John Carpenter: biography, personal life, best films, photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Among modern filmmakers, there are only a few who, with their work, managed to influence the development of the most popular film genres: science fiction, drama and horror. Among them is director John Carpenter, whose track record is so impressive that it is unrealistic to single out one thing in it, especially important. Unfortunately, all his achievements came true almost three decades ago, because "Halloween" is already 40, "Christina" is almost 35, and "They Live" is about 30. In the late 90s, Carpenter's creative activity slowed down, in the zero he created only two tapes that did not cause much triumph.

Don't expect a quick return to the director's chair from John, he is now too busy with the author's musical project. The creators of the new version of "Halloween" (2018) had to work hard to involve him in the creation of the project as a producer and author of musical accompaniment. But fans still should not despair, and suddenly the progenitor of Michael Myers will come to mind to give the fans of the genre a couple more paintings, from which the blood will freeze in the veins and goosebumps will run.

Early Biography

John Carpenter has been exposed to the fascinating world of music since his birth on January 16, 1948. His parents were directly related to this type of art. My father headed the music department at Western Kentucky University. It is not surprising that by the time he entered this educational institution, the young man knew the basics of playing several musical instruments, including a guitar, piano and several aerophones.

Also, John tried his hand at composing music. Parents thought they were raising a future outstanding musician, but their confidence was shaken at the moment when, at the age of eight, the boy, using a home camera, tried to make a film, which he called "Gordon - a space monster!".

A trip to life…

Nevertheless, after the University of Kentucky, John Carpenter continues his education at the University of South Carolina, where he meets Dan O'Bannon, who is destined to write scripts for the cult films Total Recall and Alien in the future. Having found creative like-minded people in each other, the students undertook the implementation of the project, which was a fictional fantasy film about the crew of a spaceship of the 22nd century and its dangerous mission. The process of creating the tape stretched over several years. As a result, the short film turned into a full-length film called "Dark Star", which the authors presented at the film exhibition in Los Angeles.

The project attracted the attention of George Lucas himself, whoinvited O'Bannon to join the Star Wars team. And John decided to storm Hollywood. The list of John Carpenter's films was replenished: the short film "The Return of the Bronco Billy" and the neo-western "Assault on the 13th Precinct".

World famous

With such little authorial filmography, John Carpenter sets to work on the creation of an epochal picture "Halloween". The film will later be entered into the National Register as having a historical, cultural and aesthetic heritage. The commercial success of the low-budget project contributed to the emergence of a mass of films, the main character in which was a serial killer shredding teenagers. The term "slasher" has come into common use among filmmakers, and many of Carpenter's tricks demonstrated in "Halloween" have become clichés in many horror films. Not surprisingly, the film was elevated to cult status, and Carpenter's work had a significant impact on the development of independent cinema.

"Fog" fogged

In the creative career of John Carpenter, it is impossible to choose the best films - a spectacular director, masterful storyteller, inventive screenwriter left a legacy that can be tirelessly admired. For example, a short (89 minutes), but capacious film "Fog" in 1980 is a mystical horror that makes the heart clench anxiously at the sight of this atmospheric phenomenon. It is only in good Soviet cartoons that hedgehogs, a horse or an owl were hiding in a whitish haze, and evil restless spirits emerge from the milky twilight of a seasoned horror makerdead sailors.

Equally memorable among John Carpenter's films is The Thing, a superb sci-fi variation that exploits the classic detective theme. In the center of the story is a polar station, where a space alien enters. An aggressive creature is able to take the form of anyone and deal with everyone. Earthlings have to unite and come up with a test that reveals the "werewolf". Kurt Russell starred in the film. The tape is considered a classic not only of horror and science fiction, but also of a detective story.

Almost the apogee of creativity

In 1983, John Carpenter turned to the work of the most popular author Stephen King and, based on his creation, made the film "Christina". The tape was met in the US rather reservedly. Most likely, after three terrifying projects ("Halloween", "Fog" and "Something") from their author, the public expected new incredible "scarecrows". And he suddenly switched to a comedic intonation, combining "suspense" with a fantastic background. Nevertheless, the classic horror still looks good today, mainly due to the colorful scenes with a car thirsting for the blood of innocents.

The director's next work was the fantastic film "Man from the Stars". Now it's no secret that the tape became something of a compromise between the director and the studio, which was afraid to reinvest in another Carpenter experiment after the box office failure of The Thing. Therefore, the picture turned out to be unusually bright and life-affirming, but not without the traditional for Carpenterphilosophical questions.

Fantastic comic

In the mid-80s, John Carpenter tried to shoot a natural parody, extravaganza using stunning stunts and electronic special effects. The tape was called "Big Trouble in Little China", but it did not cause a real stir in the American box office, without returning even half of its production budget.

Fantasy comedy based on Chinese kungfu action movies. Although the film failed at the box office, it also gained a cult following and became one of the inspirations for many products that used a combination of Eastern and American cultures, such as Mortal Kombat. In our chaotic modernity, the project is outdated as a spectacular movie, but it looks great as an action comedy.

After another commercial failure, John Carpenter broke off all contracts with leading film studios and turned to independent cinema. In the next time period, he made exclusively low-budget films: The Prince of Darkness, Strangers Among Us, Body Bags, In the Mouth of Madness, Village of the Damned, which could not repeat the success of Halloween.

Musical cultural heritage

Being a director who creates films according to his own scripts is a great achievement, you rarely meet such filmmakers in Hollywood, you can literally count them on one hand: D. Cameron, K. Tarantino, V. Allen and some others. This is undoubtedly the highest caste of creators, having complete creative control over theirwork - from the emergence of an idea to the final editing of the footage.

But John Carpenter is an order of magnitude higher. He not only transferred the author's ideas to the screen, but also composed music for them. In his entire filmography, there are only two or three films in which his musical compositions do not sound. The soundtracks created by the director can be regarded as an independent cultural heritage, distinguished by amazing recognizability. The soundtrack for Halloween, Strangers Among Us, Escape from New York or Into the Mouth of Madness is innovative and original.

Late creative period

Until 2010, Carpenter did not shoot feature films, realizing himself on television. But the exquisitely shot genre film The Chamber reminded the whole world of his irrepressible creative potential. It has become a real gift for fans of suspense and horror. The tape is based on a strong old-fashioned story with the direct participation of ghosts, containing a lot of surprises. As bonuses, the film has an atmosphere of mystery and a wonderful musical accompaniment composed by Mark Kilian in the spirit of Carpenter's works.

The biography of John Carpenter contains a minimum of information about the personal life of the greatest director of our time. It is known for certain that he was married twice. First, John led the American actress and writer Adrienne Barbeau down the aisle, their union lasted until 1984. The ex-spouses have a common child. In 1990the director staged a magnificent celebration of his marriage to Sandy King, with whom he has not parted to this day.