John Carpenters 'The Ward' start shooting on Monday!!

[Phenia Films]

My Hero Mr John Carpenter has finally heading back to the feature film Directors chair on monday! to start the filming of 'The Ward'
Now i have a reason to get back to the theater when this one finally rolls around...best news ive heard all year so far..welcome back JC!!:cool:

http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=10795271


http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff202/joebarbarisi/CARPENTERATWORK.jpg

[EvilNed]

Yeah, that's actually really cool. I hope he does something with it. His two latest feature films were Okay, at best, but In The Mouth of Madness is excellent.

[ProfessorChaos]

... but In The Mouth of Madness is excellent.

high-five, comrade. that movie has got some pretty creepy parts...one of carpenter's best, right alongside the thing and halloween.

[C5NOTLD]

Long overdue. Can't wait to see this one. Sounds good! :cool:

[shootemindehead]

Good news. But unfortunately, he hasn't made a truly great film since 'The Thing', although I do like 'Prince of Darkness' (but that's probably down to Donald Pleasance alone).

I've always found it one of cinema's great shames that "the critics" trounced 'The Thing' in 1982. Carpenter was never the same afterward.


Wankers.

[bassman]

Carpenter hasn't made a great or even good film in ages. Even some of his earlier work is overrated, imo.

:cough:Halloween:cough:

[Doc]

Carpenter hasn't made a great or even good film in ages.

You know what....this might be blashempy but, with the exception of Starman...I can't take almost any of his work from the 80s seriously. I mean man, its all just so cheesy and campy for me.:| His 90s work is pretty poor too.






:cough:Halloween:cough:

Nonsense!:p

[AcesandEights]

Carpenter hasn't made a great or even good film in ages. Even some of his earlier work is overrated, imo.

:cough:Halloween:cough:

I can agree with this to a degree. It would certainly be hard to make a reasonable case that Halloween is a generally under rated film, but the thing is pretty landmark. Hrmm...

[krakenslayer]

I can agree with this to a degree. It would certainly be hard to make a reasonable case that Halloween is a generally under rated film, but the thing is pretty landmark. Hrmm...

I kinda know where Bassman's coming from - I know Halloween is a landmark, and I understand why it's a classic - standing on the shoulders of Psycho it basically created the slasher genre we know today, with its unrelenting masked killer with a sense of inhuman mystery. Considering when it was made, at the end of the 70s, at the end of peace and free love, the idea of an almost unstoppable killing machine going around killing oversexed teenagers must have hit a live nerve, too. Plus, it had Donald Pleasance in a Van Helsing-style role, which lent it a certain respectability.

However, a lot of the stuff that made it great in its time is the same stuff that kind of turns me off of it a little. Had I seen it in 1979 it would have blown my socks off, but unfortunately I was born too late, and by the time I saw Halloween I was already all slashered out. Sure, it created the cliches, but my jaded eye had already seen everything in the movie a thousand times in other (admittedly poorer) films made in its wake, so it doesn't really make much difference to my enjoyment that it was the first to do what it did. I respect it as a film, but I don't get much of a kick from it.

The remake I don't even have any interest in seeing. Carpenter kicks Rob Zombie's ass anyday.

[C5NOTLD]

Good news. But unfortunately, he hasn't made a truly great film since 'The Thing', although I do like 'Prince of Darkness' (but that's probably down to Donald Pleasance alone).

I've always found it one of cinema's great shames that "the critics" trounced 'The Thing' in 1982. Carpenter was never the same afterward.


Wankers.

Truly great since The Thing - maybe not truly great. But that is a hard one to follow.

But I always enjoy Starman, Big Trouble in Little China (which is classic), In The Mouth Of Madness, and Vampires (the closest we will likely see Carpenter make a western - and James Woods kicks ass in the film as Jack Crow.)

I'll take any Carpenter film over any other directors film today.

[bassman]

I know BTILC is supposed to be cheesy, but I just can't enjoy it.

In my mind, Carpenter has only made three great films. The Thing, Starman, and They Live. The rest are just tolerable or absolutely horrible.....

[Mike70]

i've actually been on a bit of a carpenter kick here recently. within the last week or 10 days i've watched:

halloween (the alt version with different scenes)
the fog
big trouble (one of my fav movies ever)
ghosts of mars (my opinion of this flick has steadily risen over the last couple of viewings)
vampires (my opinion of this one, however, really hasn't improved - it's a turkey)

and last but not least, prince of darkness.

some of his later stuff like village of the damned isn't even worth messing with and escape from LA is one of the worst wastes of an awesome character ever.

i did think that his masters of horror ep "cigarette burns" was pretty cool though.

