Who Directed It: Wes Craven Or John Carpenter?

Two legendary directors, but who directed what?

by Andrew Pollard
Stab Scream 2
Paramount

Within the horror genre, Wes Craven and John Carpenter are treated like absolute royalty. This pair of hugely talented filmmakers have been responsible for some of the greatest horror movies and horror characters in the history of the genre.

Of course, not just content with horror, both of these Horror Masters at times branched outside of their comfort zone and made non-genre efforts, and the two had huge success with so many films that they were in the director's chair for.

Craven may have sadly left us in 2015 at the age of 76, but Carpenter is still going strong - often in a producer capacity - and is regularly touring the world with the many iconic musical numbers that JC created for his movies.

Two all-time great directors? For sure. Two people responsible for some of the biggest scares committed to cinema? Most definitely. But how well do you know the careers of these legendary figures?

That's what we're looking to find out here, as we've lined up fifteen movies. All you have to do is correctly identify whether it was Wes Craven or John Carpenter who directed each of these films.

1. Halloween

Wes Craven

John Carpenter
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.