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A Guide to
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On October 25, 1978, Halloween was released. Michael Myers, to some, is just a man in a mask, while others see him as “Evil Personified.� Some may say Halloween paved the way for other thrillers, such as Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. Since the first Halloween, there have been a number or sequels and remakes. The man behind the mask has been a costume for numerous individuals and topic of conversation in other movies. This film festival is to commemorate the 41st anniversary of Halloween’s initial release date. Enjoy a thrill to all the evil this festival has to offer.
CONTENTS Director 08
Biography
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Awards
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Filmogrpahy
Interviews
Location + Schedule 28
Location
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Schedule
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Things to do
Films
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The man that started the Halloween movie franchise
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John Carpenter While attending the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema, John Carpenter began work on Dark Star, a science fiction comedy short that was later expanded into a feature length film and released theatrically in 1975. His second feature, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) was partially an homage to his idol, Howard Hawks, and basically reimagined that director’s Rio Bravo in an urban setting. Carpenter’s breakthrough film was Halloween (1978), the seminal horror film; made for $300,000, it was the most profitable independent movie of its day, and to date has spawned several sequels.
Following Halloween, he further established his reputation with such genre hits as The Fog, They Live, Prince of Darkness, the psychological horror film, In the Mouth of Madness, Christine and The Ward. His rank as an action director on a wider scale is also evident in such productions as Escape from New York, Vampires, The Thing, Ghosts of Mars, Escape from L.A. and Big Trouble in Little China.
His motion picture credits also include the comedy-thriller, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, the sci-fi love story, Starman, which earned Jeff Bridges a Best Actor Oscar nomination, and Village of the Damned, the terrifying remake of the classic 1950s horror story. For the small screen, Carpenter directed the thriller Someone’s Watching Me, the acclaimed biographical mini-series, Elvis, and the Showtime horror trilogy JOHN CARPENTER PRESENTS Body Bags. He also directed two episodes of Showtime’s Masters of Horror series.
He won the Cable Ace Award for writing the HBO movie, El Diablo. In the gaming world, he co-wrote the video game FEAR 3 for Warner Bros. Interactive.
In the world of comics, Carpenter is the co-creator of the award-winning bi-monthly series, “John Carpenter’s Asylum” and the acclaimed annual anthology collection, “John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight”. On Halloween 2014, the director and composer introduced the world to the next phase of his career with “Vortex,” the first single from Lost Themes, his first album of non-soundtrack material. Carpenter’s primacy and lasting influence on genre score work was both rediscovered and reaffirmed. Lost Themes achieved numerous international milestones, including NPR First Listen; features in dozens of press outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Guardian; three magazine covers; and Top 200 chart success in the U.S. and the U.K.
John Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York. His family later moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father was the head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky University followed by the USC School of Cinema in Los Angeles. WKU awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2007. He lives in Hollywood, California with his wife, Sandy King, his frequent collaborator.
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Filmography
Captain Voyeur Dark Star Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Halloween (1978) The Fog Escape from New York The Thing Christine Starman Big Trouble in Little China
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Prince of Darkness They Live Memoirs of an Invisible Man In the Mouth of Madness Village of the Damned Escape from L.A. Vampires Ghosts of Mars The Ward
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Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA 1999 – Won | Saturn Award – Best Music “Vampires” 1996 – Won | George Pal Memorial Award
1990 – Nominated | Saturn Award – Best Music “They Live” 1988 – Nominated | Saturn Award – Best Music “Prince of Darkness”
1987 – Nominated | Saturn Award – Best Music “Big Trouble in Little China
1982 – Nominated | Saturn Award – Best Director “Escape from New York” 1976 – Won | Golden Scroll – Best Special Effects “Dark Star”
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival 1988 – Won | Critics Award “Prince of Darkness” 1984 – Nominated | Grand Prize “Christine” 1980 – Won | Critics Award “The Fog”
1979 – Won | Critics Award “Halloween”
Bram Stoker Awards 2008 –Won | Lifetime Achievement Award
1999 – Nominated | Bram Stoker Award – Other Media “Vampires”
CableACE Awards 1991 – Won | ACE – Writing a Movie or Miniseries “El Diablo”
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Chicago International Film Festival 1978 – Nominated | Gold Hugo – Best Feature “Halloween” 1978 – Nominated | Gold Hugo – Best Feature “Assault on Precinct 13”
Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1979 –Nominated | Edgar – Best Television Feature or Miniseries “Someone’s Watching Me!”
Fantasporto 1995 –Won | Critics’ Award “In the Mouth of Madness”
1995 – Nominated | International Fantasy Film Award – Best Film “In the Mouth of Madness”
1994 –Nominated | International Fantasy Film Award – Best Film “Body Bags”
1993 – Nominated | International Fantasy Film Award – Best Film “Memoirs of an Invisible Man”
1989 –Nominated | International Fantasy Film Award – Best Film “They Live”
Hugo Awards 1979 – Won | New Generation Award “Halloween”
Louisville Fright Night Film Fest 2011 – Won | Festival Prize – Lifetime Achievement Award
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America 1976 – Nominated | Nebula Award – Best Dramatic Writing “Dark Star”
Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival 2008 – Won | Time-Machine Honorary Award
2006 – Won | Carnet Jove – Special Mention “Masters of Horror – John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns” 2006 – Nominated | Best Film “Masters of Horror – John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns” 2001 – Nominated | Best Film “Ghost of Mars”
1995 – Nominated | Best Film “Village of the Damned”
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A few words with John Carpenter Interviewed by Peter Sobczynski
If John Carpenter had only directed Halloween, his 1978 film about a trio of babysitters being stalked by a crazed killer over the course of the titular evening, his name would still be writ large in the annals of genre filmmaking history for its enormous popularity (at the time of its release, it was one of the most successful independent films ever made and inspired a slew of sequels, remakes and ripoffs) and influence, not to mention the fact that it remains one of the most stylishly made and flat-out terrifying horror movies ever made. (Even today, when seen under the right circumstances, it continues to have the power to make audiences jump in their seats.)
