# Top 3 John Carpenter films



## Dirk Gently (Oct 5, 2003)

*Top 3 Carpenter films*

I'm interested in what 3 john carpenter films you would rate, here's mine

1) Escape from new york
2) The Thing
3) Assault on Precinct 13

Thats it, only reason for picking them 3 is because quite frankly there all awesome, nuff said.

byeeeeeeee


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## demos99 (Sep 26, 2011)

Top three John Carpenter movies? Ooh, that's a tough one; if it had been the top _five_ that would have been easier, but to pick just three... oh boy, that really forces you to make some tough choices!

I could easily copy Dirk's selection but I think I'll mix it up a little:


_The Thing_
_Escape from New York_
_Prince of Darkness_
So, reasons...


It's a great SF movie that was ahead of it's time and really hasn't dated like a lot of SF films do. The cast are uniformly excellent and believable and unlike, say, _Alien_, it has a monster that even when the film's over you still don't really know what it actually looks like but despite that - or perhaps because of that - it's a truly iconic monster. The ending is just note perfect; left unresolved the audience can make it's own mind up who's a Thing or not rather than being fed everything on a silver platter.
Could be my #1 JC film so easily (I think it was the first I ever saw) but I'm going to dock it half a point for being set in 1997, which was the future when it was made but obviously is more than a decade behind us now. Still, another uniformly brilliant cast and great set design. Does look very '80s but at its best the '80s could look very cool and _Escape from New York_ is still a stone-cold cool classic.
For me this is one of JC's under-rated classics, all too often overshadowed by the likes of _Halloween_, _The Thing_, _Escape from New York_ or even _Dark Star_ (which I don't rate that highly myself). I just love the philosophy behind _PoD_ and again, like _The Thing_, the ending is left open so you can decide what happens next for yourself.


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## jojajihisc (Sep 26, 2011)

1. _The Thing_
2. _Escape from New York_
3. _Christine_

It's that third one that's tough.


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## Foxbat (Sep 26, 2011)

1 They Live
2 The Thing
3 Dark Star


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## Diggler (Sep 26, 2011)

Carpenter was so damn good back in the 70's and 80's. It is really hard to just go these are my favourite 3 films. But I will try...

1. *The Thing*

One of the greatest horror/SF films of all time. It's a shame this tanked at the box office upon release. Just like Christine, this had some of the best FX put onto celluloid. And still looks damn good at 1080p, which is quite an achievement for a film that was made nearly 30 years ago!

1. *Escape From New York*

The concept of Manhattan Island being turned into a maximum security  prison was just too cool for me, the Post-Apocalyptic nut I am. I bought this on Blu-Ray recently and it has unluckily aged quite significantly, but is still a fun film.

3.  *Halloween*

Just as Jojajihisic pointed out, the third is the hardest. I love so many of Carpenter's films and own most of them in my collection. So I had to choose one of his most well known, which surprisingly is the one that nobody else has picked yet. Halloween is what you could call a homage to Bob Clark's Black Christmas and Mario Bava's invention of the modern Giallo. Halloween redefined the slasher/horror genre by not only having the "through the eyes of a killer" view, but also "Where's Wally" pop-ups of Michael Myers throughout. The concept of having the audience see the killer, while the protagonist had no idea would have been brilliant at the cinema, as everyone would have been screaming at the screen for the last quarter of the movie.


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## Rodders (Sep 26, 2011)

jojajihisc said:


> 1. _The Thing_
> 2. _Escape from New York_
> 3. _Christine_
> 
> It's that third one that's tough.


 
Yeah, this would have to me my top three too. 

Bubbling Under: Big Trouble in Little China.


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## mightymem (Sep 29, 2011)

1. Escape from New York
2. They live
3. The Thing

And it must be said my favourite quote at the moment " I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick arse and I'am all out of bubble gum !!!!!!!


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## Dave (Sep 29, 2011)

*Re: Top 3 Carpenter films*



Dirk Gently said:


> I'm interested in what 3 john carpenter films you would rate, here's mine
> 
> 1) Escape from new york
> 2) The Thing
> 3) Assault on Precinct 13


Those are also my top three. I might switch the order around though - maybe the Thing, then Escape from New York.

Dark Star is good but a college project.


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## Diggler (Sep 29, 2011)

*Re: Top 3 Carpenter films*



Dave said:


> Dark Star is good but a college project.



The beach ball alien is the greatest villain in cinema history behind The "Aliens"


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## bedlamite (Oct 28, 2011)

1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. Dark Star


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## rosejasmin (Nov 2, 2011)

*ssault on Precinct 13
**Prince of Darkness
**Halloween*


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## biodroid (Nov 2, 2011)

I found* Escape from NY* and *Escape from LA* to be basically the same movie but liked both. *Christine *was good, I enjoyed *Starman *quite a bit, Jeff Bridges is quite a good actor.


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## Vince W (Nov 2, 2011)

For me it's the Carpenter/Russell trifecta. 

1. The Thing
2. Big Trouble in Little China
3. Escape from New York


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## reiver33 (Nov 3, 2011)

As above!

1. The Thing
2. Big Trouble in Little China
3. Escape from New York 

Although the order may vary depending on what I'm in the mood for..


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## Rob Sanders (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah, Carpenter and Russell did seem to hit their stride about then.

1. The Thing (script and production values)
2. Escape from New York ('Call me Snake...')
3. Big Trouble in Little China (Guilty pleasure - the comedy is underrated)

________________________________________________________________ 
Rob Sanders Speculative Fiction


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