It might not come as a surprise to you that some internet denizens are not exactly overjoyed with the idea of a remake of the 1981 John Carpenter classic Escape From New York. It's the latest attempt to remake the classic sci-fi flick, this time with Zack Snyder on board to direct.

I get it. I love the movie, too, and I understand why people don’t see any reason for this classic starring Kurt Russell (maybe his best collab with Carpenter) ever to be remade. Still, if I’m honest, some of the reactions are pretty over the top. Here are a few comments I’ve found in the days since the remake was first announced.

The Director Is Taking Some Heat

Zack Snyder is a polarizing director. Some love his work and have gone so far as to put forth a massive campaign that lasted for years to release “The Snyder Cut” of Justice League. That worked, and his fans love it. Others are, let’s just say, less enthusiastic about the director taking a swing at Escape from New York. Redditor r/JWitjes commented:

Another Redditor, appropriately named r/CancelThis2077 wrote:

Synder directing wasn't the only news that fans of the OG movie took aim at though.

Kurt Russell Can't Be Replaced As Snake Plissken

There is no question that Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken is one of the best sci-fi characters of all time. He's a man of action and few words (and even fewer working eyeballs). Many fans say he just can't be replaced by anyone in the role. X user @RealBSP3, commenting on a post by @Nerdcognito, wrote:

He wasn't alone, of course. Redditor r/Suitable_Community66 wrote:

Many critics of the idea of an Escape from New York remake simply don't like the idea of remaking classics

Why Mess Up A Classic?

Finally, the last group of people unhappy with the idea are people who love the movie and think a remake would only flop, or worse, tarnish the reputation of the original. Responding to the news on X, @jordanjabroni summed it up pretty simply:

Another post on X responding to the news had a harsh take not just on the Escape from New York remake, but on all remakes:

That was hardly the only similar thought on the idea of remaking movies:

If you don’t love the idea either, keep in mind that over the years there have been multiple attempts at remaking or rebooting Escape From New York. Robert Rodriguez was tapped to remake the movie about a decade ago, but it never came to be. Looking back through the CinemaBlend archives, there have been multiple announcements going back to the early 2010s hyping up remakes, and none have come to fruition.

Will Zack Snyder be the one to break this curse? Time will tell. We're certainly not going to see it on the 2026 movie schedule, or the 2027 schedule for that matter. In the meantime, you can rewatch the original with a Prime subscription, which is what I plan to do.

I consider myself a cineast, so you know I’m a Scorsese devotee, and I appreciate much of Spielberg’s filmography. However, if we’re talking about the king of the ‘80s, then the best filmmaker of that era is John Carpenter.

Now look, I know what you’re thinking. If there’s any “John” who’s the king of the ‘80s, it’s Hughes. And while yes, I find Hughes funny, too, I wouldn’t put the crown on his head when it comes to the filmmaker who defined the decade, because Carpenter has that on lock. Yeah, his work in the ‘70s is nothing to sneeze at (I mean, hello, Assault on Precinct 13, freaking Halloween!), but the ‘80s is when Carpenter truly shone.

So, while there were other great directors of that decade, here’s why John Carpenter was the best that the ‘80s had to offer.

Spielberg Dominated The 80s...But Mostly With Indiana Jones

Do you love Indiana Jones? If so, then Spielberg was your guy in the ‘80s because he directed not one, but THREE Indiana Jones movies, those being Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade (and, for the record, I'm one of those weirdos who prefers Temple to Crusade).

He also blessed us with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, and, er, Always, which I like, but it often gets forgotten in Spielberg's expansive filmography. So, he had a pretty great ‘80s, right?

I mean, yeah, obviously. But, if you don't like Indiana Jones (and surprisingly, I do know people who don't), then the decade isn't nearly as impressive. Of course, E.T. is toward the top of Spielberg's catalog, but while I do cherish The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun and Always aren't typically at the top of anybody's Spielberg tier-list.

So, if you don't love Indy, then you'd probably prefer Spielberg's output from the ‘70s, which gave us Jaws, Duel, Close Encounters, and his hidden gem, The Sugarland Express. Either that or the ‘90s, which gave us Jurassic Park, Schindler's List (in the same year!), and Saving Private Ryan. So, the ‘80s were a great time for Spielberg…but mostly if you're an Indy fan.

