Showing posts with label John Carpenter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Carpenter. Show all posts

Wednesday, 12 October 2022

Christine

Year:  1983

Director:  John Carpenter

Screenplay:  Bill Phillips, based on the novel Christine by Stephen King

Starring:  Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Roberts Blossom

Running Time:  110 minutes

Genre:  Horror


1978:  Arnie Cunningham (Gordon), a nerdy, unpopular teenager, spots a broken down, derelict 1958 Plymouth Fury for sale.  Despite the protestations of his best friend, Dennis (Stockwell), Arnie buys the car from a sinister old man, George LeBay (Blossoms), whose deceased brother was the original owner of the Plymouth and named it "Christine".  Arnie sets to work restoring the car at a local do-it-yourself garage, and begins to exhibit strange and disturbing personality changes.  When Arnie starts dating the popular new girl in school, Leigh (Paul), Christine begins to manifest a jealous, murderous personality of her own.

Producer Richard Kobritz snapped up the film rights to Stephen Kings 1983 novel Christine before it was even published, and it certainly looks like a sure fire winner on paper:  King, one of the world's most popular novelists; teenagers; cars; horror and rock 'n'roll.  Director John Carpenter, who had made the seminal horror film Halloween (1978), was attached to direct.  However Carpenter's previous film, The Thing (1982), had been staged by critics and was a commercial flop (even though it is now seen as one of the best films of it's type ever made), and he was not interested in Christine, commenting that he felt the book "was not very scary" but felt that he needed to do the film to help his career.  Certainly the film is a surprisingly bland, workmanlike affair.  In the novel, the car is possessed by the evil spirit of it's former owner, which begins to channel itself to Arnie, however the film opens with a short prologue set in the Detroit production line in 1957 where Christine manifests her hostile personality before she even rolls off the assembly line.  It's never explained in the film why the car has a mind of it's own.  Some of the performances are fairly bland, and some of the high school "teenagers" look as if they are well into their 30s.  In the novel much of the horror comes from Arnie's transformation, as he becomes increasingly paranoid, arrogant and angry, which would probably strike a chord with parents of teenagers, but the film centres the car.  However there are moments when the film works really well.  After Christine is trashed by Arnie's high school bullies, she resurrects herself in a hugely impressive sequence, which is one of the film's biggest set pieces, and when Christine is tracking down and murdering the bullies is really where John Carpenter comes into his own, particularly the scene where the car is on fire chasing after the leader of the gang (William Ostrander).  Roberts Blossom, who became known to horror fans for his lead in the cult film Deranged (1974) and is probably most familiar for his role in Home Alone (1990), is very good in a small role as the dirty, bleary-eyed George LeBay, and Robert Prosky is great as the bad-tempered, raspy-voiced, cigar chewing Darnell, owner of the garage where Arnie keeps Christine.  Harry Dean Stanton is wasted in a small role as the police detective who investigates the mysterious number of deaths surrounding Arnie and his car.  Kelly Preston appears in a small role as Dennis' cheerleader girlfriend.  Keith Gordon is good in the lead, but John Stockwell and Alexandra Paul give quite bland performances.  Also the red and white Plymouth herself, is an impressive looking vehicle, which manages to be genuinely sinister.  In the novel, Stephen King uses the lyrics of rock 'n' roll songs throughout, in the film the 1950s song playing on the car radio serve as Christine's language.  In the prologue she rolls off the production line, warning the world that she is "Bad to the Bone".  When she is alone with Arnie she plays "Pledging My Love" and "We Belong Together", and when she locks her doors to prevent Arnie rescuing a chocking Leigh in the front seat, she plays "Keep A-Knockin'".  While there is nothing particularly unmissable, there is certainly enough here to make recommend the film to horror fans.



Bad to the Bone: Christine

Saturday, 19 October 2019

Prince of Darkness

Year of Release:  1987
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  John Carpenter (as Martin Quatermass)
Starring:  Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Victor Wong, Dirk Blocker, Jameson Parker, Susan Blanchard
Running Time:  100 minutes
Genre:  Horror

A priest (Pleasence) invites quantum physicist Professor Howard Birack (Wong) and his students to investigate a derelict Los Angeles church, which is the centre of bizarre occurrences.  As the investigation takes increasingly disturbing turns, it becomes apparent that in the basement of the church is a vat of glowing green liquid which is nothing less than the Devil itself.

