Halloween was my favourite for years and is often the obvious choice given it’s influence but after year of rewatches and personal maturing - it’s clear The Thing is his masterpiece, and not just for the effects either, the paranoia and atmosphere is what really stands out for me with those effects.
Number one was a really close call for me, and it was tough not to pick a Kurt Russell one for sure. But I love slashers and Halloween kickstarted the genre.
The Thing is his best, but I've always loved Big Trouble. It's so much fun and Kurt Russell is hilarious. It's a funny and clever take on the character he has often played for Carpenter.
I knew it would come down to Halloween and The Thing. I was cheering for The Thing - one of my top 5 movies of all time , but Halloween was a bigger influence on moviemaking for sure.
1. John Carpenters The Thing 2. Big trouble little in China 3. Escape from New York 4. Halloween 5. They live! 6. Assault on Precinct 13 7. In the mouth of madness 8. Prince of Darkness 9. The Ward 10. Dark Star Honorable mention: The Fog
I need to binge me some Carpenter. My biggest snub is Assault on Precinct 13. To date I've only seen Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York (and LA), Christine, and Big Trouble in Little China.
10. Escape from LA 9. The Fog 8. Vampires 7. Big Trouble in Little China 6. Starman 5. Assault on Precint 13 4. Escape from New York 3. They Live 2. Halloween 1. The Thing
My first Carpenter film was Escape from New York and he got me so easily with his gritty and dirty style, nihilistic characters, raw action, dark atmosphere and sense of humour Little by little, film by film, and despite some of them (Vampires, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, the truly hateful Escape from LA...) I discovered a true master of suspense and thriller. My Top 10 would be: Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Christine, Big Trouble in little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live and In the Mouth of Madness
Starman is my favorite of this list and probably my favorite movie ever, I love that it's not exactly one genre either, it has romance, sci-fi, drama, comedy, action I like that he wanted to take the viewers to a world where there's more compassion than violence and the stages of grief with the character Jenny, the score was great and there was chemistry between Jeff and Karen "Do you want to know what I like most about your species? you are at your very best when things are worst"-starman/Scott
1. Escape From New York 2. Escape From L.A. 3. Big Trouble In Little China 4. Elvis 5. The Thing 6. They Live 7. Prince Of Darkness 8. In The Mouth Of Madness 9. Memoirs Of An Invisible Man 10. Village Of The Damned 11. Vampires 12. Ghosts Of Mars 13. Halloween 14. The Fog 15. Assault On Precinct 13 16. Christine 17. Starman 18. Someone's Watching Me 19. The Ward 20. Dark Star
The Thing is his magnum opus, Prince of Darkness should be way higher on this list and Christine is also pretty great. Definitely better than Escape From LA.
My personal top favorite John Carpenter movie is ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, followed closely by THE THING (both in my Top 💯 Favorite Films of All Time). Although HALLOWEEN was where Carpenter really hit the big time, ASSAULT, as his second feature, was where he really showed how quickly he was reaching his prime, firmly establishing all the core elements that would distinguish his later and better-known work, while also being the first to feature regular collaborators on both sides of the screen (Nancy Loomis, Charles Cyphers, Debra Hill, etc.). Despite some dated aspects and even without the supernatural/paranormal elements of his later films, it STILL rocks as a tense, suspenseful, and scary film, one of the best grindhouse classics of the 1970's!
