Ed here: As a John Carpenter fan I was eager to read this. I don't agree with all of it but I think he does try to post a reasonable understanding of Carpenter's virtues and shortcomings.
Horror-meister John Carpenter's mediocre comeback
The director of "Halloween" and "The Thing" is back -- with another middling spookfest. Where did things go wrong?
BY ANDREW O'HEHIR
Much of the coverage of John Carpenter's new film, "The Ward" -- or rather "John Carpenter's The Ward," as some of the P.R. material distressingly insists -- revolves around the idea that the legendary horror-meister gets to take a mulligan on this one. Hell, the guy made "Halloween" and "The Thing" (or so the argument seems to go), and we're grateful to have him back making features after a decade-long hiatus, even if the result is a mediocre mental-hospital shocker starring Amber Heard that feels an awful lot like a low-budget knockoff of Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch."
I'd be happy to go along with that argument, if it made any sense. Unfortunately, "The Ward" fits entirely too well in Carpenter's oeuvre, which is consistently inconsistent. There's no disputing Carpenter's place in the history of horror movies, or his status as a genuine pioneer of American independent filmmaking. When somebody challenged me, a year or so ago, to one of those Facebook exercises where you name the 10 directors most important to you, right off the top of your head without cogitating or Googling, Carpenter made the list. (Along with Wes Craven and Paul Verhoeven and Michael Haneke and David Cronenberg and Tarkovsky and ... let's not get sidetracked, but it's a cool little self-administered personality test.) And it's not like "The Ward" is unbelievably terrible or anything. Hell, go see it, or better yet watch it on pay-per-view: It's a competent horror flick with creepy wide-screen atmospherics, a decent cast and a thoroughly worn-out premise, better than 75 percent of the genre.
for the rest go here:
http://www.salon.com/books/horror_fiction/index.html?story=/ent/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/07/05/carpenter
For my money, Carpenter's best work may well be Cigarette Burns, his entry in the Masters of Horror TV series.
ReplyDeleteThis shorter work generates a profoundly eerie fear of the unknown in a fashion reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft, but without falling back on any of that author's now overly familiar tropes.
That this little gem isn't better known mystifies me.
John Hocking
Ed, I'll give John Carpenter all the mulligans he wants for "They Live". What a terrific movie!
ReplyDeleteI remember how right after ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and THE THING it felt as if Carpenter could not go wrong. There was a real buzz around what would come up next. And what we got was...CHRISTINE.
ReplyDeleteBut THEY LIVE seems interesting.
Based as it is on the brilliant vignette "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson (aka R. Faraday Nelson)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to annoy everyone and say I liked Tower of Darkness. Alice Cooper plus that ending? Come on!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great article it was which There's no disputing Carpenter's place in the history of horror movies, or his status as a genuine pioneer of American independent filmmaking. When somebody challenged me, a year or so ago, to one of those Facebook exercises where you name the 10 directors most important to you, right off the top of your head without cogitating or Googling, Carpenter made the list. Thanks for sharing this article.
ReplyDeleteJC made a slew of hits in the 80's, followed by a slew of (rhymes with hits) in the 90's. Entering the new millenium, he did Ghosts of Mars, which everyone hates except me. I give it a B-. Cigarette Burns is a darn good short film. Hsven't seen The Ward yet. He is clearly slowing down and I don't expect a return to form, sorry to say.
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