This film forms the centerpiece of Carpenter's so-called "Apocalypse Trilogy" which began with The Thing (1982) and ended with In the Mouth of Madness (1995).  While this is far from Carpenter's best it has plenty of effective moments.  It's a slow burner, and takes a long time to really kick into gear, and there is a lot of metaphysical exposition to wade through.  However there are some good action scenes, imaginative camera angles, and plenty of intentional humour.  The film is strongly influenced by the work of British writer Nigel Kneale , best known for his groundbreaking Quatermass TV series, to the extent that Carpenter wrote the script under the pseudonym Martin Quatermass, and there is a reference to "Kneale University".  Kneale specialized in stories that blended the supernatural with science-fiction, and he wrote a TV movie called The Stone Tape (1977) about a scientific investigation into an allegedly haunted house, which seems to have strongly influenced Prince of Darkness.  Rock singer Alice Cooper appears as the homicidal leader of a group of demonically possessed homeless people.  This is a film that may not necessarily be good, but it has some striking moments and a ridiculous but fascinating premise.

         
Susan Blanchard and Ann Yen in Prince of Darkness

Friday, 29 March 2019

They Live

Year of Release:  1988
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  John Carpenter (as Frank Armitage) based on the short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson
Starring:  Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Running Time:  94 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, action

Ever get the feeling that there is something not quite right about the world?  That there is something going on behind the scenes?

Drifter "Nada" (Piper) arrives in Los Angeles looking for work.  He discovers a pair of normal-looking sunglasses but when he puts them on he discovers subliminal messages hiding behind every billboard, advertisement and television signal instructing people to "Obey", "Consume", "Marry and Reproduce", "Conform" and so on.  Moreover, wearing the sunglasses allows him to see that many seemingly normal people are in fact skull-faced aliens in disguise.  The aliens are in the process of an insidious and successful take-over of Earth.  Needless to say, Nada can't see eye to eye with the alien invaders and makes his feelings known through the medium of punching and the use of very large guns. 

This is an enjoyable blend of science-fiction, action, satire and social commentary.  On one level it is a fun twist on the alien invasion narrative, but on another it does have a very pertinent message about how we are controlled by the media and messages that we seem  to be constantly bombarded with, now more than ever.  In fact the film is possibly more pertinent now that it was back in 1988.  Professional wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper makes for a charismatic leading man, and he handles the action scenes well, his nearly six minute punch-up with Keith David in an alley is a highlight.  None of the rest of the cast really get to make much of an impression, because it really is Piper's show.  Meg Foster in particular doesn't really have much to do.  While the film was a moderate success on it's release, it has since become a major cult film, and it's imagery has been used many times in various places. 
As well as directing and writing the screenplay (under a pseudonym), Carpenter also co-wrote the film's pulsating, noir-tinged score. 
It's an important and memorable film that is gets ever more disturbing all the time.  The film was distributed by Universal and it is unlikely that such a subversive film would be released by a mainstream studio today.  In fact, according to Carpenter, when he first pitched the film to Universal, a baffled executive asked "Where's the threat?  We all sell out every day."  Carpenter used the line in the film.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.  And I'm all out of bubblegum."
- Nada (Roddy Piper)

- They're already here in They Live

 

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

The Thing (1982)

Year:  1982
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  Bill Lancaster, based on the novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Starring:  Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Donald Moffat, Richard Masur, David Clennon, Charles Hallahan, Joel Polis
Running Time:  109 minutes
Genre:  Horror, science-fiction, action

The crew of an American research base in Antarctica rescue a huskey from being shot by a Norwegian helicopter.  However they quickly discover that the huskey is not the cute dog it looks, instead it is a shape-shifting alien life-form which can infect and perfectly imitate any other organism which it comes into contact with.  Soon the rapidly dwindling crew are forced to fight against an enemy which could literally be any of them. 

This is probably one of the great horror movies of the 1980s.  It is pretty much a streamlined fear machine, empty of any non-essentials, dedicated to scaring the audience witless.  It is most famous for it's (at the time) ground-breaking special effects, which are only slightly showing their age, and are more convincing and effective than the average computer generated effects used in the recent prequel.

