John Carpenter

The Pocket Essentials: Film

by Michelle Le Blanc

Tension. Fear. Exhilaration. Atmospheric synthesizers. You’re in John Carpenter territory.One of the most iconic directors of American cinema John Carpenter has astonished audiences the world over with his tightly crafted horror, thriller and science-fiction films. Not just a director, Carpenter’s talents also extend to writing the screenplays and soundtracks to many of his films.From the existential comedy classic Dark Star through to the terrifying smash hit Halloween, the taut siege of Assault on Precinct 13 to the visceral Vampires there’s action and tension all around. But it’s not all ghosts from The Fog or horrific mutations in The Thing, there’s time for romance in the science-fiction road movie Starman and even for The King himself in the superior bio-pic Elvis - The Movie. John Carpenter’s films are always memorable, distinctive and unashamed of their genre roots.The John Carpenter Kamera Book explores his films and his work as a director, composer, writer and producer. It examines Carpenter’s influences and style and the films that have, in turn, been influenced by him. An indispensable guide to the ultimate cult auteur.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

167 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Irwin Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not awful or anything but a kind of pointless book. It just sort of lists Carpenter's films with a short summary of each and a few paragraphs of thoughts about it. Feels kind of like reading somebody's blog after they decided to watch all of Carpenter's movies and write a little article on each. There's nothing too in-depth either about the director or any of the films with maybe 4-5 pages being the longest entries. You're not going to get any interesting behind-the-scenes info or anything you probably didn't know. Either you've seen these films and you already know most of this or you haven't and you probably shouldn't be reading this.

Still I give it three stars, the author writes in a pretty entertaining way sometimes, makes some valid observations and it's about my favorite director's films. So even though it wasn't what I hoped for I didn't have a bad time reading it.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally speaking, this is a good dive into the work one of the big American auteurs to have been working since the 1970s. It gives some information on his work as a writer as well as a director, composer, and (executive) producer. That said, it could've been extended a bit, just to flesh out some of the opinions that are dropped throughout.

[Joe Noir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Handy, cool reference. For fans of Carpenter only. No real depth or insight for non fans.

[Julesreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little guidebook, nothing too crazy. For the fans, best left on top the toilet tank.