John Carpenter

I realize I hadn’t finished my John Carpenter month. The thing is I did but the computer crashed and I lost everything. So here is a quick end.

Escape from LA: Don’t watch it, it’s trash and I think even Carpenter knew it was trash. Snake isn’t the cool character he once was, he is stripped down and silly. Look at the picture above… I mean come on he is surfing.

 

Assault on Precinct 13: Now this is more like it. After some evil dudes kill a guys daughter he kills one of them. Soon he is running to the nearest police station which unlucky for him is closing down. The criminals and cops need to stand together against the onslaught of this gang. It’s essentially night of the living dead without zombies. A great seige film with a booming bass heavy soundtrack.

 

Halloween: If you haven’t seen it then shame on you. The quentisental slasher film that changed the way we look at slasher films. Jamie Lee Curtis is pursued by masked madman Michael Myers. He is one creepy bugger turning up at her school, in her back garden then finally killing all her friends to get to her. Never has a bad Captain Kirk mask seemed so scary.

 

The Fog: Carpenters ghost story. What happens when you kill rich lepars by luring their boat onto craggy rocks?
Well 100 years later they come back in glowing fog and kill everyone.
This is what Antonio Bay is experiencing in this film. Jamie Lee Curtis again is running from some supernatural goings on. Before the night is out people will be dead, windows smashed and the real truth about the town shown.
A masterpiece in tension, just not a perfect story.

 

The Thing: Brilliant story, It’s Carpenters retelling of the classic “The thing from another world”. Norwegians find a crashed alien ship in the Antartic, thaw an alien and get dead for their troubles.
The Americans who are close by investigate and soon they start to die, this aliens trick?
It’s essentially a shapeshifter, looking like anyone. Only way to tell is by hurting it apparently.
Kurt Russel does what he does best, looks cool. Macready is one cool chopper pilot and alien killer. This film is part of the apocalypse trilogy and it’s by far the best.

 

Big Trouble in Little China: It’s supposed to be a B movie that’s why it’s awesome.
Kurt Russel is again cooler than a cucumber in this tale of supernatural magic and truck driving.
It’s funny, the action is great and it’s funny some more so go watch it.

 

There are more but if I didn’t mention it I haven’t watched it recently.
I’ll come back to the others at some point but don’t hold your breath as I’m a busy guy.