Was / is John Carpenter overrated ?

ohgodnotanotherone

Please , don't make an essay out of this - state your opinion and give a few BRIEF arguments... as i'll try to....

I was a believer in him once.....and still think he " has the gift but you're not the one"
Think he owes a lot to other people for his succes....

The thing - Wouldn't have been half the movie were it not for the effects by Rob Bottin . Further more the actual story was a mix of several movies like the original and horror express...and ofcourse the original novel...wich is a masterpiece ( insinuating that to mess up with a base story like that , you really are hopeless)

The Fog - *cough-hu Cough* Blind dead 3 & 4 anyone ? *cough*

Halloween - don't even get me started - I fell asleep last time ; Sure it was a humongus financial succes, and to a certain extend refreshing....but original ? NO - there were already countless (if awfull mostly) of (psycho) slashers before it....I think the secret of it's succes was WOMEN - They could go to it , come back from it and actually say they liked it......because unlike most other slashers, Halloween was quite "believable/realistic"....

Big trouble in litttle china - Wow ! what a rollercoaster ! Look at'em effects! Look at that lightning dude (Now a cult classic in many a videogame) what you say ? JC directed it ? Oh, yeah, whatever Cor !! look at those guys flying....etc

In the mouth of madness - :evil:

Can't think up anything so fast to drag it down :twisted:

but the rest Halloween II (Zzzz...) christine (ZZZzzz....) they live (zZZZZzzzzzz...victim of overhype)Prince of darkness (zzzzz....hey, nice make up effects convention)

And DON'T make me even mention his most recent movies.... :oops:

And then this : http://imdb.com/title/tt0373883/ (please stay on topic :wink:

)

Right - now i have must have kicked some dirt in some peoples face.....
Fire away.....

Bassline · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 1:55 pm **Post subject:**

OK well i agree with you on some being pretty naff Halloween especially did nothing for me

, but i do like some of his stuff most of all assault on precinct 13 and escape from new york my favourites

do you not like these 2?

out of his others that i have seen i liked

Big trouble in little china
they live
vampires
ghosts of mars (yes i do like this one

)

others that i have heard good about but not watched (yet)

dark star
in the mouth of madness
:mrgreen:

ohgodnotanotherone · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:11 pm **Post subject:**

Bassline wrote:

OK well i agree with you on some being pretty naff Halloween especially did nothing for me

, but i do like some of his stuff most of all assault on precinct 13 and escape from new york my favourites

do you not like these 2?

out of his others that i have seen i liked

Big trouble in little china
they live
vampires
ghosts of mars (yes i do like this one

)

others that i have heard good about but not watched (yet)

dark star
in the mouth of madness
:mrgreen:

Oh, I think you got me wrong - I'm aware JC made assault on ...and Escape from.. they're just not horror :wink:

Yeah I included Big trouble... but that was just to raise a point...

And may I stress to point out that I DON'T ATTACK THE MOVIES , just the amount of credit a certain man gets for them.....
Should have mad that more clear....sory

And bassline SHAME BE THY PART FOR NOT HAVING SEEN " In the mouth of madness...."YET....

How could you ? Where have you lived the last 9 years ?

It's in every blockbuster rental, must have been on tv a dozen times by now, several rips exist.....

Don't you read Sutter Cane ?
*raises axe* :twisted:

Bassline · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:28 pm **Post subject:**

i've got a rip of it :wink:

....BUT i have about 1500 movies and recently started to get a lot of TV shows and i guess it's been pipped at the post for not getting watched by some other movies and shows but one day it'll win the race to get watched :mrgreen:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:48 pm **Post subject:**

The Thing --> ace
The Fog --> cool
Halloween --> ace
Big Trouble in Little China --> funny as hell (oh come on, did you see those hats... its a fun film

)
They Live! --> great sci-fi movie
In the mouth of Madness --> one of my favourite films

Everything else is pretty bad, Ghost of mars is shockingly terrible, yet for the aformentioned films i don't think its possible to overrate him unless they go really, really over the top.

Iconoclast · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 6:17 pm **Post subject:**

"Was John Carpenter overrated ?"
In my opinion... yes, maybe a little bit.

