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Started By
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How do y'all rate John Carpenter as a Director?
Posted on 9/8/26 at 4:52 pm
Posted on 9/8/26 at 4:52 pm
Curious to see where the board would rank him among his contemporaries..
Overrated? Top 15 for his era?.. Top 10?.. Rushmore?
Overrated? Top 15 for his era?.. Top 10?.. Rushmore?
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:11 pm to FAT SEXY
Ground breaker with certified classics. That said, others have built on what he did and surpassed him.
He's Kurt Cobain.
He's Kurt Cobain.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:21 pm to FAT SEXY
Carpenter's peak is a short window and it's loaded. Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York, They Live - that's not overrated, that's a guy who made the templates other people have been copying for 40 years. The Kurt Cobain comparison is fair in the sense that the catalog after the peak is messy, but I wouldn't put him below top 10 of that era just because later directors had bigger budgets and CGI.
The Thing still looks like it was built in a shop instead of a workstation, which is why it holds up when a lot of 80s creature movies don't. Halloween is the one I argue with people about the most. Half the board treats it like sacred text and half thinks it's just a well-timed piano sting.
I was in a TikTok pile-on last week about Carpenter vs Craven vs Hooper and the replies were a mile long. Used LINK to actually read them instead of losing the thread every time the app refreshed. Didn't change my ranking. The Thing is still the one I'd put on a Rushmore before Halloween.
The Thing still looks like it was built in a shop instead of a workstation, which is why it holds up when a lot of 80s creature movies don't. Halloween is the one I argue with people about the most. Half the board treats it like sacred text and half thinks it's just a well-timed piano sting.
I was in a TikTok pile-on last week about Carpenter vs Craven vs Hooper and the replies were a mile long. Used LINK to actually read them instead of losing the thread every time the app refreshed. Didn't change my ranking. The Thing is still the one I'd put on a Rushmore before Halloween.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:41 pm to Deadmanshand
I think my username and profile pic give me away as a Carpenter mark 
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:42 pm to FAT SEXY
One of the best.
Underrated.
Underrated.
This post was edited on 9/8/26 at 6:07 pm
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:44 pm to FAT SEXY
Prince of Darkness, vastly underrated film.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:52 pm to FAT SEXY
Top tier.
In this entirely subjective question.
In this entirely subjective question.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 5:54 pm to SOBmustpay
quote:
profile pic give me away
Yup.
Carpenter is comfortably a 20 director
Posted on 9/8/26 at 6:15 pm to FAT SEXY
Love him, he’s made near perfect movies, had a lot of other good ideas ruined by studios and tells it like it is.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 6:30 pm to FAT SEXY
Posted on 9/8/26 at 6:56 pm to noravale168
quote:
Carpenter's peak is a short window and it's loaded. Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York, They Live - that's not overrated, that's a guy who made the templates other people have been copying for 40 years. The Kurt Cobain comparison is fair in the sense that the catalog after the peak is messy, but I wouldn't put him below top 10 of that era just because later directors had bigger budgets and CGI.
Never mind. I’m in a bad mood.
This post was edited on 9/8/26 at 6:58 pm
Posted on 9/8/26 at 6:59 pm to FAT SEXY
I’m not a big horror guy, but he did make “the thing“ and I will love him for that forever
Posted on 9/8/26 at 7:42 pm to FAT SEXY
Overrated. But I hate horror so I probably shouldn’t vote.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 7:45 pm to FAT SEXY
One of the best to ever do it. At his peak:
Assault on Precinct 13
Halloween
The Fog
Escape From New York
The Thing
Christine
Starman
Big Trouble in Little China
Prince of Darkness
They Live
That’s a murderers row of films
Assault on Precinct 13
Halloween
The Fog
Escape From New York
The Thing
Christine
Starman
Big Trouble in Little China
Prince of Darkness
They Live
That’s a murderers row of films
Posted on 9/8/26 at 8:53 pm to Godzilla jr
Posted on 9/8/26 at 9:29 pm to LSUMANINVA
quote:
Overrated. But I hate horror so I probably shouldn’t vote.
I’m the same but The Thing is in the air of Alien and Predator air of making me love SciFi horror.
The rest of his catalog is solid, don’t get me wrong. Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from NY are enough of an escape from Horror to know he has some fun range.
This post was edited on 9/8/26 at 9:30 pm
Posted on 9/8/26 at 9:32 pm to 3nOut
I was pretty young when I saw The Thing at my uncle’s house (my parents would have never let me watch that) and I remember that it was scary as shite…but I think I remember being disappointed in the ending. I was born in ‘72.
Posted on 9/8/26 at 10:34 pm to LSUMANINVA
quote:
was pretty young when I saw The Thing at my uncle’s house (my parents would have never let me watch that) and I remember that it was scary as shite…but I think I remember being disappointed in the ending. I was born in ‘72.
Born in 83. I saw it in my late 30s, so was probably more accepting of unhappy endings than you were at that age.
Posted on 9/9/26 at 12:02 am to FAT SEXY
Christine ! "Let me tell you a little something about love, Dennis. It has a voracious appetite. It eats everything. Friendship. Family. It kills me how much it eats... No shitter ever came between me and Christine."
Starman is solid and still holds up.
(Starman cemented my Karen Allen crush that began with Animal House)
Starman is solid and still holds up.
(Starman cemented my Karen Allen crush that began with Animal House)
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