I agree...Christine was game changing, escape From LA was Hollywood upper crust vying for more dollars...Sorry but you messed up on this one...1) Halloween 2) The Thing 3) Assault on Precinct 13 4) The Fog 5) Escape From New York
3. The Thing 2. Prince of the Darkness 1. The Fog Notes: 1. I watched "Prince of the Darkness" at cinema. I was 16 years old and never felt so frighened before. 2. The Fog is probably the horromovie i have most watched: four, five or more times! Scared Movie and a great Score. 3. to put the almost forgotton "Mouth of Madness" in front of the real classic "The Fog" can be just a joke.
rotten tomatoes ranking: 18. Ghosts of Mars (24%) 17. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (26%) 16. Village of the Damned (30%) 15. The Ward (33%) 14. Vampires (42%) 13. Escape From L.A (53%) 12. In the Mouth of Madness (58%) 11. Prince of Darkness (61%) 10. Christine (71%) 9. Big Trouble in Little China (74%) 8. The Fog (75%) 7. Dark Star (77%) 6. The Thing (84%) 5. Starman (86%) 4. They Live (86%) 3. Escape From New York (86%) 2. Halloween (96%) 1. Assault on Precinct 13 (96%) average: 64.33%
My Top 15: 15. The Mouth Of Madness (OVERRATED) 14. Village Of The Damned (DECENT) 13. Ghosts Of Mars (DECENT) 12. Escape From LA (OK) 11. Vampires (OK) 10. Someone's Watching Me (LIKE) 9. Starman (LIKE) 8. Assault On Precinct 13 (LIKE) 7. Prince Of Darkness (LIKE) 6. They Live (LOVE) 5. The Fog (LOVE) 4. Christine (LOVE) 3. Escape From New York (LOVE) 2. The Thing (LOVE) 1. Halloween (LOVE)
19: Ghost Of Mars (2/10) 18: The Ward (2/10) 17: Big Trouble In China (3/10) 16: Escape From L.A (4.5/10) 15: Memoirs Of An Invisible Man (5/10) 14: Village Of The Damned (5/10) 13: Dark Star (5/10) 12: Starman (5/10) 11: Christine (5/10) 10: Vampires (5.5/10) 9: Prince Of Darkness (6/10) 8: They Live (6/10) 7: Assault On Precinct 13 (7/10) 6: Masters Of Horror: John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns (7/10) 5: The Fog (7/10) 4: Escape From New York (7/10) 3: Into The Mouth Of Madness (9/10) 2: Halloween (9/10) 1: The Thing (10/10)
Personally I love Prince of Darkness. It has a unique dread filled atmosphere that grows for me with rewatches. I’d also put The Fog far higher. Again, it has that special Carpenter atmosphere and is a simple but great horror tale. Assault on Precinct 13 is great and pretty high for me too. But that’s just me.
1. The Thing A+ 2. Halloween A+ 3. Assault on Precinct 13 A 4. They Live A 5. Big Trouble Little China A 6. Christine A 7. Escape From New York B+ 8. In The Mouth Of Madness B 9. Dark Star C
My top 18 goes 1. The thing 2. Halloween 3. Assault on precinct 13 4. In the mouth of madness 5. They live 6. Big trouble in little china 7. Escape from NewYork 8. Prince of darkness 9. Starman 10. The fog 11. Christine 12. Body bags 13. Vampires 14. Escape from la 15. Memoirs of an invisible man 16. Village of the damned 17. The ward 18. Ghost Of Mars
1. The Thing 2. They Live 3. Prince Of Darkness 4. Halloween 5. Escape From New York 6. In The Mouth Of Madness 7. Christine 8. Assault On Pricinct 13 9. Vampires 10. Village Of The Damned 11. Dark Star 12. Starmam 13. Memoirs Of An Invisible Man 14. The Ward
Surprised the Ward is so high...would have Ghost of Mars and Memoirs before..but each to their own...The Thing is my personal favorite ..They Live a close second.Halloween deserved Number 1.
