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John Carpenter

Highest Rated: 97% Halloween (1978)

Lowest Rated: 4% The Fog (2005)

Birthday: Jan 16, 1948

Birthplace: Carthage, New York, USA

For most of his life, John Carpenter had been directing films. Surrounded by artistic influences ever since he was young - his father was an accomplished violinist and his mother routinely took him to movies - Carpenter naturally made the transition from childhood experimenter, to film student, to finally, professional director. Unexpected, however, was his making one the most important horror films ever in "Halloween" (1978), a chilling tale of a serial killer terrorizing a small town that was shot for a mere $300,000 and became one of the most profitable films of all time. Without stars, special effects or visible gore - there was nary a drop of blood on screen - "Halloween" launched Carpenter's career, while spawning untold numbers of imitators, no less than six direct sequels, and one (awful) remake. Though he went on to direct other seminal films - "Escape from New York" (1981), "Christine" (1983) and "Big Trouble In Little China" (1986) - Carpenter was forever remembered for creating a new horror subgenre - the slasher flick - that has often been imitated, but never duplicated.

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Highest-Rated Movies

97% 89% Halloween Watchlist
96% 80% Assault on Precinct 13
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88% 60% Someone's Watching Me!
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87% 80% They Live Watchlist
86% 77% Escape From New York
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86% 70% Starman
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85% 92% The Thing
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79% 72% Halloween Watchlist
76% 65% The Fog
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73% 47% Body Bags
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Filmography

Movies TV Shows
Death of a Unicorn 2025 Original Music Halloween Ends 40% 57% 2022 Executive Producer Halloween Kills 39% 66% 2021 Executive Producer, Original Music Halloween 79% 72% 2018 Executive Producer, Original Music The Ward 33% 26% 2010 Director Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown 83% 2008 Actor Bloodsucking Cinema 38% 2007 Actor Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film 74% 2006 Self The Fog 4% 19% 2005 Writer, Producer Assault on Precinct 13 60% 48% 2005 Writer John Carpenter's Vampires: Los Muertos 20% 38% 2002 Executive Producer Halloween: Resurrection 10% 24% 2002 Writer John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars 23% 25% 2001 Director, Writer, Original Music American Nightmare 67% 74% 2000 Self Halloween H20: 20 Years Later 56% 49% 1998 Writer, Original Music John Carpenter's Vampires 44% 47% 1998 Director, Original Music John Carpenter's Escape From L.A. 54% 39% 1996 Director, Writer, Original Music Village of the Damned 28% 28% 1995 Director, Original Music Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers 8% 36% 1995 Original Music In the Mouth of Madness 59% 74% 1995 Director, Original Music Body Bags 73% 47% 1993 Director, Executive Producer Memoirs of an Invisible Man 28% 33% 1992 Director Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers 39% 54% 1988 Original Music They Live 87% 80% 1988 Director, Screenwriter, Original Music Prince of Darkness 63% 61% 1987 Director, Screenwriter
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