The Thing --> Superb.
The Fog --> Boring.
Halloween --> Really Good.
Christine --> Good.
In the mouth of Madness --> Watchable, but more towards 'lame' movie.
Body Bags --> Entertaining enough (= pretty ok).
Escape from New York --> Good.
Prince of Darkness --> Ok.. kinda.
Starman --> Can't remember. Guess you can watch it once.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 6:56 pm **Post subject:**

i didn't like christine or new york (that much) but i enjoyed the fog, i mean its an okay movie, not great though.

manzarek · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 8:17 pm **Post subject:**

In my opinion almost all cult directors made a few worth seing movies so after they gor known became boring and mainstream.

a few to mention: Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven

d0c · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 9:16 pm **Post subject:**

YES!! Carpenter is overrated.... now close this topic... end of story.... :argue:

Chadman · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 10:05 pm **Post subject:**

If he's overrated, who's not overrated. Argento has created some of the best horror films ever, but he has made some crap. Tobe Hooper made two Classics (TCM and Poltergeist) , two near classics (TCM 2 and Lifeforsce) and a world of crap. Romero hasn't made a classic since The Dark Half? Day? Dawn? And we've all seen Season of the Witch. Carpenter is no more overrated than any other master who is past his prime.
If the question is whether he deserves the credit, the answer is "Yes". The title director means something. You actually have to run around and direct. Literally. Every decision is run through you. You mentioned The THing and Rob Bottin being responsible for the monster. That's true. He drew up sketches and brought them to Carpenter. They collaborated on that. There were mornings that Carpenter came onset and Rob showed him something perfect and there were mornings that what he showed him didn't work. That's when a director says, "Okay, we'll try something new and shoot that tomorrow."
Finally, to end my rant, I think that you don't understand John Carpenter if you think that Big Trouble isn't typical for him. Its a western. All his movies are, even Halloween. If you miss that, you miss who he is.

DxaKrator · **Posted:** Sat Feb 07, 2004 10:35 pm **Post subject:**

I don't even want to get started on this topic,I have a feeling I would get sent to the whipping post again if my opinions were unleashed.I will just say this...He is old news,bring on the new blood :wink:

d0c · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2004 12:27 am **Post subject:**

i say it again burie the bastard and get over it... :argue:

Grindhouse · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2004 2:17 am **Post subject:**

Dark Star was a great film *cough* hehe

Assault on Precinct 13 was a very good film.. maybe his best .. really

Halloween is a classic but was a rip off of Black Christmas..
parts 2 and 3 *ha ha ha

The Fog was funny .. it was a comedy wasn't it??

Escape from NY .. another comedy

Christine ...Ever hear of the better film "The Car"!! who's story was first
Stephen King's or the guy who wrote The Car?? then again there was also that "Duel".

Starman was a nice little film...ET as a Human.. Sunday afternoon movie hehe

The Thing I loved this one a lot!

They Live was ok

Mouth of madness was little disapointing

Prince of Darkness ..OMG this one was ZZZZZZZZZ the worst

Escape from L.A. was funner than NY zzzzzzz

Never saw Body bags or Ghosts of Mars

John Carpenter looks like the Crypt Keeper these days

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2004 2:21 am **Post subject:**

Grindhouse wrote:

John Carpenter looks like the Crypt Keeper these days

LOL

Iconoclast · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2004 2:58 am **Post subject:**

Chadman wrote:

If he's overrated, who's not overrated. Carpenter is no more overrated than any other master who is past his prime.
If the question is whether he deserves the credit, the answer is "Yes".

Agree with you 100% here.

By looking at this list; http://www.terrortrap.com/directors/, for example. One can clearly see that everyone one of them is past their prime, and that prime was ages ago. But all of them definetely deserve all the credit they get. Even if their hit movies might have been out-dated years ago, no one can deny the impact those movies had on the genre when they were released.

d0c · **Posted:** Sun Feb 08, 2004 2:02 pm **Post subject:**

spudthedestroyer wrote:

Grindhouse wrote:

John Carpenter looks like the Crypt Keeper these days

LOL

hehehehehe....

Forum Bot · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 9:22 am **Post subject:**

Not seen as many as the rest of you, but I like most I've seen.

The thing was great. I really liked In the Mouth of Madness and They Live! too.

I dislike the halloween movies though.

emoboy · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:50 am **Post subject:**

i really don?t think he can be overrated, since he made some great movies, even if he went downhill recently. he?s a true auteur who uses the boundaries of genre to infuse them with 'his' topics, paranoia in a communities and the bad stuff that lurks inside them. plus he really knows how to use a widescreen, gorgeous compositions.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:44 pm **Post subject:**

but to counter that, he did make ghosts of mars :matrix:

emoboy · **Posted:** Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:49 pm **Post subject:**

to counter that: yo mama!

Was / is John Carpenter overrated ?

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