Your lists are so fantastic! Agree with others who say "The Thing" should absolutely be #1. It's basically a perfect film. Your take regarding "Escape from L.A." is bang-on: it's supposed to be over-the-top cheesy - almost a parody of itself - and it succeeds. Also nice to see "Vampires" ranked so high. This movie somehow flew under the radar in 1998, but it knocked my socks off when I saw it in the theatre. I had been hiking through the Himalayas of India and Nepal with my girlfriend for 6 months, and we finally made it back to civilization in Bangkok, Thailand. For our first date night back in the big city, we decided to go to the movies, and caught a double feature of "Blade" and "John Carpenter's Vampires" (as it was marketed at the time). Both were very well done vampire flicks! After camping for 6 months, I distinctly remember the comfort of the theater, the beautiful air conditioning, the simple joy of eating popcorn and sipping an ice cold Coca Cola, and thinking "this is the life!" I'm usually too chicken to watch scary movies in the theater, so again, these flicks stayed with me and will always hold a nostalgic soft-spot in my heart.
As much as I think Halloween is a good film which arguably launched Carpenters career, I actually preferred Halloween 2 which upped the body count . Can't argue with the rest of the list though although I would place Assault on precinct 13 & The Fog higher.
No Body Bags?!?!?!?!? That is definitely one of John Carpenters best films. Plus we don't have a lot of good anthology horror out there and Carpenters portrayal as the Coroner is up there with hosts such as the Crypt Keeper.
You must be crazy putting Escape From LA ahead of Prince of Darkness; I get that the pseudo-intellectual stuff is weird and hard to follow, but the atmosphere and creep factor are incredible in Prince of Darkness. And Escape from LA is AWFUL, not just bad. I felt almost embarrassed by how silly it was compared to most other Carpenter films, including Escape from New York.
The Thing is Carpenters best film by far. That's his masterpiece!
Halloween was my favourite for years and is often the obvious choice given it’s influence but after year of rewatches and personal maturing - it’s clear The Thing is his masterpiece, and not just for the effects either, the paranoia and atmosphere is what really stands out for me with those effects.
I put The Thing over Halloween as number 1. For me its the best Carpenter film and one the best horror movies ever made.
Number one was a really close call for me, and it was tough not to pick a Kurt Russell one for sure. But I love slashers and Halloween kickstarted the genre.
Absolutely. Halloween may stay on number 9 or so.
f yeah.. the Thing is not only a fantastic john carpenter / kurt russell movie.. its just a fantastic movie period... like a top 50 movie
Absolutely agree. Years of rewatches and aging has eventually put it above Halloween for me.
The Thing is his best, but I've always loved Big Trouble. It's so much fun and Kurt Russell is hilarious. It's a funny and clever take on the character he has often played for Carpenter.
I would put The Thing in the number one spot. It is one of my favorite movies
I knew it would come down to Halloween and The Thing. I was cheering for The Thing - one of my top 5 movies of all time , but Halloween was a bigger influence on moviemaking for sure.
Great ranking. My top 5 are
1. The Thing
2. Halloween
3. They Live
4. Assault On Precinct 13
5. In The Mouth Of Madness
Perfect top 5
@@ianmitchellwallace Except he left out Prince Of Darkness--My Favorite!!!
1. John Carpenters The Thing
2. Big trouble little in China
3. Escape from New York
4. Halloween
5. They live!
6. Assault on Precinct 13
7. In the mouth of madness
8. Prince of Darkness
9. The Ward
10. Dark Star
Honorable mention: The Fog
Halloween is his best film
@@darktower_legacy lmaoo
The thing is FAAR better.
@@tinalovre ok its my opinion
@@darktower_legacy Halloween is worse than the thing in every aspect imo. Like much worse.
No carpenter movie should ever be ranked higher than the thing, period. One of the best movies ever made.
I need to binge me some Carpenter. My biggest snub is Assault on Precinct 13. To date I've only seen Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York (and LA), Christine, and Big Trouble in Little China.
It is worth it. This may have been my favourite video to do so far, just for the excuse to rewatch so many of these films that I had mostly forgotten.