Of course, Carpenter was anything but a one-hit wonder and over the years, he would make a number of films that are now considered classics of their kind, including the spook story The Fog (1980), retro-futuristic thriller Escape from New York (1981), his stunningly bleak remake of The Thing (1982), the cheerfully goofy kung-fu action-comedy Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and the savagely funny sci-fi political satire They Live (1988). many of which failed to connect with audiences when they were first released but which have gone on to develop enormous cult followings over the years. There are other
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films that have not quite reached this level of popularity but which are out there and waiting to be rediscovered, such as his technically adroit adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine, the gentle extraterrestrial love story Starman (1984), the apocalyptic horror sagas Prince of Darkness (1987) and In the Mouth of Madness (1994), the underrated sequel Escape from L.A. (1996) and the inexplicably overlooked bloodsucker tale Vampires (1998).
Throughout all these films, he has demonstrated a timeless cinematic approach that has largely eschewed the trends of the day for a more classical feel along the lines of the works of his avowed mentor, Howard Hawks, and as a result, his films have held up much better than those of many of his contemporaries and continue to attract new generations of fans to this day. This weekend, fans young and old will be able to meet their idol in person as Carpenter will be appearing in Rosemont this weekend as part of the Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con and Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Festival to sign autographs and talk about his career, including the mammoth Blu-ray set compiling every title of the “Halloween” franchise that Shout! Factory will be releasing next month.
Carpenter, who returned to feature filmmaking after a long hiatus in 2011 with The Ward, got on the phone from Los Angeles and talked, albeit briefly, about meeting the fans, the ups and downs of his career and the first movie he ever saw.
What is it about filmmaking that first caught your interest and which continues to drive you to this day?
That’s a really good question. I fell in love with cinema when I was young and for a number of different reasons. I still love it to this very day but love is impossible to explain. You have to just accept it. It is something that is invisible and that happens and it happened to me.
Do you recall the first film you ever saw?
It was The African Queen. I saw it when I was very, very young and I didn’t quite understand what I was looking at exactly. I didn’t know if this was something that was being projected—though I didn’t even know what that meant at the time—or if it was something that was happening right in front of me on the screen. As a youngster, I had a few problems figuring out what was going on until my father explained it to me. He showed me where the picture came from—it was coming from behind and he showed me the projection booth—and I thought “Okay, I got it now.”
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You are coming to Chicago to attend the Wizard World convention. When you go to things like this, what is it like for you to meet and interact with fans, especially the younger generations who may not have even been born when many of your films were first released? It is the greatest. I love talking to the fans. That is the whole point of going—to meet them, talk to them and see what on their minds. I love it.
Next month, Shout! Factory is putting out a massive Blu-ray box set of the entire Halloween film franchise that began with your 1978 classic. Looking back on that experience, is there any one particular aspect that particularly stands out for you? That was back when I was young—when we were all young—and we were just trying to make a movie. We didn’t know what we didn’t know yet. It was just a great time. I just remember the making of the film being so much fun. It was just interesting.
During your career, you have done several films that did not do particularly well at the box office but which have subsequently gone on to become cult favorites—The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live immediately come to mind. When you see one of your films reemerge like this, do you have
any thoughts as to why they didn’t click at the time with viewers but seem to connect with them now? For example, I can sort of understand why The Thing didn’t work with the mass audience—it was one of the bleakest films ever made—but why a genuine crowd-pleaser like Big Trouble in Little China failed to take off remains a mystery.
I have no clue—you would have to tell me. I call it “John’s Revenge”—you didn’t like me then but maybe you will like me now. I have never understood that stuff. I understand about The Thing because that was really grim. That was about the end of everything and nobody wants to see that. I don’t know—I can’t figure any of that stuff out and I have stopped trying. The movies that I have made—I am very proud of them and love each one of them. I think audiences discover movies on their own and if you haven’t discovered my stuff yet, I don’t know what to say.
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What was it like for you to return to the director’s chair a couple of years ago after a 10-year hiatus, a period during which there were enormous upheavals in the film industry in everything from production to distribution, with The Ward?
Well, it wasn’t 10 years exactly because I had done two episodes of Masters of Horror (the horror anthology series that aired on Showtime) so I knew what to expect and how it was going to go. It was fun. Listen, I really enjoyed making The Ward. It was just terrific to work with an ensemble cast of girls, which was something that I had never really done before. That was brand new for me and I just loved it.
In your career, you have made a couple of remakes of horror classics—The Thing and Village of the Damned—but in recent years, you have now found yourself in the odd position of seeing your own films being redone as well—Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog and The Thing. What are your thoughts on the idea of seeing your own work being remade and have you seen any of these new versions? I have seen a couple of them but I won’t comment on them because they are somebody else’s movie. That is really how I feel about it—they aren’t my movies
anymore. I prefer it when they are the kind of remakes where the producers have to pay me money. That is the best kind of remake that there is.
Who are the current filmmakers that you find to be of interest, not even necessarily of the horror genre?
I think that David Fincher is really talented. I really like his work and i think that he is one of the best filmmakers working today. There are a lot of them. Movies are in good shape and I am very happy with what is going on with them.
