"Kubrickian" is in the Oxford English Dictionary, but "Carpentersque" isn't. Here's why John Carpenter's style and influence should have earned him the honor.
An unlikely partnership between a Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary is formed to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Director:
John Carpenter
Stars:
Austin Stoker,
Darwin Joston,
Laurie Zimmer
Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.
Recovering from an ambush that killed his entire team, a vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to walk in sunlight.
Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like "Stay Asleep", "No Imagination", "Submit to Authority". Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued.Written by
Melissa Portell <mportell@s-cwis.unomaha.edu>
John Carpenter wanted a truly rugged individual to play Nada. He cast wrestler Roddy Piper in the lead role after seeing him in WrestleMania III (1987). Carpenter remembered Keith David's performance in The Thing (1982) and wrote the role of Frank specifically for the actor. See more »
Goofs
As Nada pulls Frank to his feet and puts the glasses on him, Frank's sweater is pulled up, revealing his undershirt. In the next shot, the sweater is back in place. See more »
Quotes
Frank:
[picks up Nada]
Man, I told you, I don't want to be in-VOLVED!
[punches Nada back to the ground]
See more »
The short story upon which this movie is inspired, Ray Nelson's "8 O'Clock in the Morning," should be read before completely understanding how disturbing the source material really is. Chilling and sparse, it is essentially a first draft of a plot, expanded cleverly by John Carpenter, with the same great ending. (Carpenter loves to end his movies with zingers, in case you had not noticed!) I would highly recommend fans of this movie read Nelson's story to get a different, darker, tale than the one Carpenter made, and with good reason: In the story, you are never really sure if its protagonist is really a nut or if he has been programmed to act the way he does, because it seems his grip on reality is tenuous at best, and so everything you are reading could be a complete derangement -- or it could all be true. People kill each other daily over just such obviously mad conclusions.
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The short story upon which this movie is inspired, Ray Nelson's "8 O'Clock in the Morning," should be read before completely understanding how disturbing the source material really is. Chilling and sparse, it is essentially a first draft of a plot, expanded cleverly by John Carpenter, with the same great ending. (Carpenter loves to end his movies with zingers, in case you had not noticed!) I would highly recommend fans of this movie read Nelson's story to get a different, darker, tale than the one Carpenter made, and with good reason: In the story, you are never really sure if its protagonist is really a nut or if he has been programmed to act the way he does, because it seems his grip on reality is tenuous at best, and so everything you are reading could be a complete derangement -- or it could all be true. People kill each other daily over just such obviously mad conclusions.