Among contemporary filmmakers, there are units that, with their creativity, managed to influence the development of the most popular movie genres: science fiction, drama and horror. Among them is director John Carpenter, whose track record is so impressive that it is unrealistic to single out one thing in it. Unfortunately, all his achievements were accomplished almost three decades ago, because Halloween is already 40, Christine is almost 35, and They live is about 30. In the late 90s, Carpenter’s creative activity slowed down, in the zero years he created only two tapes that did not cause much triumph.
You should not expect John to return to the director’s chair, he is now too busy with the author’s musical project. The creators of the new version of Halloween (2018) had a lot of work to bring him to the creation of the project as a producer and author of musical accompaniment. But fans still should not despair, and suddenly the progenitor of Michael Myers will come to mind to give fans of the genre a couple more paintings, from which blood will freeze in its veins and goose bumps will run.
Early biography
John Carpenter from the moment of his birth on January 16, 1948 was introduced to the fascinating world of music. His parents were directly related to this type of art. My father headed the music department at Western University of Kentucky. It is not surprising that by the time he entered this educational institution, the young man owned the basics of playing several musical instruments, including a guitar, piano and several aerophones.
Also, John tried to be realized in composing music. Parents thought that they were raising a future prominent musician, but their confidence was shaken at the moment when at the age of eight the boy, using his home camera, tried to make a film, which he called “Gordon - a space monster!”.
A ticket to life ...
Nevertheless, John Carpenter after the University of Kentucky continues his education at the University of South Carolina, where he meets Dan O'Bannon, who is destined to write scripts for the cult films “Remember Everything” and “Alien” in the future. Finding creative like-minded people in each other, students set about implementing a project that was a fiction film about the crew of a 22nd-century spacecraft and its dangerous mission. The process of creating the tape lasted for several years. As a result, the short film turned into a full-length picture called “The Dark Star”, which the authors presented at a film exhibition in Los Angeles.
The project attracted the attention of George Lucas himself, who invited O'Bannon to join a group of experts working on Star Wars. And John decided to storm Hollywood. The list of films by John Carpenter was replenished: the short film “The Return of Bronco Billy” and the non-Western “Attack on the 13th Section”.
World famous
With such a small authorial filmography, John Carpenter begins work on creating a landmark painting "Halloween". The film will later be entered on the National Register as having a historical, cultural and aesthetic heritage. The commercial success of the low-budget project contributed to the emergence of a mass of films, the main character of which was a serial killer shredding teenagers. The term “slasher” has come into use among filmmakers, and many of Carpenter’s techniques demonstrated in Halloween have become cliches in many horror films. It is not surprising that the film was elevated to cult status, and Carpenter's work had a significant impact on the development of independent cinema.
"Fog" fogged
It’s impossible to choose the best films in John Carpenter’s creative career - the spectacular director, masterful storyteller, and inventive screenwriter left a legacy that you can tirelessly admire. For example, a short (89 minutes), but capacious film "Fog" in 1980 is a mystical horror that makes the heart shrink anxiously at the sight of this atmospheric phenomenon. It was only in the good Soviet cartoons that hedgehogs, a horse or an owl were hiding in the whitish gloom, and the evil, restless spirits of the dead sailors emerged from the dusk of a seasoned horror-maker.
No less memorable among the films of John Carpenter is an excellent fantastic variation, exploiting the classic detective theme - the picture "Something." In the center of the story is a polar station, to which a space alien falls. Aggressive creature is able to take the form of anyone and deal with everyone. Earthlings have to unite and come up with a test that identifies the “werewolf”. The film starred Kurt Russell. The tape is considered a classic not only of horror and science fiction, but also a detective story.
Almost the apogee of creativity
In 1983, John Carpenter turns to the work of the most popular author Stephen King and, based on his creation, makes the film Christina. The tape was met in the United States quite restrained. Most likely, after three terrifying projects (“Halloween”, “Fog” and “Something”), the public expected new incredible “scarecrows” from their author. And he suddenly switched to comedic intonation, combining “suspense” with a fantastic background. Nevertheless, the classic horror and now looks good mainly due to the colorful scenes with the car, hungry for the blood of the innocent.
The next work of the director was the science fiction film "Man from the Star." Now it’s no secret that the tape has become a kind of compromise between the director and the studio, which was afraid to re-invest in another Carpenter’s experiment after the “Something” box office failure. Therefore, the picture turned out to be unusually bright and life-affirming, but not without the philosophical questions traditional for Carpenter.
Fantastic comic book
In the mid-80s, John Carpenter tried to remove a natural parody, an extravaganza using stunning tricks and electronic special effects. The tape was called "Big Trouble in Little China," but it did not cause a real stir at the American box office without returning even half of its production budget.
Fantasy comedy was based on Chinese kungfu action movies. Although the film failed at the box office, it later also gained cult status and became one of the sources of inspiration for many products that used a combination of Eastern and American cultures, such as Mortal Kombat. In our chaotic modernity, the project is outdated as a spectacular movie, but it looks great like a comedy action movie.
After another commercial failure, John Carpenter broke all contracts with leading film studios and turned to independent cinema. In the next time period, he shot exclusively low-budget paintings: “Prince of Darkness”, “Aliens Among Us”, “Sacks for Corpses”, “In the Maw of Madness”, “Village of the Damned” who could not repeat the success of “Halloween”.
Musical Cultural Heritage
Being a director who creates films according to his own scripts is a great achievement, you rarely see such artisans in Hollywood, you can literally count them on the fingers: D. Cameron, K. Tarantino, V. Allen and some others. This is undoubtedly the highest caste of creators with full creative control over their work - from the idea to the final editing of the footage.
But John Carpenter is an order of magnitude higher. He not only transferred the author’s ideas to the screen, but also composed music for them. In his entire filmography there are only two or three paintings in which his musical compositions do not sound. Soundtracks created by the director can be regarded as an independent cultural heritage, characterized by amazing recognition. The musical accompaniment of “Halloween”, “Aliens Among Us”, “Escape from New York” or “In the Maw of Madness” is distinguished by innovation and originality.
Late creative period
Until 2010, Carpenter did not shoot full-length films, realizing himself on television. But the exquisitely shot genre film “The Chamber” reminded the whole world of its indefatigable creative potential. It became a real gift for fans of suspense and horror. The story of the tape is based on a strong old-fashioned story with the direct participation of ghosts, containing a lot of surprises. As bonuses in the film, the atmosphere of mystery and excellent musical accompaniment, composed by Mark Kilian in the spirit of Carpenter's works.
John Carpenter's biography contains a minimum of information about the personal life of the greatest contemporary director. It is known that he was married twice. The first John led the American actress and writer Adrienne Barbo down the aisle , their union lasted until 1984. Ex-spouses have a common child. In 1990, the director staged a magnificent celebration over the marriage with Sandy King, with whom he has not parted to this day.