Are you working on anything new right now?
I am working on a couple of things but right now, I am just waiting for the NBA season to start up again. You bums stole Paul Gasol from us and he is now going to be a Chicago Bull. That depresses me but everything is good. All is well in Los Angeles.
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There are two different stories in horror: internal and external. In external horror films, the evil comes from the outside, the other tribe, this thing in the darkness that we don't understand. Internal is the human heart.
— John Carpenter
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The Master of Horror Speaks Interviewed by Travis Johnson
With the original Halloween now streaming on SBS on Demand, and David Gordon Green’s 2018 sequel of the same title in cinemas from October 25, we caught up with legendary horror director John Carpenter to talk about his most famous creation.
Coming four decades after remorseless killer Michael Myers first stalked the pumpkin-strewn streets of Haddonfield, Illinois in 1978’s Halloween, the 2018 iteration is set to terrify a whole new generation of movie-goers. Directed by David Gordon Green, who co-write the script with comedian Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, the new Halloween sees a now aged Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) fighting to protect her family from Myers after the silent psychopath escapes from a mental institution just in time for the 40th anniversary of his original killing spree.
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and we started doing the music. We’d go This is the most you’ve been back and he’d come over and listen to what involved in a Halloween movie we’d done and give us notes on it, and it since co-writing and producing worked out just great. 1981’s Halloween II with Debra Hill. How did it come about? So many of your films have been remade or sequelised over the Jason (producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse) came to me and said “I want to do a sequel” past decade or so, from Rob and he challenged me—he said, “Rather Zombie’s Halloween (2007) to than sitting on the sidelines and criticising Jean-François Richet’s Assault the sequel, why don’t you get in here and on Precinct 13 (2005) to planned help?” and I said “You know what? That’s a new versions of Big Trouble in good idea.” And so I decided to help. I became executive producer with Jamie Lee Little China and Escape From (Curtis) and we went onward from there. New York. How do you feel about that? What has the depth of your Well, I have two reactions. One is, if it’s my involvement? What was your original idea then they have to pay me, and I working relationship? like that. The other one is if the studio owns They came and pitched an idea which I thought was brilliant. My job is to help in the script stage and the cutting stage, and that’s what I did—and the music, obviously— but just to suggest things. ‘This is good, that’s not’—that kind of thing. Nothing big.
How did you approach doing the music for the new Halloween? What was it like reinterpreting your work from 40 years ago?
I work with my son Cody and my godson Daniel (Davies, the son of The Kinks’ Dave Davies). We had all the original Halloween music in the computer. Then I sat down with David Gordon Green, the director, and we had a spotting session. I got a feeling on the music and a feeling on the scenes—what is he looking for? How does he want this transition to work? We just started there
it then they don’t have to pay me, so I don’t like that so much.
Which of your films are you asked about most often? It changes all the time. It changes. I get asked about The Thing a lot, or Big Trouble a lot, or They Live a lot. It just changes, which is great—that makes me happy.
Is there a forgotten gem in your back catalogue you think deserves more attention? (Laughs) Uh no, no. You can ignore my career totally and live your life fully.
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This is the 10th film to feature your iconic serial killer Michael Myers (Myers did not feature in Halloween III: Season of the Witch). Why do you think we keep coming back to him? What’s the attraction?
Well, you can project anything you want to onto him. He’s kind of the original killing machine, and he’s kind of unkillable. I don’t know—he’s the perfect character for a teenage date at the movies. You go to the movies with your girlfriend and I guarantee if you see this new movie, she’ll be cuddling with you like crazy!
What was your reaction to the new movie?
I think it’s great. It’s a great idea, it’s a unique idea. And Jamie Lee is just fantastic in it. It’s just an amazing performance—I’m really happy.
How did you find working with Jamie Lee Curtis again?
Sure, I spent a little time with her. Mainly we just gossip about the world and talk. Jamie’s awesome—she’s been awesome since she was a kid. She was 19 years old when I directed her the first time. I still think of her as a child a lot. She’s great and I just cannot tell you what she does in this role— she’s amazing.
You’ve mainly been focusing on your music and touring with your band of late, but are there any screen projects bubbling on the back burner?
Well there’s a couple things I’m working on. I’m working on a little television and there’s a feature here and there, but you know, I’m not gonna do anything that I don’t love and that isn’t financed perfectly. It’s one of those things—you get to this point in your career where you can direct but you still need to come up with money. I don’t want to do that! I’m too old to do that! I’m way too old! I need to have a good time.
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In England, I’m a horror movie director. In Germany, I’m a filmmaker. In the US, I’m a bum.
— John Carpenter
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Location and Schedule
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Laemmle’s Playhouse 7
A movie theater chain established in 1938 showcasing the latest independent, foreign & art films. They have been bringing independent, art, foreign, and documentary film to Los Angeles for more than 75 years.
673 E Colorado Blvd
Directions
Pasadena, CA 91101
From the 210 frwy, exit Lake Ave. Head South on Lake and then West on Colorado Blvd. The Theatre is located on the North side of Colorado Blvd. between Oak Knoll and El Molino. Parking Parking is located at the City lot on the corner of El Molino and Union for a rate of $1.00 per hour or a flat rate of $5.00 per day. Street parking is also available but restricted, please read all posted signs. The Trio apartments across the street on El Molino offers paid parking, the rate varies.
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N Oak Knoll Ave
N El Molino Ave
E Colorado Blvd S Madison Ave
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Places to eat and Things to do
There are plenty of places to eat South Pasadena. This is a list of some good ones.
