric Beetner
Emerson College

There are few images from film that it seems people will remember forever. The shower scene from Psycho will not soon be forgotten, and anyone who has seen Michael Myers slowly sit up behind Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween won't forget that for a long, long time. That image came from the modern master of terror and suspense John Carpenter.

Since he was five, Carpenter has been dedicated to movie making and, more specifically, to science fiction and horror films. The 3D version of It Came From Outer Space (Universal 1953) really inspired Carpenter and just three years later, with an 8mm camera given to him as a present, he was making his own short films. Not bad for a twelve year old from Bowling Green, Kentucky. (though it would be hard to find a copy of his film Gordon the Space Monster at your local video store). For a while, music took precedence over filmmaking while he sang and played bass in a band at Western Kentucky University. By his senior year, though, Carpenter had made up his mind and he headed out to USC film school in 1968.

A zealous and enthusiastic student he took crew jobs on several films and in 1970 co-directed the Oscar winning short, The Resurrection of Broncho Billy. He set out to make a feature following in the footsteps of fellow USC student George Lucas by shooting a student film to later be expanded to feature length. The film became Dark Star, a sci-fi comedy about an exploration crew trapped in space. It was, as Carpenter describes it, "one of the most difficult, brutalising, devastating and satisfying experiences of my life."

Recognized by many as a good film, it failed however to skyrocket Carpenter to stardom, so he settled back into writing and directing TV films. In 1976, however, he did get a chance to make a feature film; Assault on Precinct 13. It was mostly ignored by American audiences but did moderately well in England. It was in 1978 that John Carpenter became a hit. A script of his, The Eyes of Laura Mars, was made starring Faye Dunaway and directed by lrvin Kirshner and it did fairly well. He directed two TV movies- Someone is Watching Me with Lauren Hutton and Adrianne Barbeau. (Barbeau would later become Mrs. Carpenter) And Elvis, which brought Carpenter together with one of his favorite actors, Kurt Russell, who would appear in three more Carpenter films. Finally, he wrote and directed Halloween which, upon it's release in 1979, became the most successful independently produced feature ever (it has since been surpassed). Acting as co-producer and co-writer was his ex-girlfriend Debra Hill who performed the same tasks on the first two sequels; neither of which Carpenter directed. Once again, Carpenter established good relationships with actors Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis who would both appear in other Carpenter films. Also on Halloween he teamed up with cinematographer Dean Cundey. Cundey was discussed last issue in terms of his involvement with Robert Zemekis but he started with Carpenter and he went on to shoot four more films that Carpenter directed as well as both Halloween sequels (see trivia corner answers for a list).

Again with Hill he wrote and directed The Fog (1980) and Escape from New York (1981) the first two had minimum budgets hut did fairly well at the box office. In 1982 he got the chance to helm his first big- budget feature film, a remake of Howard Hawks classic The Thing From Another World (Universal 1951). Unfortunately it failed at the box office despite, or maybe because of, fantastically gruesome special effects work by Rob Bottin. Next up was Carpenter's try at adapting a Stephen King novel, Christine. Most people are split on this film. It had a moderately low budget which was well used but without any gory makeup effects. Also, the King book was changed slightly and this is a touchy area for book was changed slightly and this is a touchy area for some people. Carpenter says. "I was at a particular time in my career when I wanted to do a little bit more with characters- and frankly, it was what I was offered at the time. I don't know now that I would do it again."

His next film was a ground breaker for Carpenter. For a long time now he had been categorized into the horror film genre hut Starman broke that mold. The story was sensitive and warm, it starred big name actors Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen and featured some elaborate special effects from Industrial Light and Magic. The film was a huge success and definitely brought Carpenter out of his stereotype. But Carpenter knows what he likes and followed up with what distributors 20th Century Fox called an "Action-comedy kung fu -horror- thriller-romance" picture, Big Trouble in Little China. It was very tongue in cheek but a lot of people didn't get the joke so it didn't do that well in theatres.

Since then he has settled back into horror films with Prince of Darkness They Live (another film with Carpenter's dry wit) as two of a four picture deal with Alive films. Of course rumors still abound about an Escape From New York sequel set in L.A., we'll see.

Carpenter is a multi-faceted filmmaker who isn't afraid to take chances. He has a bright sense of humor apparent in all of his films and he knows the importance of good working relationships. There must be some reason he has worked with the same people on film after film. He even writes his own music! And who can feel safe with the music from Halloween playing?

So, the next time you feel afraid of the dark, ask yourself why and I'll bet John Carpenter is there somewhere… lurking… waiting…