10. Escape from LA
9. The Fog
8. Vampires
7. Big Trouble in Little China
6. Starman
5. Assault on Precint 13
4. Escape from New York
3. They Live
2. Halloween
1. The Thing
My first Carpenter film was Escape from New York and he got me so easily with his gritty and dirty style, nihilistic characters, raw action, dark atmosphere and sense of humour
Little by little, film by film, and despite some of them (Vampires, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, the truly hateful Escape from LA...) I discovered a true master of suspense and thriller.
My Top 10 would be: Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Christine, Big Trouble in little China, Prince of Darkness, They Live and In the Mouth of Madness
Starman is my favorite of this list and probably my favorite movie ever, I love that it's not exactly one genre either, it has romance, sci-fi, drama, comedy, action I like that he wanted to take the viewers to a world where there's more compassion than violence and the stages of grief with the character Jenny, the score was great and there was chemistry between Jeff and Karen "Do you want to know what I like most about your species? you are at your very best when things are worst"-starman/Scott
You make some great points. Especially about how Carpenter looks at grief. It really is a more complex movie that folks give it credit for.
1. Escape From New York
2. Escape From L.A.
3. Big Trouble In Little China
4. Elvis
5. The Thing
6. They Live
7. Prince Of Darkness
8. In The Mouth Of Madness
9. Memoirs Of An Invisible Man
10. Village Of The Damned
11. Vampires
12. Ghosts Of Mars
13. Halloween
14. The Fog
15. Assault On Precinct 13
16. Christine
17. Starman
18. Someone's Watching Me
19. The Ward
20. Dark Star
The Thing is his magnum opus, Prince of Darkness should be way higher on this list and Christine is also pretty great. Definitely better than Escape From LA.
AGRRED!!!
Prince of Darkness is my favorite horror movie of all time (although I know it is not Carpenter's "best" movie) , so I agree as well.
My personal top favorite John Carpenter movie is ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, followed closely by THE THING (both in my Top 💯 Favorite Films of All Time). Although HALLOWEEN was where Carpenter really hit the big time, ASSAULT, as his second feature, was where he really showed how quickly he was reaching his prime, firmly establishing all the core elements that would distinguish his later and better-known work, while also being the first to feature regular collaborators on both sides of the screen (Nancy Loomis, Charles Cyphers, Debra Hill, etc.). Despite some dated aspects and even without the supernatural/paranormal elements of his later films, it STILL rocks as a tense, suspenseful, and scary film, one of the best grindhouse classics of the 1970's!
Carpenter's soundtracks and musical score are always excellent.
The Thing deserves to be number 1 . By far the greatest production of John Carpenter.
My top 5 is:
1- The Thing
2- Halloween
3- Escape from New York
4- Big Trouble in Little China
5- They Live
You can't go wrong with Kurt Russell
Carpenter made the best Roddy Piper, Horror and action comedy movies 🎬 of all time (They Live, The Thing and Big Trouble)
Assault on Precinct 13 is underrated. But Halloween is the classic. Also Kurt Russell is iconic in all the Carpenter movies
this guy really said Christie Alley and Lee Van Cleff. And had the audacity to rank Escape from LA above Chrisitine and Prince of Darkness.
I agree...Christine was game changing, escape From LA was Hollywood upper crust vying for more dollars...Sorry but you messed up on this one...1) Halloween 2) The Thing 3) Assault on Precinct 13 4) The Fog 5) Escape From New York
David Carradine was not in Escape From LA, so how dependable can these opinions be?
3. The Thing
2. Prince of the Darkness
1. The Fog
Notes:
1. I watched "Prince of the Darkness" at cinema. I was 16 years old and never felt so frighened before.
2. The Fog is probably the horromovie i have most watched: four, five or more times! Scared Movie and a great Score.
3. to put the almost forgotton "Mouth of Madness" in front of the real classic "The Fog" can be just a joke.
rotten tomatoes ranking:
18. Ghosts of Mars (24%)
17. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (26%)
16. Village of the Damned (30%)
15. The Ward (33%)
14. Vampires (42%)
13. Escape From L.A (53%)
12. In the Mouth of Madness (58%)
11. Prince of Darkness (61%)
10. Christine (71%)
9. Big Trouble in Little China (74%)
8. The Fog (75%)
7. Dark Star (77%)
6. The Thing (84%)
5. Starman (86%)
4. They Live (86%)
3. Escape From New York (86%)
2. Halloween (96%)
1. Assault on Precinct 13 (96%)
average: 64.33%
My top 5
1- The thing
2- Halloween
3- Christine
4-Escape from New York 1997
5-They alive
I love Memoirs of an Invisible Man! Hugely underrated movie!
