John Carpenter's Films - Ranked From Worst To Best
A brilliant (if not inconsistent) collection of films from one of the best directors around.
There are few directors with as rich and varied a back catalogue as John Carpenter. Since 1974, he's directed eighteen feature films, three made-for-TV ones and has also tried his hand at straight-up television with Showtime's Masters of Horror Series.
Most commonly associated with the horror genre, Carpenter has also been at the helm of science-fiction, action, drama, music biopics and a martial arts movie. His films were largely dismissed when they were first released but the majority of them have since been reassessed and several of his films are now considered masterpieces in their own right.
Recent years have also seen Carpenter's films receiving the remake treatment, which bigger-budget but soulless remakes of Halloween, The Fog and Assault on Precinct 13 being released. Carpenter welcomes this, wryly observing that his dream job is to get paid for doing nothing. Although ostensibly retired, Carpenter has agreed to compose David Gordon Green and Danny McBride's latest attempt to reboot Halloween starring Jamie Lee Curtis, that is due out in cinemas later this year.
But really, who can blame him for taking it easy these days? He's been in the business for over forty years, worked pretty much non-stop for twenty five of those years and has had to to witness his movies be torn apart by those with the pencil. If Carpenter never makes another film again, he's still left us with a mightily impressive collection to enjoy...