[EvilNed]

The best stuff that came out of the 80's was all done by John Carpenter. Masterpieces, all of it, and extremely influential. Nobody's has made as many cult classics as that guy.

[DubiousComforts]

Good news. But unfortunately, he hasn't made a truly great film since 'The Thing', although I do like 'Prince of Darkness' (but that's probably down to Donald Pleasance alone).

I've always found it one of cinema's great shames that "the critics" trounced 'The Thing' in 1982. Carpenter was never the same afterward.
It wasn't the critics -- everyone seemed to hate The Thing when it was released. I was in high school and can't recall a single person my age actually liking it at that time.

The Thing came out during the summer of Poltergeist and at the height of transformation-mania where every horror film seemed to be built around show-stopping make-up effects. The Thing was well-promoted on TV, but simply lost in the mix. It's doubtful that positive critical reviews would have influenced audience opinion among all the competition that year.

[clanglee]

Looks interesting. The cast is chock full of cute young actresses, which could be a good or bad thing.

[MoonSylver]

It wasn't the critics -- everyone seemed to hate The Thing when it was released. I was in high school and can't recall a single person my age actually liking it at that time.

The Thing came out during the summer of Poltergeist and at the height of transformation-mania where every horror film seemed to be built around show-stopping make-up effects. The Thing was well-promoted on TV, but simply lost in the mix. It's doubtful that positive critical reviews would have influenced audience opinion among all the competition that year.

I think I was in middle school at the time & LOVED it (though I caught it on cable...I don't even remember being AWARE of it's theatrical release.)

Then again, I was different than kids my age...:shifty:

Even though I know it wasn't well regarded back then it just seems unfathomable to me now...:rockbrow:

[Doc]

I know BTILC is supposed to be cheesy, but I just can't enjoy it.

When I was younger, I loved it. But, seeing it again if it weren't for Kurt Russel's character I would probably, change the channel.:(




In my mind, Carpenter has only made three great films. The Thing, Starman, and They Live. The rest are just tolerable or absolutely horrible.....

Starman- Yeah. loved it! His best 80s work imo.:cool:

The Thing- Nope, never digged it much. Sorry.

They Live- Man, this film had potential. Great Premises but, it just got siller and siller as, it went along. I think this film needs a remake!

[C5NOTLD]

It wasn't the critics -- everyone seemed to hate The Thing but simply lost in the mix. It's doubtful that positive critical reviews would have influenced audience opinion among all the competition that year.

The Thing also competed against E.T. which didn't help much.

[Slain]

The base where the Thing takes place also didn't have one chick stationed on it--which was probably realistic for time period--but the movie lacks a certain tension with an all male cast, plus the idea of an all male anything in this day and age must seems kind of goofy to contemporary movie watchers.

[EvilNed]

Actually I welcomed the complete absence of romantic or sexual tension in any form.

[Slain]

Boy-girl tension doesn't do much for me either. I would love to see an remake of Carpenter's The Thing with an all female cast.

[shootemindehead]

It wasn't the critics -- everyone seemed to hate The Thing when it was released. I was in high school and can't recall a single person my age actually liking it at that time.

The Thing came out during the summer of Poltergeist and at the height of transformation-mania where every horror film seemed to be built around show-stopping make-up effects. The Thing was well-promoted on TV, but simply lost in the mix. It's doubtful that positive critical reviews would have influenced audience opinion among all the competition that year.

As far as I recall, it was 'E.T.' that scuppered the box office success of 'The Thing', as has been mentioned. Why that was, I have no idea. It's not exactly aimed at the same audience. 'E.T.' was a PG cert and 'The Thing' was an 18's cert over here.

I think a lot of critics disliked the fact that it bore no resemblance to the original. Which, in my book, dosen't make sense either. As Stephen King mentioned, Carpenter's 'The Thing' was far superior to the version with James Arness, who was basically a "...walking Carrot".

Anyway, 'The Thing' went through the roof, over here in ireland, with the kids I grew up with. Everyone wanted to see it, AFAIR. I remember thinking it was the "best film" I ever saw at the time.

:)

[Bone Daddy]

Its good to see JC back in action. I admit, I'm an unabashed JC fan,but his body of work is filled with both hit and misses. I've seen just about all of his films,save for Halloween and Assault on Pct 13 in theaters, so I tend to view his work in a more positive, nostalgic light.