Along with the late Wes Craven and Sam Raimi, currently in the spotlight for the debut and box office Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), surely the New Yorker John Carpenter form the cult trio in the horror cinema of recent decades. Regardless of whether his films are included in the B series, of course; that audiovisual talent is based on squeezing the best possible way out of the means available.
Four of his films are influential popular landmarks. Namely, The halloween night, 1997: Rescue in New York, The thing Y They are alive. With the first, he was a pioneer in introducing the horror of homicidal violence in the quiet residential neighborhoods of the United States, and in this he was precisely followed by the aforementioned Wes Craven with his Nightmare in Elm street (1984), so important for the fourth season of stranger things (since 2016).
John Carpenter has written his own scripts and has composedbesides, the soundtracks of his feature films, in addition to the unsuccessful second adaptation of Fire Eyes (2022). With this he brings a greater degree of artistic control to his work and, therefore, of authorship. But the most relevant awards that John Carpenter has received are the Fantasporto Critics Award for in the mouth of fear and two honorary awards: the Time Machine at the Sitges Festival and the Golden Carroza at Cannes.
The opinion of specialized critics on John Carpenter’s work as director
The numbers shown in the section of Rotten Tomatoes for the critics they are the following regarding the films of John Carpenter, ordering them from best to worst:
- The halloween night (1978): average mark of 8.6 out of 10 in 80 reviews.
- Assault on the 13th Precinct Police Station (1976): mean of 7.8 in 44 reviews.
- The Thing (The Otherworldly Riddle) [1982]: half of 7.4 in 75 reviews.
- 1997: Rescue in New York (1981): mean of 7.2 in 67 reviews.
- They are alive (1988): mean of 7.2 in 65 reviews.
- Starman, the man of the stars (1984): mean of 6.9 in 33 reviews.
- The fog (1980): mean of 6.6 in 68 reviews.
- Dark star (1974): mean of 6.4 in 27 reviews.
- Blow in little China (1986): mean of 6.4 in 63 reviews.
- Prince of Darkness (1987): mean of 6.2 in 36 reviews.
- Christina (1983): mean of 5.9 in 29 reviews.
- in the mouth of fear (1994): mean of 5.7 in 44 reviews.
- 2013: Rescue in LA [1996]: half of 5.6 in 56 reviews.
- vampires (1998): mean of 5.3 in 52 reviews.
- Memoirs of an invisible man (1992): mean of 4.8 in 34 reviews.
- Locked (2010): mean of 4.5 in 72 reviews.
- the town of the damned (1995): mean of 4.1 in 37 reviews.
- ghosts of mars (2001): mean of 3.8 in 109 reviews.
No data on Someone’s Watching Over Me (1978) nor Elvis (1979).
Rotten Tomatoes moviegoers’ opinion
We go back to Rotten Tomatoesbut this time for the first ranking of John Carpenter’s films as voted by its users:
- The Thing (The Otherworldly Riddle): average mark of 4.3 out of 5 with more than 100,000 votes.
- The halloween night: half of 4.3 with more than 250,000 votes.
- Blow in little China: half of 4 with more than 100,000 votes.
- Assault on the 13th Precinct Police Station: half of 3.9 with more than 10,000 votes.
- They are alive: half of 3.9 with more than 25,000 votes.
- 1997: Rescue in New York: half of 3.8 with more than 50,000 votes.
- in the mouth of fear: half of 3.7 with more than 10,000 votes.
- Starman, the man of the stars: half of 3.6 with more than 10,000 votes.
- Elvis: half of 3.6 with more than 1,000 votes.
- Christina: half of 3.6 with more than 50,000 votes.
- Dark star: half of 3.5 with more than 10,000 votes.
- The fog: half of 3.5 with more than 25,000 votes.
- Prince of Darkness: half of 3.5 with more than 10,000 votes.
- vampires: half of 3.2 with more than 50,000 votes.
- Someone’s Watching Over Me: average of 3.2 with more than 500 votes.
- 2013: Rescue in LA: half of 3 with more than 50,000 votes.
- Memoirs of an invisible man: half of 2.9 with more than 10,000 votes.
- the town of the damned: half of 2.7 with more than 25,000 votes.
- Locked: half of 2.6 with more than 10,000 votes.
- ghosts of mars: half of 2.4 with more than 25,000 votes.
Opinion of IMDb moviegoers
On the other hand, these are the data that you also provide us IMDb on public opinion:
- The Thing (The Otherworldly Riddle): average mark of 8.2 out of 10 with 409,933 votes.
- The halloween night: half of 7.7 with 266,152 votes.
- Assault on the 13th Precinct Police Station: half of 7.3 with 49,546 votes.
- They are alive: half of 7.2 with 126,500 votes.
- Blow in little China: half of 7.2 with 137,158 votes.
- 1997: Rescue in New York: half of 7.1 with 139,364 votes.
- in the mouth of fear: half of 7.1 with 68,157 votes.
- Starman, the man of the stars: half of 7 with 46,817 votes.
- Elvis: half of 7 with 4,086 votes.
- The fog: half of 6.8 with 72,517 votes.
- Christina: half of 6.7 with 81,206 votes.
- Prince of Darkness: half of 6.6 with 42,663 votes.
- Someone’s Watching Over Me: half of 6.6 with 4,356 votes.
- Dark star: half of 6.2 with 24,294.
- vampires: half of 6.1 with 58,169 votes.
- Memoirs of an invisible man: half of 6 with 24,895 votes.
- 2013: Rescue in LA: half of 5.7 with 74,139 votes.
- the town of the damned: half of 5.6 with 31,514 votes.
- Locked: half of 5.5 with 42,436 votes.
- ghosts of mars: half of 4.9 with 54,424 votes.
FilmAffinity moviegoers’ opinion
And, to finish, here we have the information that it offers us FilmAffinity on John Carpenter:
- The Thing (The Otherworldly Riddle): average mark of 7.3 out of 10 with 48,729 votes.
- Assault on the 13th Precinct Police Station: half of 6.9 with 7,716 votes.
- The halloween night: half of 6.7 with 27,608 votes.
- in the mouth of fear: half of 6.6 with 10,238 votes.
- Blow in little China: half of 6.4 with 17,999 votes.
- They are alive: half of 6.4 with 12,456 votes.
- The fog: half of 6.2 with 8,030 votes.
- Christina: half of 6.2 with 16,475 votes.
- Someone’s Watching Over Me: half of 6.1 with 615 votes.
- Starman, the man of the stars: half of 6.1 with 6,876 votes.
- 1997: Rescue in New York: half of 6.1 with 29,064 votes.
- Elvis: half of 6.1 with 233 votes.
- Prince of Darkness: half of 6 with 4,981 votes.
- the town of the damned: half of 5.8 with 25,800 votes.
- vampires: half of 5.4 with 13,403 votes.
- Dark star: half of 5.3 with 1,740 votes.
- 2013: Rescue in LA: half of 5.1 with 11,839 votes.
- Memoirs of an invisible man: half of 5 with 4,377 votes.
- Locked: half of 4.8 with 4,164 votes.
- ghosts of mars: half of 4.5 with 8,796 votes.
Conclusions on the best and worst of John Carpenter
What we find with John Carpenter’s best film is a clear division between professional critics and moviegoers: the former considers it to be The halloween nightwhile users on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and FilmAffinity prefer The Thing (The Otherworldly Riddle).
However, neither of the two is very far from the other in the rankings of the three web pages. And refering to worst of the New York filmmaker, we are unanimous that we must choose ghosts of marshis penultimate film, for that sad honor.