Scorsese Had A Great Variety In The 80s, But You Really Have To Be A Certain Type Of Film Fan To Enjoy It

As I said up top, I consider myself a cineast. And, as one, I love Martin Scorsese's movies. In that way, I could argue that Scorsese had the best track record in the ‘80s. But honestly, you really have to be a certain type of film fan to feel that way.

For one thing, you have two of the best Scorsese/Robert De Niro movies in the ‘80s with The King of Comedy and Raging Bull. You also have one of his hidden gems in After Hours from 1985. The Color of Money, which was a long overdue sequel to The Hustler, came out in ‘86, and his last film of the decade was 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ.

So, as I already said, Scorsese had one hell of a decade, starting with Raging Bull, and bookending it with The Last Temptation. Be that as it may, besides The Color of Money, most of his films feel like they’re for cineasts only. Raging Bull is a masterpiece, but with its violence and unlikeable protagonist, it’s not quite easy viewing. The King of Comedy is one of my favorite Scorsese films, but it was a flop, and it often makes people uncomfortable.

After Hours is great, but anxiety-inducing, and The Last Temptation of Christ is phenomenal, but polarizing, given the subject matter. So, the ‘80s might be my favorite decade of Scorsese’s, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Do you know whose filmography was for everyone, though?...

Carpenter, On The Other Hand, Had Something For Everyone

This is where John Carpenter comes in, because he honestly had something for everybody in the ‘80s. Don’t believe me? In 1980, we got The Fog, which is an eerie supernatural horror film that still holds up today. In ‘81, we got a quintessential sci-fi action movie in Escape From New York, which gave the world one of the coolest anti-heroes ever in Snake Plissken.

In ‘82, we didn’t just get another horror flick, we got THE horror flick in The Thing, which we called the greatest horror movie of all time. In ‘83, we got one of the best Stephen King movies in Christine, which was also a horror movie, but one very different from The Fog, and The Thing. And in ‘84, Carpenter swerved on us and gave us one of the best love stories of the decade with the sci-fi romance drama, Starman (Which, unlike Spielberg’s Always, I think anybody could enjoy).

In ‘86, we got one of my favorite movies of all time, the fantasy action comedy Big Trouble in Little China, which I’ve rewatched endlessly. In ‘87, we got Carpenter’s weird, underappreciated cult classic Prince of Darkness. And, for his last film of the decade, we got the prescient sci-fi action horror film, They Live in ‘88.

I mean, is that a list or what? Yes, a lot of the films are horror movies, but they’re different kinds of horror movies. Plus, we got romance and action films in the mix as well. Like I said, there's something for everybody. But, I want to circle back to one film in particular…

The Thing Is Also Probably The Best Horror Movie Of All Time, And The Best Movie Of The ‘80s

It's sometimes hard to pinpoint which director has the best movie in a given decade. For the ‘70s, it's probably Coppola, Lucas, or Spielberg, with The Godfather, Star Wars, or Jaws, respectively. In the ‘90s, it's likely Tarantino, Scorsese, or Spielberg again, for Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, or Jurassic Park, respectively.

But, when it comes to the ‘80s, I have one definitive pick, and that's John Carpenter's The Thing. Sure, it doesn't end up on everybody's “best of the ‘80s” list, but it's always the movie that keeps coming back to me when I think of the decade.

A remake of 1951's The Thing from Another World, Carpenter's version gets underneath your skin from the very beginning. And, like Blade Runner (another film people call the best of the decade), people have been debating its meaning and ending for literal decades now.

If anything, The Thing has risen in stature since its initial release (as it was a flop). It's gone from being a cult classic to what is often called the best horror movie of all time, and for this to be just ONE classic in Carpenter's output for the decade, it really is saying something. In fact…

Almost Every Movie Carpenter Made In The ‘80s Is Now Considered A Classic

The final reason why I think Carpenter is the best director of the ‘80s is that all of his movies from this time period are now considered classics in some way.

For example, growing up in the ‘80s, I remember watching Big Trouble in Little China pretty much every weekend on basic television, and I didn't even know it was a commercial failure when it was initially released, as it had already gained legendary status by the ‘90s (possibly because Mortal Kombat blatantly pulled from it).

Christine is now considered one of the stronger Stephen King adaptations, Starman is remembered for its touching performances, They Live is constantly referenced, and we likely wouldn't have Snake from the Metal Gear series if not for Escape From New York.