John Carpenter has referred to the movie as being the first part of his "Apocalypse Trilogy" (the other two being Prince of Darkness (1987) and In the Mouth of Madness (1995)) due to the fact that, although the three films are completely unrelated to each other, they each present a potentially apocalyptic scenario.  The film is nominally a remake of the 1951 Christian Nyby-directed The Thing from Another World, which was produced by the legendary Howard Hawks.  However, Carpenter forgoes the 1951 Cold War invasion by carrots from outer space (in that film the Thing is a plant creature and not a shape-shifter) and returns to the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" which the 1951 movie was based on, and the original premise of the Thing being a shape-shifter which could be posing as any of the team.  This is where the 1982 film really works, aside from the stomach-churning special effects which feature a cavalcade of grotesque creatures which to my knowledge have never been equalled let alone bettered.  The whole idea of a small number of people being trapped together in a situation which they can't get away from (here it's winter in Antarctica and they are completely cut off from any hope of rescue or escape until spring) and anyone of your companions potentially turning against you and trying to kill you.  In fact, the humans in the film are as dangerous to each other as the creature.

The film is unusual in having a completely male cast, which Carpenter thought would make it "more intense", and right from the start you have the pressure-cooker atmosphere of guys stuck together in a hostile environment, and there are hints of tension bubbling away long before the creature presents itself.

The cast are effective and bounce off each other well, especially Kurt Russell as the whiskey-giuzzling leader of the group, MacReady, and bears a striking resemblance to late period Jim Morrison.  Mostly the dialogue isn't particularly memorable, but there are a few great lines.  Another important element to the film is Ennio Morricone's pulsating score, which resonates in the brain for a long time afterwards.

The film was not a success on it's original release, Carpenter and co blaming that on the fact that E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) with it's far more benign vision of an alien encounter was released two weeks earlier, and the movie-going public preferred their aliens sweet rather than sour.  Also many reviewers were put off by the levels of gore (influential critic Roger Ebert described it as "a great barf-bag movie").  However The Thing went on to find a strong cult audience on video and has since been re-evaluated as a key horror work. 

From the moments the opening title burns itself on to the screen to the memorably bleak and ambiguous ending, the film is a perfectly orchestrated ghost-train ride with tension so powerful you could shatter your teeth on it.

The film was followed by a prequel, also called The Thing, which was released in 2011.


It's tough work defrosting the fridge:  Kurt Russell in The Thing.       

Sunday, 22 January 2012

The Ward

Year:  2010
Director:  John Carpenter
Screenplay:  Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen
Starring:  Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Laura-Leigh, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mika Boorem, Jared Harris
Running Time:  90 minutes
Genre:  Horror, psychological

This is a fairly average, low to mid budget horror film.  In the year 1966, in North Bend, Oregon, Kristen (Heard) is arrested after setting fire to a remote farmhouse.  She is taken to a psychiatric hospital and placed on a secure ward which she shares with four other young women:  friendly and artistic Iris (Fonseca), vain and arrogant Sarah (Panabaker), tough Emily (Gummer) and timid and childlike Zoey (Laura-Leigh).  On the ward they are treated by the sinister Doctor Stringer (Harris) who is using a range of experimental techniques.  Kristen soon discovers that the ward hides some very dark secrets when she learns that a large number of patients have mysteriously gone missing and never been seen again.  She also finds herself haunted by a hideous female figure.

This was John Carpenter's first feature film since 2001's Ghosts of Mars, and while it fails to rise to the levels of his best work, such as Halloween (1978), it remains watchable enough.  Set almost entirely in the claustrophobic confines of the hospital, with engaging performances from the cast, Carpenter opens his box of tricks and provides plenty of slick shocks and scares.  The problem is that everything feels very much by the numbers, with nothing that fans will not have seen countless times before.  A twist before the end is initially interesting but ultimately unsatisfying. 

It's not really a bad film at all, it's just bland.  Carpenter is a great horror director and has a legacy of some truly spectacular work, but here it just feels like he is merely going through the motions.  It's far from being the worse of his output but then it is nowhere near his best.  Fans will have seen it all before, but there is still enough to make it an entertaining enough diversion.



Amber Heard is about to be sent to The Ward

  

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Horror Movie Marathon

Last night I was at an All-Night Horror Movie Marathon in a local movie theatre. With these events the experience itself is nearly as important as the movies themselves and so I decided to do a post encompassing all four of the films on offer. It kicked off at about 11:30PM with


BLUE SUNSHINE



Year: 1978

Director: Jeff Lieberman

Screenplay: Jeff Lieberman

Starring: Zalman King, Deborah Winters


This movie blends horror and action thriller elements. "Blue Sunshine" is a lethal strain of homemade LSD which was popular among Stranford college students in the late 1960s. However, it has an unexpected side-effect in that ten years later, users lose all their hair and go on a murderous rampage killing anyone in sight.

