John Carpenter: Did He Fail?

[Lyle_JP]

I think all of John's work up to and including "They Live" is exemplary. I love it all. But "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" was a massive misstep. His next film after a 6 year absence made up for it ("In the Mouth of Madness" was excellent), but nothing since then has entirely worked.

Certainly, some of his later films have genuine Carpenter moments, enough to make "Village of the Damned", "Vampires", and even "Escape From LA" worth at least one viewing. But there is nothing worth watching in "Ghosts of Mars"; it's a pathetic sci-fi remake of "Assault on Precinct 13", but which strays into self-parody early and often, and the result is pure crap. It's not even entertaining on a so-bad-its-good level.

So I would have to say that "Memoirs" was the first in a string of disappointing films broken only by "Madness".