It's for these reasons and more that I think Carpenter was the best director of the ‘80s. But, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Music plays a crucial role in all of our favorite movies and TV shows and most of that music has been written by incredible composers like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Elmer Bernstein, and many, many more, even the ones not named Williams or Zimmer. But what is each composer's best work? That's hard to pin down and opinions will always vary, but here are a few choice examples of what is the best work by some of Hollywood's best composers.

James Horner - Titanic

Tragedy struck on a June day in 2015 when composer James Horner was killed when the plane he was flying crashed. Luckily Horner left a legacy of amazing soundtrack work that includes Aliens, Glory, Patriot Games, Braveheart, and other award-winning compositions. However, his most famous, for which he won an Academy Award, has to be Titanic.

Ramin Djawadi - Game Of Thrones

Even early in his career, Ramin Djawadi was producing some epic scores. Like, for example, his score for the original Iron Man in 2008. In 2011, however, he created his masterpiece, the theme song and score for Game Of Thrones. Few theme songs in history have been more epic, completely befitting the show.

Bill Conti - Rocky

One of the most famous movie scores of all time has to be from Rocky. Admit it, you are singing it to yourself right now. Not only has it been used in many of the Rocky franchise movies, but it's also been heard countless other times in other media. Nothing gets you psyched up quite like this great score by Bill Conti.

Trent Reznor And Atticus Ross - The Social Network

Trent Reznor, like other great film composures started in rock n roll. Nine Inch Nails sold millions and millions of records before Reznor teamed up with Atticus Ross and began scoring films. His first, and still his best (though they are all great) has to The Social Network.

Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Few composers are as iconic as Ennio Morricone. His theme for The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is just one of many scores he wrote over his long career. While they are all great, it's this one that stands out not just for it's use in the movie it was written for, but for all the other times we've all heard elsewhere.

Henry Mancini - The Pink Panther

This was a tough one for me because Henry Mancini has a few bangers. The theme of the TV show Peter Gunn is one, and "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's is another. When all is said and done though, it's tough to argue that the theme to The Pink Panther isn't the most iconic of all his wonder works.

John Carpenter - Halloween

John Carpenter not only directed a slasher film classic with Halloween, but he's also responsible for the eerie theme song that has become a classic of its own. It's not the only great score Carpenter has written for one of his movies, in fact, he's scored most of them. Escape from New York is another standout, but none have come close to the cultural impact of Halloween.

Elmer Bernstein - The Magnificent Seven

No one could compose an epic score quite like Elmer Bernstein. If you want something that sounds patriotic, or triumphant, Bernstein is your man. Whether it's a comedy like Stripes, or a blockbuster like The Great Escape, or a Western like the original True Grit, Bernstein could di it all. His most famous, though, comes from one of the best Westerns of all time, The Magnificent Seven from 1960.

Hans Zimmer - Gladiator

Hans Zimmer is one of the all-time great film composers and there are a number of his scores that people might argue belong here. For me though, there is no question what score sits above them all. The music in Gladiator is just perfect in every way. It pings every emotion the movie does wonderfully.

John Williams - Star Wars

Raiders of the Lost Ark. Jurassic Park. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Superman. Harry Potter. Do I need to go on? John Williams stands alone when it comes to the most moving, most famous, and most iconic scores. One score, however, stands above even those legendary works of music. Stars Wars simply wouldn't be the same without the music, full stop.

Nino Rota - The Godfather

Francis Ford Coppola has talked about the influence of legendary Italian director Federico Fellini so it makes sense that he would seek out the composer of the scores of many of Fellini's films. Most of Nino Rota's impressive scores were for Italian movies, but his music for both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are his most famous, and for good reason. There are many reasons both movies are universally considered two of the best movies ever made, and the music is certainly one of them.

Max Steiner - Gone With The Wind

As one of Hollywood's first major composers, Max Steiner was nominated for a jaw-dropping 24 Oscars, and won three. Oddly, one of the ones he didn't win for is now unquestionably his most famous, the score for Gone With The Wind.