The film is pretty badly made and loaded with unintentional humour (for example one bald maniac is subdued by 1970s disco music which does briefly cause him to try to bust a move Travolta-style and a key clue is provided by a pet parrot). Zalman King (who bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Sean Penn) gives an earnest performance in the lead role. There is an interesting subtext here about respectable yuppies finding their youthful indiscretions catching up with them, but it's not really developed. The production values are fairly strong and some of the action scenes are well-handled.



At 1:30AM it was time for:



HALLOWEEN



Year: 1978

Director: John Carpenter

Screenplay: John Carpenter and Debra Hill

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, P.J. Soles, Nancy Loomis



This film is one of the most influential horror movies ever made as well as being one of the most profitable independent films of all time. In 1963, in the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, six year old Michael Myers (Will Sandin) brutally stabs his teenage sister to death on Halloween night. Fifteen years later, Myers (now played by Nick Castle), escapes from the asylum and returns home to Haddonfield for some more Halloween fun. Myers' doctor, Loomis (Pleasance), who has come to believe that Myers is pure evil incarnate follows him to Haddonfield determined to stop him by any means necessary. Meanwhile Myers takes to stalking a group of teenage babysitters, including Laurie Strode (Curtis).

Even if you would sooner have your eyes gouged out (by a maniac in a mask, natch) than sit down and watch a "stalk and slash" movie, Halloween is still worth checking out. Here, gore and violence are kept to the bare minimum while suspense is tuned up to the max. Billed as "The Shape" in the credits, Michael Myers with his blank white mask (in reality a painted Star Trek Captain Kirk mask) became a horror icon. Pleasance adds class and dignity to proceedings as the terrified but determined doctor, and Curtis makes a strong and affecting heroine. Interestingly, the film works much better at the cinema than it does on TV, due to Carpenter electing to shoot in widescreen, creating plenty of empty spaces around his characters for evil to lurk. In the early part of the film, before things really kick off, Myers appears as a half glimpsed figure standing watching in the distance or driving cars and trucks, making it feel like he could literally be anywhere.

Another important element to the film's success is it's creepy, memorable score which was composed by Carpenter.



At 3:30AM everything went to



PIECES



Year: 1981

Director: Juan Piquer Simon

Screenplay: Joe D'Amato and Dick Randall

Starring: Christopher George, Edmund Purdom, Lynda Day George, Frank Brana, Paul L. Smith

In Boston, 1942, a young boy messily dismembers his domineering mother when she tries to throw out his pornographic jigsaw puzzle. Forty years later, a Boston college campus is plagued by a spate of gruesome murders in which female students are found cut to pieces with portions of the body missing. The police officer in charge of the investigation, Lieutenant Bracken (George), decides to send in a female police officer, Mary Riggs (Lynda Day George), undercover in the college to catch the killer.
This film, which has become something of a cult classic now, is basically "Z" Grade trash which if it was better made, would be shockingly offensive on just about every level in the end it is impossible to take seriously. The movie is extremely gruesome with limbs being lopped off left, right and centre and it is loaded with unintentional laughs. Watched on it's own, and judged soberly on it's own merits this is pretty much unwatchable, but seen in the early hours of morning in a cinema packed with braying horror fans it becomes unmissable.

To be honest I probably laughed more at Pieces than I have at any other movie I have seen in theatres this year, with the possible exception of The Inbetweeners Movie.



Finally, at 5:30AM we came to



THE EVIL DEAD



Year: 1983

Director: Sam Raimi

Screenplay: Sam Raimi

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Hal Delrich, Sarah York

This is one of the all-time classic cult movies. When Ash (Campbell) and his four friends decide to take a vacation in an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods, they discover a copy of the legendary Sumerian Book of the Dead along with tapes of various incantations from the book. When the kids play the tapes they inadvertently summon demonic forces lurking in the woods, which proceed to violently attack and possess the visitors, changing them into giggling, gruesome, murderous ghouls.

On it’s original release, the film was heavily criticised for it’s violence and gore. In Britain it fell afoul of the “Video Nasties” witch-hunt of the early 1980s. Seen today, the violence and gore are still extreme but also played for laughs. This has it’s severed tongue lodged firmly in it’s rotting cheek, although the film’s two sequels played the material more directly for laughs. Here, the square-jawed Bruce Campbell plays the role that would make him a cult movie icon and director Raimi works wonders with a low-budget. The film is loaded with energy and Raimi displays the talent that would go into his more mainstream work such as Spider-Man (2002) and it’s sequels.

It is a must-see for all horror fans.