Unpopular opinion: Halloween is not that great. The Thing for me all the way!
Fair enough. I have a few friends that completely agree with you.
I’m with you mate
Unpopular and wrong. 😮
The Thing is not only the greatest John Carpenter film, but one of the greatest horror movies ever.
My Top 15:
15. The Mouth Of Madness (OVERRATED)
14. Village Of The Damned (DECENT)
13. Ghosts Of Mars (DECENT)
12. Escape From LA (OK)
11. Vampires (OK)
10. Someone's Watching Me (LIKE)
9. Starman (LIKE)
8. Assault On Precinct 13 (LIKE)
7. Prince Of Darkness (LIKE)
6. They Live (LOVE)
5. The Fog (LOVE)
4. Christine (LOVE)
3. Escape From New York (LOVE)
2. The Thing (LOVE)
1. Halloween (LOVE)
@@briansmith1652 LOL! Who cares? Everyone knew what I meant? Before correcting anyone's punctuation show your list?
19: Ghost Of Mars (2/10)
18: The Ward (2/10)
17: Big Trouble In China (3/10)
16: Escape From L.A (4.5/10)
15: Memoirs Of An Invisible Man (5/10)
14: Village Of The Damned (5/10)
13: Dark Star (5/10)
12: Starman (5/10)
11: Christine (5/10)
10: Vampires (5.5/10)
9: Prince Of Darkness (6/10)
8: They Live (6/10)
7: Assault On Precinct 13 (7/10)
6: Masters Of Horror: John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns (7/10)
5: The Fog (7/10)
4: Escape From New York (7/10)
3: Into The Mouth Of Madness (9/10)
2: Halloween (9/10)
1: The Thing (10/10)
I have seen Halloween probably 75 times! It is my favorite 1
It is phenomenal! It also tops my greatest Horror Franchise list.
Personally I love Prince of Darkness. It has a unique dread filled atmosphere that grows for me with rewatches. I’d also put The Fog far higher. Again, it has that special Carpenter atmosphere and is a simple but great horror tale. Assault on Precinct 13 is great and pretty high for me too. But that’s just me.
I agree, both this and The Fog should be way higher they're both some of his best films which makes this list look pretty silly.
1. The Thing A+
2. Halloween A+
3. Assault on Precinct 13 A
4. They Live A
5. Big Trouble Little China A
6. Christine A
7. Escape From New York B+
8. In The Mouth Of Madness B
9. Dark Star C
IMO, his top 5 are:
1. The Thing
2. Assault
3. The Fog
4. Big Trouble
5. Halloween
My top 18 goes
1. The thing
2. Halloween
3. Assault on precinct 13
4. In the mouth of madness
5. They live
6. Big trouble in little china
7. Escape from NewYork
8. Prince of darkness
9. Starman
10. The fog
11. Christine
12. Body bags
13. Vampires
14. Escape from la
15. Memoirs of an invisible man
16. Village of the damned
17. The ward
18. Ghost Of Mars
The thing is the most terrifying movie i have ever seen😮i really loved assault and of course Halloween ❤
Uhhh... he doesnt surf with David Carradine. Its Peter Fonda.
