Really! OK, I'm not the world's biggest Carpenter fan, but judging from the reviews here, I have a bit of a different take on his films. Some are good, some are bad - it's a mixed bag. I won't exactly give up on him for making a bad film or two, but I'm not married to him either. I like pure SF, but will generally take it however it comes, and am more than willing to overlook many deficiencies, as I realize that it is a difficult genre to do and I don't get nearly enough of it.
"The Thing" is one of my all-time favorite SF/horror films, very well done, nice cinematography, good action, kept me guessing the first time I saw it. Really set the tone for plenty of SF & horror that came after it, a perfect blend. The part where the blood jumps out of the Petri dish made a lot of popcorn inadvertently fly in the theater! "They Live" is a bit cheap, and has that extra long fistfight which is kind of stupid, but the political message was more than enough to keep me watching. I like it when writer/directors take on the establishment, so this movie was really fun for me.
"Dark Star" is incredibly cheap, but it has a sense of humor, and is instructive to watch in order to see what can be done with zero budget, basically shooting in your garage and kitchen. Check out the ice cube trays used as banks of lights on the instrument panels! I did that as a kid way before I ever saw the movie - pretty effective.
"The Fog" I didn't like. Cheap, and the whole DJ thing was too obvious used as a way to get the lame voice-over in. Yuck, didn't scare me one bit, Adrienne Barbeau is just not a strong enough actress to carry the lead.
"Halloween" I thought sucked. Bad music, bad filming, bad plot, bad everything. I have no idea why everyone thinks it's his best. I hear the sequels are even worse, so I have studiously avoided them. Maybe little kids find it scary or something, but pure horror like this bores me.
Which brings us to "Ghosts of Mars". (Spoilers ahead.) I like it. Sure it has dumb stuff like the "red possessing vapor cam", and the Kiss band zombie makeup, but it works for me in a SF sense and an action sense. The sets look good, the casting is acceptable, and the gore looks good. The soundtrack is a bit annoying, but at least it doesn't have any of those cheap 80's synths buzzing away (and before you ask, yes, I have a degree in music technology :-). I really like the matriarchal society thing; it's nice to have things like that in a military authority setting, standing all that we take for granted on its head. Gives you something to ponder while watching.
Alas, it seems gone are the days of pure SF, where we had "2001" giving us the understated yet hair raising & deadly serious situation of having your ship's computer going slowly insane. My god, give me more of that! Or "Robocop," a cautionary tale showing the cold inhumanity of a corporately driven society. "Bladerunner," while depending a certain amount of action, gave us a glimpse of where genetics may take us, and the moral issues surrounding slavery in whatever form.
Instead we get dreck like "Star Wars" and "AI" and "I Robot" - pretty lame since they are obviously aimed at teen or sub-teen audiences - basically fairy tales in a SF setting. And we get lots of stuff like "Aliens" and "Terminator" and "Predator" which are primarily action movies with SF as a subtext - I liked them, but there is just too much of that sort of thing being made. I guess Carpenter's successes here are partially to blame. And Philip K. Dick is responsible too.
It's a pretty sad commentary on the state of SF films that some of the only decent SF done today can seemingly only exist if it has an overwhelming and often debilitating dose action/horror/fantasy.
Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
"The Thing" is one of my all-time favorite SF/horror films, very well done, nice cinematography, good action, kept me guessing the first time I saw it. Really set the tone for plenty of SF & horror that came after it, a perfect blend. The part where the blood jumps out of the Petri dish made a lot of popcorn inadvertently fly in the theater! "They Live" is a bit cheap, and has that extra long fistfight which is kind of stupid, but the political message was more than enough to keep me watching. I like it when writer/directors take on the establishment, so this movie was really fun for me.
"Dark Star" is incredibly cheap, but it has a sense of humor, and is instructive to watch in order to see what can be done with zero budget, basically shooting in your garage and kitchen. Check out the ice cube trays used as banks of lights on the instrument panels! I did that as a kid way before I ever saw the movie - pretty effective.
"The Fog" I didn't like. Cheap, and the whole DJ thing was too obvious used as a way to get the lame voice-over in. Yuck, didn't scare me one bit, Adrienne Barbeau is just not a strong enough actress to carry the lead.
"Halloween" I thought sucked. Bad music, bad filming, bad plot, bad everything. I have no idea why everyone thinks it's his best. I hear the sequels are even worse, so I have studiously avoided them. Maybe little kids find it scary or something, but pure horror like this bores me.
Which brings us to "Ghosts of Mars". (Spoilers ahead.) I like it. Sure it has dumb stuff like the "red possessing vapor cam", and the Kiss band zombie makeup, but it works for me in a SF sense and an action sense. The sets look good, the casting is acceptable, and the gore looks good. The soundtrack is a bit annoying, but at least it doesn't have any of those cheap 80's synths buzzing away (and before you ask, yes, I have a degree in music technology :-). I really like the matriarchal society thing; it's nice to have things like that in a military authority setting, standing all that we take for granted on its head. Gives you something to ponder while watching.
Alas, it seems gone are the days of pure SF, where we had "2001" giving us the understated yet hair raising & deadly serious situation of having your ship's computer going slowly insane. My god, give me more of that! Or "Robocop," a cautionary tale showing the cold inhumanity of a corporately driven society. "Bladerunner," while depending a certain amount of action, gave us a glimpse of where genetics may take us, and the moral issues surrounding slavery in whatever form.
Instead we get dreck like "Star Wars" and "AI" and "I Robot" - pretty lame since they are obviously aimed at teen or sub-teen audiences - basically fairy tales in a SF setting. And we get lots of stuff like "Aliens" and "Terminator" and "Predator" which are primarily action movies with SF as a subtext - I liked them, but there is just too much of that sort of thing being made. I guess Carpenter's successes here are partially to blame. And Philip K. Dick is responsible too.
It's a pretty sad commentary on the state of SF films that some of the only decent SF done today can seemingly only exist if it has an overwhelming and often debilitating dose action/horror/fantasy.
Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