Tokoro 802 Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena, CA (Quaint eatery featuring Japanese grilled fare, sake & a sushi bar with a variety of rolls.)
Aro Latin 1019 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA (Contemporary restaurant doling out Pan-Latin fare, drinks & more in rustic, woody surroundings.)
Fiore Market Cafe 1000 Fremont Ave, South Pasadena, CA (Chill hangout with an eclectic menu of sandwiches & salads, a small front garden & weekly live jazz.)
Gus’s BBQ 808 Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena, CA (Open since 1946, this upbeat family-friendly mainstay slowcooks BBQ staples over pecan logs.)
Mamma’s Brick Oven Pizza & Pasta 710 Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena, CA (New York-style pizza, sold by the slice & in huge pies, served in a simple setting.)
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Visit Iconic Halloween (1978) filming locations There are plenty of scenes shot in South Pasadena. This is a list of some of the notable ones.
The Hedge 1019 Montrose Ave, South Pasadena, CA (The scene when Michael Myers was stalking Laurie from behind the bushes)
The Strode House 1115 Oxley St, South Pasadena, CA
The Myers House 1000 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA
The Myers House 709 Meridian Ave, S. Pasadena, CA
Haddonfield Establishing Shot Corner of Oxley and Montrose Ave, South Pasadena, CA
Walk to the Myers House Magnolia St, turning south on Meridian, South Pasadena, CA
Haddonfield High School 1401 Fremont Ave, South Pasadena, CA
Walk Home From School Highland St (turning from Fairview), South Pasadena, CA
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Screen 01
OCTOBER
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10:00–10:30am
Opening Talk
10:30–11:00am
Behind the scenes of Halloween (1978)
11:00–11:05am
Introduction
11:05–12:36pm
HALLOWEEN (1978)
12:36–2:05pm
Halloween the Inside Story
2:05–2:20pm
BREAK
2:20–2:45pm
Interview with The Fog Cast (video)
2:45–3:15pm
The Fog (1980)
3:15–3:30pm
Behind the scenes (video)
3:30–3:33pm
Theatrical trailer of The Thing (1982)
3:33–4:00pm
Day One Closing Remarks
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Screen 01
OCTOBER
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10:00–10:30am
Opening Talk
10:30–11:00am
Behind the scenes of The Thing (1982)
11:00–11:05am
Introduction
11:05–12:54pm
The Thing (1978)
12:55–1:15pm
Behind the Scenes part 2
1:15–1:45pm
BREAK
1:45–2:00pm
Interview with Christine Cast (video)
2:00–3:50pm
Christine (1983)
3:50–4:00pm
Behind the scenes (video)
4:00–4:02pm
Theatrical trailer of Prince of Darkness (1987)
4:02–4:10pm
Day Two Closing Remarks
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Screen 01
OCTOBER
27
10:00–10:30am
Opening Talk
10:30–11:00am
Behind the scenes of Prince of Darkness (1987)
11:00–11:05am
Introduction
11:05–12:47pm
PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987)
12:47–1:15pm
Making of Prince or Darkness
1:05–1:45pm
BREAK
1:45–2:00pm
Interview with the cast (video)
2:00–3:39pm
Village of the Damned (1995)
3:39–3:45pm
Behind the scenes (video)
3:45–3:47pm
Theatrical trailer of The Ward (2011)
3:47–4:00pm
Day Three Q&A
4:00–4:10pm
Day Three Closing Remarks
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Screen 01
OCTOBER
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10:00–10:30am
Opening Talk
10:30–11:00am
Behind the scenes of The Ward (2011)
11:00–11:05am
Introduction
11:05–12:45pm
THE WARD (2011)
12:45–1:00pm
1:00–1:30pm
Making of The Ward
BREAK
1:30–2:45pm
Interview with John Carpenter (video)
2:45–3:15pm
Interview with the Actors (video)
3:15–3:30pm
Discussion with John Carpenter
3:30–3:45pm
Q&A with John Carpenter
3:45–4:00pm
Mix and Mingle with Cast Members
4:00–6:00pm
Children Halloween Party
6:00–10:00pm
Closing Halloween Party (21+)
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Halloween (1978) The Fog (1980) The Thing (1982) Christine (1983) Prince of Darkness (1987) Village of the Damned (1995) The Ward (2011)
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Film Selection
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Halloween
(1978)
On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith’s Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: Debra Hill Screenwriters: John Carpenter & Debra Hill Music Composer: John Carpenter Cinematographer: Dean Cundey
Jamie Lee Curtis
Donald Pleasence
Editors: Tommy Wallace, Charles Bornstein Production Company: Falcon International Productions Distributor: Compass International Pictures Release Date: October 25, 1978 Running Time: 91 minutes
Tony Moran
Nancy Kyes
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I enjoy playing the audience like a piano. — Alfred Hitchcock
So does John Carpenter. Halloween is an absolutely merciless thriller, a movie so violent and scary that, yes, I would compare it to Psycho (1960). It’s a terrifying and creepy film about what one of the characters calls Evil Personified. Right. And that leads us to the one small piece of plot I’m going to describe. There’s this six-yearold kid who commits a murder right at the beginning of the movie, and is sent away, and is described by his psychiatrist as someone he spent eight years trying to help, and then the next seven years trying to keep locked up. But the guy escapes. And he returns on Halloween to the same town and the same street where he committed his first murder. And while the local babysitters telephone their boyfriends and watch The Thing on television, he goes back into action. Period: That’s all I’m going to describe, because Halloween is a visceral experience—we aren’t seeing the movie, we’re having it happen to us. It’s frightening. Maybe you don’t like movies that are really scary: Then don’t see this one. Seeing it, I was reminded of the favorable review I gave a few years ago to Last House on the Left, another really terrifying thriller. Readers wrote to ask how I could possibly support such a movie. But it wasn’t that I was supporting it so much as that I was describing it: You don’t want to be scared? Don’t see it. Credit must be paid to filmmakers who make the effort to really frighten us, to make a good thriller when
quite possibly a bad one might have made as much money. Hitchcock is acknowledged as a master of suspense; it’s hypocrisy to disapprove of other directors in the same genre who want to scare us too.
