The thing is currently my favorite carpenter (watched for the first time yesterday) and I’d be surprised if it gets passed. SO good.
I don't think he did anything after The Thing that can seriously be considered a better film, but I can see some people's personal favorites being Big Trouble, Prince of Darkness, or They Live. I still consider Halloween to be my favorite, but it's full of happy accidents and The Thing is absolutely better filmmaking.
They Live is fantastic. As is In The Mouth of Madness I haven't seen Christine, Starman, Memoirs, or anything after ITMOM
The Thing and Halloween are pretty close for me, but I think I'd chose the The Thing as favorite Carpenter. Such an incredible filmography. I actually don't think I've seen They Live the whole way through, so I'm stoked for that!
I think a lot of people are going be surprised by Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness, excited to see reactions from those who haven't seen them.
Wow Christine is really good. I remember this being cheesy and lame when I saw it like ten years ago, I was very wrong.
Christine always puts me in a weird, affected mood which I cannot explain but I also think some of the best horror movies do. And it’s also Carpenter’s best score
I was kind of surprised they didn't seem super into it, or at least consider it top tier Carpenter, which I absolutely do at this point.
I think they’re putting it mid-tier because top-tier Carpenter is, like, genre-defining. This is an extremely well made movie but doesn’t quite have the layers or influence of Halloween or The Thing or They Live
First time seeing Christine and enjoyed it a lot. Definitely behind The Thing, Escape From New York, and Halloween at this point in Carpenter’s career though.
Honestly was bored by Starman. I've seen all his movies besides The Ward and it's my least favorite. And I would also put Christine above EFNY. The quality of the version I watched kept blowing me away, I thought it looked great and had some shots and locations directly out of Halloween. I was surprised Cundey didn't shoot it, it raised my opinion of Carpenter's visual craftsmanship even higher than it was.
Starman rules! It’s probably the least distinct film Carpenter ever made (though I haven’t seen most of his later work) but it’s a damn good movie!
No joke, their run through of Garry Marshall’s filmography really made me want to do it by myself, Day trilogy included. It’s kind of a fascinating mix.