Alan Silvestri - The Avengers

There are a lot of choices with this entry. Personally, my Gen X nostalgia makes my favorite Alan Silvestri score the one from Back To The Future. Of course, there is also Forrest Gump and more recently, Ready Player One, in which he even included a bit of Back To The Future as one of the many easter eggs in that movie. However, when you are responsible for the score of some of the highest-grossing movies of all time with The Avengers movies, that one has to go at the top of the list.

Wendy Carlos - The Shining

Though she's only done a limited amount of soundtracks, avant-garde electronic artist Wendy Carlos has a 100% rate. Tron, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange are the only films she's written the music for and while it's a tough choice, I put The Shining on this list.

Lalo Schifrin - Mission: Impossible

Argentinian Lalo Schifrin could be described as the "coolest" composer in Hollywood, based on his body of work. Movies like Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Enter The Dragon, and many others, all contribute to the cool actor. He's also been sampled widely in hip-hop and trip-hop. None of his many award-winning scores can compete with the theme to Mission: Impossible which he wrote for the TV show in the '60s and has become ubiquitous in pop culture.

Monty Norman - James Bond

John Berry is the man most famous for the music in James Bond, but he didn't write the theme. That bit of genius came from Monty Norman, who scored the first Bond film, Dr. No. Later, Barry would claim to have written the theme that has been used in every Bond movie since the beginning, but it was Norman all along (though Barry did rearrange it).

Howard Shore - The Lord of The Rings

Howard Shore's career started in television when he was the first musical director on Saturday Night Live for the first five seasons. He later moved into film scores and while he's had a number of fantastic ones, it's his work in the Lord Of The Rings series that earned him three Academy Awards.

Thomas Newman - The Shawshank Redemption

Composer Thomas Newman got his first big break in movies when he worked alongside John Williams, conducting some of the music Williams wrote for Return Of The Jedi. He must have learned a lot, as he's been one of Hollywood's most in-demand composers ever since. His best work has to be the emotional score for The Shawshank Redemption, one of the many reason reasons that movie is considered one of the best films of the '90s.

Morton Stevens - Hawaii Five-0

Hawaii Five-0 was one of the hippest shows on TV in the late 1960s and that was in large part due to the super cool intro and the theme music by Morton Stevens.

Mike Post - Law & Order

Admit it, your humming the theme to Law & Order right now. It's okay, we all are. Mike Post, wrote the incredibly catchy theme song and is also responsible for some of the most memorable theme songs of all time, including Hill Street Blues, Magnum, P.I. and LA Law, among others. Still, it's this one that most people think of first.

Danny Elfman - The Simpsons

How do you pick just one Danny Elfman score? The answer is, you don't, you go with one of the most recognizable TV theme songs of all time with The Simpsons. Sure, you have the Tim Burton Batman score, or the music from Pee Wee's Big Adventure, or any other number of legendary Elfman scores, but come on, it's The Simpsons!

Bernard Herrmann - Psycho

When you have something like the score to Citizen Cane on your resume, but it's not your most famous work, you are definitely doing something right. Bernard Herrmann worked with many of the best directors in Hollywood's Golden Age, and none more so than Alfred Hitchcock. Herrmann's score for Psycho is one of the most iconic ever put on film.

Harold Faltermeyer - Top Gun

This one came down to two choices, the theme song to Beverly Hills Cop, called "Axel F" and the opening theme to Top Gun. In the end, the soaring guitars and dramatic beat from Top Gun won out as my choice for the great Harold Faltermeyer. His score for Fletch also deserves a nod.

Alfred Newman - How The West Was Won

Full disclosure, the most famous piece of music Alfred Newman ever wrote is the intro/fanfare that accompanies the beginning of all 20th Century Fox movies. Setting that aside, his second most famous work is the iconic score for How The West Was Won, which has been used all over pop culture for years.

Maurice Jarre - Lawrence Of Arabia

Maurice Jarre's most famous works probably depend on what generation is making the choice. Over his incredible career, which stretched out over five decades, he wrote the scores to movies as diverse as Doctor Zhivago, Ghost, and Dead Poet's Society. However, his score for Lawrence of Arabia is the choice here, for obvious reasons. It's as epic as the movie is.

Anne Dudley - The Full Monty

There is no question that the world needs more soundtracks from female composers and Anne Dudley is example A1 in the argument for that. Her work, from American History X to The Crying Game and beyond has been uniformly great. She is also one of the few women to win an Oscar for one of her scores, for 1997's The Full Monty.