1. The Thing
2. They Live
3. Prince Of Darkness
4. Halloween
5. Escape From New York
6. In The Mouth Of Madness
7. Christine
8. Assault On Pricinct 13
9. Vampires
10. Village Of The Damned
11. Dark Star
12. Starmam
13. Memoirs Of An Invisible Man
14. The Ward
15. Escape From LA
Escape from LA, he surfed w/ Peter Fonda, not Carridine
Surprised the Ward is so high...would have Ghost of Mars and Memoirs before..but each to their own...The Thing is my personal favorite ..They Live a close second.Halloween deserved Number 1.
i made an amateur movie back in 1994 using carpenter's music!!!
Your lists are so fantastic! Agree with others who say "The Thing" should absolutely be #1. It's basically a perfect film. Your take regarding "Escape from L.A." is bang-on: it's supposed to be over-the-top cheesy - almost a parody of itself - and it succeeds. Also nice to see "Vampires" ranked so high. This movie somehow flew under the radar in 1998, but it knocked my socks off when I saw it in the theatre.
I had been hiking through the Himalayas of India and Nepal with my girlfriend for 6 months, and we finally made it back to civilization in Bangkok, Thailand. For our first date night back in the big city, we decided to go to the movies, and caught a double feature of "Blade" and "John Carpenter's Vampires" (as it was marketed at the time). Both were very well done vampire flicks!
After camping for 6 months, I distinctly remember the comfort of the theater, the beautiful air conditioning, the simple joy of eating popcorn and sipping an ice cold Coca Cola, and thinking "this is the life!" I'm usually too chicken to watch scary movies in the theater, so again, these flicks stayed with me and will always hold a nostalgic soft-spot in my heart.
As much as I think Halloween is a good film which arguably launched Carpenters career, I actually preferred Halloween 2 which upped the body count . Can't argue with the rest of the list though although I would place Assault on precinct 13 & The Fog higher.
No Body Bags?!?!?!?!? That is definitely one of John Carpenters best films. Plus we don't have a lot of good anthology horror out there and Carpenters portrayal as the Coroner is up there with hosts such as the Crypt Keeper.
Big Trouble in Little China is my favorite movie ever The Thing is 2nd for me
curious for you to rank paul verhoeven films
great work. u should have more subs
My four favorite John carpenter's films 1 Halloween 2 christine 3 vampires 4 the thing
And big trouble in little China
In The Mouth of Madness is easily my favorite, but good list!
It is a very underrated film. And thanks.
I got to have the Thing over Halloween
The thing is absolutely the best. Much, much better than overrated Halloween.
Kim CANTRELL?
James WOOD???
KRISTI Alley???
(dude, wtf..............)
The thing is the best period
Christine rules!
David Carradine is definitely not in Escape from LA.
I was thinking that
You must be crazy putting Escape From LA ahead of Prince of Darkness; I get that the pseudo-intellectual stuff is weird and hard to follow, but the atmosphere and creep factor are incredible in Prince of Darkness. And Escape from LA is AWFUL, not just bad. I felt almost embarrassed by how silly it was compared to most other Carpenter films, including Escape from New York.
Assault on precinct 13 is the best.
Dark Star #1, Starman #2, The Thing #3..... the rest are not worth mentioning.
btw, henstridge isn't a bad actress -- the script was preposterous
Nooooooooo! Christine is brilliant!!
It is 80's gold no doubt. It's just that Carpenter has too many great films.
Escape from La was awful but it was fucking entertaining
I can't believe you have Prince of Darkness at 14. 😑
Ghosts of Mars is so laughably bad.
It is kind of fun bad though. But so, so bad.
How do you make videos about movies and not know how to pronounce Chevy Chase?
NO WAY IN HELL IS ESCAPE FROM LA IS BETTER THAN CHRISTINE.
Uhhh... you forgot Black moon rising. Thank god. That movie sucked.
Am i the only one who thinks that Starman is one of his worst movies?
It definitely is
Its different, not nessaery bad.
yeah u r
I thought it was good. Probably in the top half for me. But it wasn’t anything extraordinary.
Most are bad