It’s easy to create violence on the screen, but it’s hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial: The camera establishes the situation, and then it pans to one side, and something unexpectedly looms up in the foreground. Usually it’s a tree or a door or a bush. Not always. And it’s interesting how he paints his victims. They’re all ordinary, everyday people— nobody’s supposed to be the star and have a big scene and win an Academy Award. The performances are all the more absorbing because of that; the movie’s a slice of life that is carefully painted (in drab daylights and impenetrable nighttimes) before its human monster enters the scene. We see movies for a lot of reasons. Sometimes we want to be amused. Sometimes we want to escape. Sometimes we want to laugh, or cry, or see sunsets. And sometimes we want to be scared. I’d like to be clear about this. If you don’t want to have a really terrifying experience, don’t see Halloween.
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Film Review Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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To make Michael Myers frightening, I had him walk like a man, not a monster. — John Carpenter
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The Fog (1980)
Strange things begin to occur as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone (Hal Holbrook) stumbles upon a dark secret about the town’s founding; radio announcer Stevie (Adrienne Barbeau) witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: Debra Hill Screenwriters: John Carpenter & Debra Hill Music Composer: John Carpenter Cinematographer: Dean Cundey
Jamie Lee Curtis
Hal Holbrook
Editors: Tommy Wallace, Charles Bornstein Production Company: Debra Hill Productions Distributor: Avco Embassy Pictures Release Date: February 1, 1980 Running Time: 89 minutes
Adrienne Barbeau
Nancy Kyes
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The problem is with The Fog. It must have seemed like an inspired idea to make a horror movie in which clouds of fog would be the menace, but the idea just doesn’t work out in The Fog, John Carpenter’s first thriller since Halloween. The movie’s made with style and energy, but it needs a better villain.
And it also needs a slightly more plausible plot. We don’t really care about the logic of the plot in horror movies, of course, but there has to be some plausibility, just so we know what the rules are. Carpenter’s fog— which contains the ghosts of murdered sailors—is too unpredictable. When it rolls in, it’s likely to kill anyone, no matter whether or not their ancestors were responsible for killing the sailors 100 years ago.
It’s easy to see, though, why this project must have been appealing to Carpenter, a talented 31-year-old film maker who built a cult audience with the low-budget genre films Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13 before breaking through to enormous ratings with the made-for-TV Elvis. Carpenter’s Halloween was one of the major box office successes of 1979 (Variety calls it the most profitable independent film ever made) and it demonstrated his favorite approach: He likes films that manipulate audiences, films designed, quite simply, to cause emotions— and his favorite response is shock.
The Fog basically has the same structure as Halloween. It gives us a small American town. It introduces a few of its inhabitants, especially isolated women. It establishes a threat. And then the rest of the movie is devoted to scenes in which the threat either does or does not destroy its intended victims.
Very simple. The threat need not even be believable; Halloween’s psychotic killer, wrapped in sheets and apparently invulnerable, just kept on coming while a platoon of baby-sitters bit the dust.
But Halloween’s killer was a person, and had at least a bit of personal background (we saw a traumatic scene from his childhood and heard a psychiatrist describe him as evil incarnate.)
The narrative background in The Fog is presented stylishly—John Houseman of The Paper Chase”tells a ghost story around a campfire on the beach, little kids listen with their mouths hanging open, we learn that shipwrecked sailors were murdered near this town a century ago, and that they vowed to return 100 years later. And, of course, tonight’s the night. But when the sailors’ ghosts return, wrapped in fog, we can’t figure out what their motives are. Do they want to kill the descendants of their murderers? Are they angry at the town itself? Are they indeed there in the fog, or are their victims hallucinating?
Well, let’s face it, we wouldn’t care about the answers to these questions if The Fog were as scary as Halloween. But because The Fog has a historical plot, because its events are inspired by the past, it should make more sense. A sentient fog may be photogenic (and this is a good-looking
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movie), but can we identify with it? Is it the kind of villain we love to hate? Not really.
The Fog is encouraging, all the same, because it contains another demonstration of Carpenter’s considerable directing talents. He picked the wrong story, I think, but he directs it with a flourish. This isn’t a great movie but it does show great promise from Carpenter—whose psychotic killer in Halloween, you may recall, was missing at the end of the film and may be haunting a sequel any day now.
Film Review Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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This town sits around for a hundred years and nothing happens. And then one night the whole place falls apart. — Sandy Fadel
played by Nancy Kyes/The Fog
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The Thing (1982)
In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings and canines in the camp and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims. A resourceful helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell) and the camp doctor (Richard Dysart) lead the camp crew in a desperate, gory battle against the vicious creature before it picks them all off, one by one.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: David Foster, Lawrence Turman Screenwriters: Bill Lancaster Music Composer: Ennio Morricone Cinematographer: Dean Cundey
Kurt Russell
Keith David
Editors: Todd Ramsay Production Company: The Turman-Foster Company Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: June 25, 1982 Running Time: 109 minutes
Wilford Brimley
Donald Moffat
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The Thing is a great barf-bag movie, all right, but is it any good? I found it disappointing, for two reasons: the superficial characterizations and the implausible behavior of the scientists on that icy outpost. Characters have never been Carpenter’s strong point; he says he likes his movies to create emotions in his audiences, and I guess he’d rather see us jump six inches than get involved in the personalities of his characters. This time, though, despite some roughed-out typecasting and a few reliable stereotypes (the drunk, the psycho, the hero), he has populated his ice station with people whose primary purpose in life is to get jumped on from behind. The few scenes that develop characterizations are overwhelmed by the scenes in which the men are just setups for an attack by the Thing.
