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John Carpenter is Considering Directing More Movies
Legendary horror and sci-fi director John Carpenter says he’s considering the possibility of directing more feature films in the future. While Carpenter may not be a box office kingpin like Steven Spielberg or an award magnet like Martin Scorsese, to genre fans, he’s generally considered one of the greatest of all time. From the 70s through the 90s, Carpenter amassed quite the celebrated filmography, with many films that weren’t hits at the time of their release going on to be treasured cult items.
Carpenter is – and will probably forever be – most well known for giving the world Halloween and its now immortal serial killer Michael Myers in 1978, but for the longest time, Carpenter’s successes greatly outweighed his failures. The Thing, The Fog, They Live, Assault on Precinct 13, and Escape from New York are often held up as examples of some of the best in their respective genres, while a second layer of films like In the Mouth of Madness, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China, Christine, and Starman have gone on to amass sizable cult followings.
Unfortunately, the turn of the century saw Carpenter suddenly vanish, much to the chagrin of his fans. 2001 saw the release of the widely-panned Ghosts of Mars, although as with many of Carpenter’s films, some now seem to be deeming it worthy of reevaluation. Since then, Carpenter has only directed two episodes of the Showtime anthology Masters of Horror, and 2010 feature The Ward. Most fans bashed The Ward, saying that it didn’t feel like a Carpenter film, and possessed none of his iconic creative touches. So, would John Carpenter ever direct another movie? He was asked that question on Mick Garris’ Post Mortem Podcast, and responded with the following.
“Sure, if it’s right. Maybe. [I’m] working on a couple ideas.”
While that’s obviously a pretty vague answer, it’s a reversal from some of Carpenter’s other statements in recent years, which suggested that he was likely done directing features for good. It appears that his recent tiptoeing back into directing via a Christine music video for his movie themes anthology album last year contributed to Carpenter’s newly softened stance, with him saying elsewhere on the podcast that he “went out and made a music video for Christine… it was fun, I loved getting out there and doing it.”
Carpenter is next set to direct the pilot episode for his upcoming Syfy horror anthology series Tales of a Halloween Night, and one wonders if that will further awaken Carpenter’s love for filmmaking. Carpenter has been having fun taking his turn as a rock star via his ongoing concert tours over the last few years, but with his involvement as a producer and creative contributor on the new Halloween sequel, his name is on movie fans’ lips more than it’s been in quite a long time. If he does direct another film, here’s hoping he has one more Carpenter classic left in him.