Alexander Courage - Star Trek

Alexander Courage might not be the biggest name on this list, but he's responsible for one of the most famous and most-played theme songs of all time. Courage, in addition to other TV work and some movie work, composed the theme song for the original Star Trek series in the 1960s and his music has been used, at least in part, for basically all the Star Trek movies and TV shows.

James Newton Howard - The Hunger Games

James Newton Howard's first movie score was for the cult-classic version of Dune from director David Lynch. He's written dozens of scores since, and while all are great, I'm partial to his work with the Hunger Games trilogy. The music has to be pretty diverse with that story and the score succeeds in every way.

Randy Newman - Toy Story

We all have a friend in Randy Newman. Though he first became famous for his sardonic singer/songwriter work in the 1970s, for many people, he's first known for his work on the Toy Story franchise, including the song "You've Got A Friend In Me" in addition to the scores.

Quincy Jones - Sanford & Son

Quincy Jones is first and foremost known for his incredible music production for the likes of Michael Jackson and other pop stars in the '70s and '80s. But did you know he also wrote the theme song to Sanford & Son? It's an all-time banger of a theme song that people still love to listen to 50 years after the show debuted.

A. R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire

Bollywood legend A. R. Rahman isn't as well known in the Western world as he is in his home country of India, and so while I'm sure there are pieces of music by Rahman that are more beloved in India, I have to go with one of his scores I love from Hollywood, which comes down to a choice between Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. While the latter was nominated for an Oscar, the former won one, to go with all the Oscars Slumdog Millionaire won that year.

Rachel Portman - Theme To Chocolat

Rachel Portman became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Score for Emma in 1996, but her best work came in 2000 for her score to Chocolat starring Johnny Depp. She was nominated for it but missed out when she lost to composer Tan Dun for his work in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

For all that we’d like to believe otherwise, there are only so many upcoming horror movies and upcoming horror TV shows to look forward to in any given year, and genre fans will always be hungry for more. Thankfully, freaky storytelling and haunting creatures aren’t limited to just those two mediums, and the world of horror video games continues to expand, with tons of great horror games released yearly. That pattern won’t be changing during the back half of 2024 and beyond.

From highly anticipated sequels to bestselling hits to universe-expanding spinoffs of popular movie franchises to a new release from one of video games’ most unique creators, the future is bright with fright-filled fun for gamers. So without further ado, let’s set our preferred camera angles and dive into all the upcoming horror games we’re most excited about.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into The Pit (August 8, 2024)

A project meant to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Scott Cawthon’s original Five Nights at Freddy’s game release, Mega Cat Studios’ FNAF: Into the Pit is the first in the franchise to fully take on a 2D approach with pixel art, and is an adaptation of the novella trilogy serving as the first volume of Fazbear Frights. The story follows a kid named Oswald who travels back to the past via pizzeria ball pit, and fights to save both timelines from a certain dangerous animatronic.

Silent Hill 2 (October 8, 2024)

One of the pioneer horror video game franchises is making a killer comeback with multiple releases on the way, as well as the upcoming film sequel Return to Silent Hill from director Christophe Gans. Silent Hill 2 will be a top to bottom remaster of the original PlayStation game, with Bloober Team taking on development duties alongside Konami, with some of the original creative team returning. It will seemingly be a faithful revision, as the O.G. contributors’ suggestions for changes were turned down by the new squad (via Fumitsu).

Phasmophobia (October 2024)

The spooky ghost-hunting simulation game Phasmophobia has technically been playable on PC since its Early Access mode debuted in September 2020, but its finalized console release is finally set to arrive in time for Halloween 2024. (Pending the horror of further delays.) Essentially a playable iteration of the least annoying ghost-hunting TV show, Phasmophobia gives gamers a varied assortment of locations to test for paranormal activity, with a host of tools and tech to find and track the different types of specters. Add in the sanity meter and VR mode, and it’s a can’t miss for genre buffs.