That leads us to the second problem, plausibility. We know that the Thing likes to wait until a character is alone, and then pounce, digest, and imitate him--by the time you see Doc again, is he still Doc, or is he the Thing? Well, the obvious defense against this problem is a watertight buddy system, but, time and time again, Carpenter allows his characters to wander off alone and come back with silly grins on their faces, until we’ve lost count of who may have been infected, and who hasn’t. That takes the fun away.
The Thing is basically, then, just a geek show, a gross-out movie in which teenagers can dare one another to watch the screen. There’s nothing wrong with that; I like being scared and I was scared by many scenes in
The Thing. But it seems clear that Carpenter made his choice early on to concentrate on the special effects and the technology and to allow the story and people to become secondary. Because this material has been done before, and better, especially in the original The Thing and in Alien, there’s no need to see this version unless you are interested in what the Thing might look like while starting from anonymous greasy organs extruding giant crab legs and transmuting itself into a dog. Amazingly, I’ll bet that thousands, if not millions, of moviegoers are interested in seeing just that.
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Film Review Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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I know I’m human. And if you were all these things, then you’d just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn’t want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation…
— R.J MacReady
played by Kurt Russell/The Thing
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Christine
(1983)
Unpopular nerd Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon) buys a 1958 Plymouth Fury, which he names Christine. Arnie develops an unhealthy obsession with the car, to the alarm of his jock friend, Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell). After bully Buddy Repperton (William Ostrander) defaces Christine, the auto restores itself to perfect condition and begins killing off Buddy and his friends. Determined to stop the deaths, Dennis and Arnie’s girlfriend, Leigh Cabot (Alexandra Paul), decide to destroy Christine.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: Richard Kobritz, Larry J. Franco Screenwriters: Bill Phillips Music Composer: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth Cinematographer: Donald M. Morgan
Keith Gordon
Alexandra Paul
Editors: Marion Rothman Production Company: Columbia Pictures, Delphi Premier Productions, Polar Film Distributor: Columbia Pictures Release Date: December 9, 1983 Running Time: 110 minutes
John Stockwell
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I’ve seen a lot of movies where the teenage guy parks in a car with the girl he loves. This is the first one where he parks with a girl in the car he loves. I knew guys like this in high school. They spent their lives customizing their cars. Their girlfriends were accessories who ranked higher, say, than foam-rubber dice, but lower than dual carbs.
The car is named “Christine.” It’s a bright red 1958 Plymouth Fury, one of those cars that used to sponsor the Lawrence Welk Show, with tail fins that were ripped off for the Jaws ad campaign. This car should have been recalled, all right: to hell. It kills one guy and maims another before it’s off the assembly line. Its original owner comes to a sad end in the front seat. And later, when Christine is 21 years old and rusting away, Arnie buys her.
Arnie is a wimp. He’s the kind of guy you’d play jokes on during lunch period, telling him the class slut wanted to talk to him, and then hiding his lunch tray while she was telling him to get lost. The kind of guy who was always whining, “Come on, guys—the joke’s over!” But after Arnie buys Christine, he undergoes a strange metamorphosis. He becomes cool. He starts looking better. He stops with the greasy kid stuff. He starts going out with the prettiest girl in the school.
That’s where he makes his mistake. Christine gets jealous. The entire movie depends, of course, on our willingness to believe that a car can have a mind of its own. I have believed in stranger things in the movies. Christine can drive around without a driver, play appropriate 1950s rock songs, lock people inside, and repair its own crushed fenders. The car is another
inspiration from Stephen King, the horror novelist who specializes in thrillers about everyday objects. Earlier this year we got his Cujo, about a rabid St. Bernard, and any day now I expect him to announce Amityville IV: The Garage-Door-Opener.
Christine is, of course, utterly ridiculous. But I enjoyed it anyway. The movies have a love affair with cars, and at some dumb elemental level we enjoy seeing chases and crashes. In fact, under the right circumstances there is nothing quite so exhilarating as seeing a car crushed, and one of the best scenes in Christine is the one where the car forces itself into an alley that’s too narrow for it. Christine was directed by John Carpenter, who made Halloween, and his method is to take the story more or less seriously. One grin and the mood would be broken. But by the end of the movie, Christine has developed such a formidable personality that we are actually taking sides during its duel with a bulldozer. This is the kind of movie where you walk out with a silly grin, get in your car, and lay rubber halfway down the Eisenhower.
