John Carpenter: Did He Fail?

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by nick1091

The question is, subpar compared to what?

If you stand his body of work against other successful directors within the horror/action genre he built his career on, I'd say he comes up favorably compared to Tobe Hooper, George Romero, and even Craven, IMO.

Definitely.

Even his Ghost of Mars (that I actually find reminiscent of Final Fantasy, the Spirits Within - obviously no link though, released the same year) I find watchable (admitedly his weakest film by far).

Compare that to over hyped directors like Craven or Romero who have at best 2 or 3 genuine good films under their belt in their entire career, it's a no contest.

Imo:

Classics of Cinema (unmissables):
- The Fog
- Christine
- Assault on precinct 13
- Halloween
- Escape from New York

Classics you can live without:
- They Live
- StarMan

Classics of Horror (I couldn't live without):
- The Thing (maybe -the- best horror movie ever made, along with Evil Dead, suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, and The Exorcist)
- Prince of Darkness (Horror movie for the thinking man)
- In The Mouth of Madness (Horror movie for the literary)

Cult (unclassable - you either love it or hate it):
- Big Trouble in Little China (Love it)
- Memoirs of an Invisible Man (I do love this film for weird reasons, I generally hate Chase)


Cable/ cheap DVD but entertaining:
- Village of the Damned
- Vampires
- Escape From LA (I personally love this film, but admit there are quite a few problems with it)

Bad but Watchable:
- Ghosts of Mars

Give Mr Carpenter a limited budget, time constraints, a real good scripts, and I am quite sure he can still deliver.

Cf "cigarette Burns" in The Masters of Horror (Showtime Series).