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John Carpenter or Wes Craven?
- Thread starter TheGreatDirector
- Start date
Wes Craven is a legendary horror director. John Carpenter is a legendary director. I wish his movies would get the Criterion treatment.
If it was Halloween vs. A Nightmare on Elm Street it would be a better question, but The Thing pushes Carpenter ahead.
Even then it's easily Halloween for me. NOES is iconic but the 3rd act alwasy fell short for me.
I give a lot of credit to Wes for his 90's turn with People Under the Stairs followed by New Nightmare followed by Scream
but Carpenter just has this feel, this textile feel, he has his hands on so much, music, editing, etc.
it's something consistent even across his non-horror works
but Carpenter just has this feel, this textile feel, he has his hands on so much, music, editing, etc.
it's something consistent even across his non-horror works
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Carpenter for me as well. Besides the Thing and other iconic horror films, he's also got the extra weight of characters like Jack Burton, Nada, and Sutter Cane who were just as influential on my developing tastes growing up. Maybe those guys even moreso.
Whew, I love Craven, but Carpenter by a country mile.
Carpenter just for The Thing honestly.
Speaking of Carpenter...
Carpenter just for The Thing honestly.
Speaking of Carpenter...
At their peaks, neither one is even touchable. They were both masters of their craft. But Carpenter fell off a cliff later in his career. I feel like Craven's late work never got as bad as The Ward or Ghosts of Mars.
But Craven hit a genre defining film in 3 different decades. The Last House on the Left was a major game-changer in its day in the 70s; Nightmare on Elm Street breathed new life back into the slasher genre in the 80s after becoming knock-off after knock-off, & then again in the 90s with Scream. Plus, Craven was way ahead of the curve with the meta-horror trend that would take over in the 2000s with both Scream & New Nightmare.
On the flip side, Carpenter delivered just as many hits & went on a hell of a run from Halloween to They Live. His films create a much greater since of real-world dread even with films like Last House & Hills Have Eyes on Craven's resume. It's literally impossible to not love both of their catalogs. But given Craven had much stronger longevity than Carpenter has had, he might take it for me. Carpenter gets major points for creating some of the best music the genre has ever had however.
But Craven hit a genre defining film in 3 different decades. The Last House on the Left was a major game-changer in its day in the 70s; Nightmare on Elm Street breathed new life back into the slasher genre in the 80s after becoming knock-off after knock-off, & then again in the 90s with Scream. Plus, Craven was way ahead of the curve with the meta-horror trend that would take over in the 2000s with both Scream & New Nightmare.
On the flip side, Carpenter delivered just as many hits & went on a hell of a run from Halloween to They Live. His films create a much greater since of real-world dread even with films like Last House & Hills Have Eyes on Craven's resume. It's literally impossible to not love both of their catalogs. But given Craven had much stronger longevity than Carpenter has had, he might take it for me. Carpenter gets major points for creating some of the best music the genre has ever had however.
In that same vain, John Carpenter vs Dario Argento would probably be more in line since both are widely considered the best of their respective countries & given how much Carpenter took from Italian horror cinema to make Halloween. The movie drips of Italian giallo.
The Scream series is one of my all time favs but... The Thing.
Also Halloween, They live, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from new york, etc.
Also Halloween, They live, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from new york, etc.
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Carpenter is a better director than Ridley Scott and George Romero Combined, who are each alone better than Wes Craven.
wait a minute, i just checked his imdb, and like, is The Thing seriously his first feature film? they gave the remake of the thing to somebody's debut!? is this some kind of joke? am i being pranked!?
My vote goes to Carpenter.
The thing is an excellent movie.
I watched Christine recently and I forgot how I loved this movie as a kid.
He always has excellent taste in music for the soundtracks.
But his holy grail to me and the last good movie he made remains "In the mouth of madness"
youtu.be
And what a goddamm good intro composed by Carpenter himself.
The thing is an excellent movie.
I watched Christine recently and I forgot how I loved this movie as a kid.
He always has excellent taste in music for the soundtracks.
But his holy grail to me and the last good movie he made remains "In the mouth of madness"
In The Mouth Of Madness (1995) - Official Trailer
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1reuGJV Follow us on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/scream_factory Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/1ojljJS "A thinking...
youtu.be
And what a goddamm good intro composed by Carpenter himself.
Even though I love Carpenter and respect Italians horror, I can't really get into Dario Argento. I've seen all of them and the only ones I did enjoy were Suspiria, Creepers and MoH: Jennifer. Loved Michele Saovi films though.
That's interesting given Soavi was something of a protege of Argento's. Dario definitely is the definition of style over substance. But that's a lot of Italian horror. Fulci, Bava, Lenzi....so many of them were delivered the flash, the story tended to be second.
Yeah I respect Italian horron contribute to the genre but it isn't for me. Have you ever seen the French-Italian film Eyes without a Face? It's where the Myers mask comes from.
No, unfortunately I haven't explored a lot of older French horror yet. Definitely an area I need to improve on as I've been spending most of the year adding to my Italian & UK horror collection.
"To the next phase and to the next stage (uh huh) Giving nightmares like Wes Craven." - The rapper named SUL that Sega hired.
Could the rapper from the Burning Rangers theme song really be wrong? I mean... People Under the Stairs was good atleast.
Could the rapper from the Burning Rangers theme song really be wrong? I mean... People Under the Stairs was good atleast.
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John Carpenter is a huge SEGA fan ironically. Where's his shout out Sega?
There would be no Scream or New Nightmare without Halloween.
Tbh, Scream is more Kevin Williamson's movie to me. It's such a fucking good script. I cracked it open to link the first page as an example, but it's so hard not to keep reading, so I'll include the first 3 pages:
That scene is 16 pages long and all killer, no filler.