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Film Review Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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I’m scared for you, for what’s happened to you. It’s this fu**ing car. — Dennis Guilder
Played by John Stockwell/Christine
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Prince of Darkness
(1987)
Poking around in a church cellar, a priest (Donald Pleasence) finds an otherworldly vial filled with slime. Frightened, he brings his discovery to a circle of top scholars and scientists, who eventually learn that the strange liquid is the essence of Satan. The slime then begins to seep out, turning some of the academics into zombified killers. As the possessed battle the survivors, student Kelly (Susan Blanchard) is infected by a large quantity of the liquid and becomes Satan personified.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: Larry J. Franco Screenwriters: John Carpenter Music Composer: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth Cinematographer: Gary B. Kibbe
Donald Pleasence
Jameson Parker
Editors: Steve Mirkovich Production Company: Alive Films, Carolco Pictures, Larry Franco Productions Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: October 23, 1987 Running Time: 101 minutes
Dennis Dun
Robert Grasmere
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Deep in the crypts beneath the old church, the Sleeper has been waiting for years. For 2,000 years, to be precise, ever since Christ came to Earth to warn us of its existence. It is Absolute Evil, and now its time has come again. Here it is now, green and amorphous, whirling around inside the giant glass tube like zucchini in a blender. The tube is locked, but X-rays reveal that it is locked…from the inside.
An old priest reveals the secret of the Sleeper, and a younger priest enlists a theoretical physicist to help in the battle as the Sleeper awakens. The physicist gathers a group of graduate students, and they move into the old church, with their computers and folding cots, to do battle with evil. And at first, all of this is very engrossing, as John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness gets off to an intriguing start. But then the movie loses its way. Instead of a battle between science and the supernatural, between the certainty of the visible world and the chaos of the subatomic world, what we get is another one of those movies in which the bodies of the good guys are occupied by the evil force, one after another, until the final violent conclusion.
The set-up for Prince of Darkness is pretty good. The priest (Donald Pleasence, looking worried) appeals to the scientist (Victor Wong) to help save the planet. The graduate students are introduced, and a small romance blossoms between two of them. The computers are wheeled in. I was looking for a cross between The
Exorcist and The Entity, but then the movie suddenly turned simplistic, and the evil Sleeper turned into a dud.
Let’s face it. When a movie promises us the Prince of Darkness, we expect more than a green thing in a tube that sprays fluids into people’s mouths, turning them into zombies who stand around for most of the movie looking like they can’t remember which bus to take. When we’re threatened with Armageddon, we expect more than people hitting each other over the head with two-by-fours.
And when the characters are all introduced as “competent physicists in your own right, even if you don’t have doctorates,” we don’t expect them to make the most common mistake of all horror movie characters, which is to wander off alone and present themselves as the entity’s next victim. Didn’t they see Carpenter’s version of The Thing (1982), where the characters made the same mistake?
The movie tries to compensate for a thin plot by some very thick, even oppressive, music. Composed by Carpenter and Alan Howarth (apparently on a synthesizer that also has been possessed by the devil), the music is effective at first, but then it grows obnoxious, loud and annoying—the kind
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of music that tells us the sights we are witnessing are not as banal as they seem.
Prince of Darkness contains the ingredients for a much better movie. I liked, for example, the notion that the characters were receiving radio transmissions from the future in their dreams. I liked the idea of mirrors as the doorway to the next dimension. And I enjoyed the computer gimmicks that were brought in to measure the monster—except that they never paid off. Instead, the movie degenerated into a bunch of people chasing each other up and down a hallway while the soundtrack went berserk. Call me an optimist, but I believe Absolute Evil should somehow be worse than that.
Film Review Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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You will not be saved by the holy ghost. You will not be saved by the god Plutonium. In fact, YOU WILL NOT BE SAVED! — Words on Computer Prince of Darkness
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Village of the Damned (1995)
Ten months after the small California town of Midwich was struck by a mysterious event during which everyone in the village fell unconscious at once, 10 local women give birth on the same day. As the unsettlingly calm and unemotional children grow at an abnormally fast rate, it becomes clear that they can read adults’ minds and force people to harm themselves. Local doctor Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve) and federal agent Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley) must team up to battle the alien children.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: Michael Preger, Sandy King Screenwriters: David Himmelstein Music Composer: John Carpenter, Dave Davies Cinematographer: Gary B. Kibbe
Christopher Reeve
Kirstie Alley
Editors: Edward A. Warschilka Production Company: Alphaville Films Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: April 28, 1995 Running Time: 99 minutes
Thomas Dekker
Lindsey Haun
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Let’s first get the comparisons between, Wolf Rilla’s Village of the Damned and John Carpenter’s take addressed. It’s been at least 20 years since I screened the original 1960 feature, which leaves my mind a near blank as to the quality and specifics of the film, so I can’t rightfully compare the two features. Therefore, to avoid sounding profoundly ignorant, I’ll craft this piece as though the original were completely foreign to me. No need drawing parallels between two films when one has flown right from the memory bank.
John Carpenter’s rendition is still fresh in my mind, so the focus will remain pinned on the 1995 reboot. And the 1995 reboot, I must say, isn’t half as nauseating as some critics may have you believe. It’s not a flawless film, and there are a few pacing issues, but for a one-off viewing, it’s relatively rewarding. Carpenter brings a few trademark shots to the production (primarily night shots, with a few death scenes that may seem a bit familiar), and he lines up an impressive cast that manage to appropriately fit the story’s personalities. I’m not entirely convinced remakes are Carpenter’s strength, but he turns in a spirited effort in this case.
The story centers on a quaint little American town where all is well and everybody knows your name (couldn’t resist the nod to Cheers). But this small community is about to be turned on its head. A strange blackout leaves residents collapsed and unconscious (leading to a few incidental deaths, including a nasty mishap over a barbeque), when the residents wake, all seems to be as it was. A freak occurrence of nature, you ask? Well, yes and no. It’s definitely a strange set of circumstances,
but there’s a whole lot more to this sudden blackout than fluke weather or natural atmospheric shifts. See, during this local downtime, women are mysteriously impregnated. Fast forward nine months and a slew of platinum blonde babies are born. The only problem is, these babies aren’t normal, and they’re not remotely near friendly. As the years pass, and the children grow, the adults begin to witness first hand that these little bastards are flat out evil. They’ve got designs on taking over the village, and they’re happy to off as many adults as possible to see it happen.
The cast of Village of the Damned is fantastic. Christopher Reeve (an obvious hero in all of our minds) fronts the protagonist charge. He’s a local doctor who’s not ignorant to the strange changes occurring around him. He’s pegged the children for exactly what they are: evil. The question is, can he concoct a plan to overthrow these little bastards before all townsfolk have been turned into carcasses. Reeve receives some fine support from Kirstie Alley, an intelligent but somewhat pompous specialist who’s been brought in to investigate the mysterious occurrence. Linda Kozlowski is great, as is Michael Paré, who – sadly – just isn’t afforded much of any screen time. As for the children cast as the “baddies”, well, they’re all excellent, turning in performances that defy their youth.
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The special effects are somewhat limited, but Carpenter manages to create some grotesque visuals utilizing simple camera magic. Just because someone gets impaled (it seems John has a fondness for this method of murder), doesn’t mean anything other than some slick prop placement was put into effect. The practical work of the picture still holds up, and the lack of big budget computer generated imagery is genuinely appreciated. Village of the Damned rides a fine line between vintage tribute and contemporary beauty.
Yet, for all the strengths the picture offers up, there’s a little something missing. That Carpenter charm just doesn’t seem to be here. Where pictures such as Halloween, The Fog and Christine demand repeated viewings, Village of the Damned does not. It’s actually difficult identifying precisely what it is that hinders the overall production, but there’s something misfiring in the overall assembly.
Village of the Damned if an austere but fun film, but the truth is it may not be all too fun beyond one or two viewings. The mystique isn’t quite there. It’s great to see Reeve in action, and demonic little kids often provide an entertainment kick, but there’s a valuable piece of the puzzle missing from this project. It’s a damn shame too, as this had the potential to be a remarkable remake.
Film Review Matt Molgaard
Horrorfreaknews
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Something very strange is happening to all of us... you know, they say the Roberts girl is a virgin. — Jill McGowan
Played by Linda Kozlowski/Village of the Damned
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The Ward (2011)
Kristen is committed to a psychiatric unit where it seems an angry spirit of a former patient is haunting the girls who are being treated there. Kristen makes desperate escape attempts after the staff ignore her warnings about the spirit.
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Starring: Director: John Carpenter Producer: Doug Mankoff, Peter Block, Mike Marcus, Andrew Spaulding Screenwriters: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen Music Composer: Mark Kilian Cinematographer: Yaron Orbach
Amber Heard
Danielle Panabaker
Editors: Patrick McMahon Production Company: Echo Lake Entertainment, A Bigger Boat, FilmNation Entertainment Distributor: ARC Entertainment, XLrator Media Release Date: July 8, 2011 Running Time: 89 minutes
Mamie Gummer
Jared Harris
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In 1966, Kristen (Amber Heard), an amnesiac arsonist, is committed to a psychiatric unit where therapist Dr. Stringer (Jared Harris) is treating a gaggle of disturbed girls who seem to be haunted by the angry spirit of a mysteriously departed patient. Unable to convince the staff that the patients are in danger, Kristen makes persistent escape attempts.
Considering John Carpenter has been offform (Escape From LA, Vampires, Ghosts Of Mars) or absent from cinema (making a few episodes of TV show Masters Of Horror) since the ’80s, it’s a pleasure to report this small-scale, intricately constructed genre movie is a satisfying suspense-horror. It might not match the achievements of his Halloween or The Thing years (let’s face it, few horror films do), but it’s a solid, oldfashioned, spook-scare story with a lot of added value, from an outstanding titles sequence to an impressive, atmospheric score (not by Carpenter, but soundalike Mark Kilian).
The period asylum setting, with Mediaevalesque restraint and shock treatment alongside loopy-seeming acting-out therapies, is a deliberate shout-back to Sam Fuller’s Shock Corridor and the run of weirdly Freudian dramas Robert Bloch penned after he hit big with Psycho. Martin Scorsese tapped into a similar backlist in Shutter Island, and this might make a smart B picture to support that A production, deploying just as many thunderstorms and demented character turns but much faster and with a Crypt Keeper cackle that keeps it all in good fun rather than pushing the pretension pedal. The angry spectre of the absent Alice (Mika Boorem) is a little too rubbery ghost to pass muster in a post-Ring ghost girl film, but the various stalk-and-kill sequences in which revenge is wrought are perfectly staged— with that trademark prowling camera and a decent number of hokey but undeniably effective jump-out-of-your-seat shocks.
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Amber Heard, a rising horror star on the strength of All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, is a gutsy Carpenterian heroine, with a tough edge that keeps the question of whether she deserves to be locked up or not open throughout her ordeal. She is supported by an interesting cast of actresses as her fellow inmates, each with a separate and distinct neurosis: the unusuallooking Mamie Gummer is especially strong as a bipolar self-harmer, but Danielle Panabaker is fun as the obligatory stuck-up, horny mean girl.
While not as simple as the set-up makes out, it’s happy to be good of its type rather than groundbreaking. With Joe Dante and John Landis back in harness, it’s good to see Carpenter’s return. Hope still for Tobe Hooper...
Film Review Kim Newman Empire
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I made a decision back in 1978 that, in a trade off for money when I directed Halloween, I would have my name above the title in order to basically brand these movies my own. — John Carpenter
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