Alan Wake 2: The Lake House DLC (October 2024)

While not a full-on release, this DLC made the cut due to Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 being one of the most unpredictable and gloriously mind-boggling horror games of all time. The first DLC release, a trio of Night Springs-inspired one-off adventures, dropped in June 2024, while the second will focus more on the lore surrounding Cauldron Lake. Titled The Lake House, which is an area of the main game that wasn’t previously accessible, the new story will focus on a secret government facility on the lake’s shores where something terribly wrong went down.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead (Late 2024)

The fourth entry in the horror franchise first developed in part by John Krasinski, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is another standalone story similar to the prequel spinoff A Quiet Place: Day One that released in June 2024. It will follow Anairis Quiñones’ asthmatic college student Alex Taylor and her boyfriend Martin (Aleks Le) trying to survive against post-apocalyptic alien threats. Though not many details have been revealed about the story, the first trailers released so far look pretty great, and showcase a microphone mechanic that gamers will utilize to keep the noise down.

Bye Sweet Carole (TBA 2024)

Created by Remothered’s Chris Darril, the narrative-driven horror Bye Sweet Carole shares a visual aesthetic with Disney’s classic hand-animated features that inspired it. The 1900s-set story takes place at the mysterious Bunny Hall orphanage, where Lana Benton doesn’t believe the stories that her BFF Carole ran away, and uncovers another world beyond our own in trying to find her. This legitimately looks like Nightmare Before Christmas subject matter and tone through the prism of Snow White.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando (TBA 2024)

Filmmaker John Carpenter made a career out of creating fan-favorite cult classic movies, and brought those skills to his love of video games for some over-the-top gore and mayhem in the form of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando. Whether in first-person shooter or co-op mode, players will take charge of a commando with a widespread assortment of weapons at their disposal, in the hopes of taking down a plethora of undead creatures birthed by the Sludge Lord, a science experiment gone evil. This thing already needs a movie adaptation.

The Lost Wild (TBA 2024/2025)

Al horror game like no other, the first-person survival adventure The Lost Wild essentially looks like it’ll be the best version of a Jurassic Park video game, with players taking on a character who finds themselves in the middle of a dinosaur-filled setting. This is no mere trip back in time, though, as there are several abandoned facilities that will help players piece together what went down, while also offering temporary respite from the curious and potentially deadly threats outside. Not all of the dino-beasts are necessarily threats, however, which can factor into how the game is approached. If only there was also a faux Dr. Ian Malcolm to look forward to.

Tenebris Somnia (TBA 2025)

A bonkers mix of pixel-perfect 8-bit graphics and full-motion video, Tenebris Somnia centers on a woman plagued by nightmares in which her ex-boyfriend is murdered by gross-looking creatures. After she’s unable to confirm his safety in her waking life, she goes back to check on him at the apartment they once shared, and that appears to be when all manner of weirdness breaks loose. The transition between live-action and game design seems like it’ll make for some unique jolts, and the make-up effects thankfully look high-quality enough to be genuinely haunting.

Little Nightmares III (TBA 2025)

The sequel to a pair of best-selling and critically acclaimed horror darlings from Bandai Namco, Little Nightmares III will take players back to The Nowhere with a pair of new youths, Low and Alone, making this the first co-op of the series. As well, this is the first L.N. game to be developed by Supermassive Games, which has produced the “decisions matter” games in the Dark Pictures Anthology, as well as the standalone throwback horror The Quarry. So even if the branching story elements aren’t in the mix, there will likely be a few more unique gameplay mechanics to look forward to.

Deep Cuts (TBA 2025)

From the Scythe Dev Team that created the cult hit Happy's Humble Burger Farm, the upcoming VR adventure Deep Cuts exists in the same universe, but moves the action to a film studio where movies come alive. More specifically, gamers will play as Elise Weber as she attempts to track down her missing BFF and creative partner by searching through the catalog of movies they produced by going into them, allowing for a range of destructive chaos as Elise comes to blows with a deadly and deranged group of cartoon characters.

Hideo Kojima's OD (TBA)

The genius and ever-divisive game mastermind Hideo Kojima is turning his bizarro modern epic Death Stranding into a movie, but when it comes to interactive entertainment, the writer/director is next set to deliver the completely mysterious horror game known simply as OD (short for overdose). While little is known about the game beyond a hospital and patients playing into it, we’re pumped that Jordan Peele helped co-write the game with Kojima, and that it stars I Am Not Okay with This’ Sophia Lillis, Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer, and Iron Sky’s Udo Kier.

Silent Hill F (TBA)

The world of Silent Hill is heading to a completely different location for the game series’ ninth entry, Silent Hill F. Developed by NeoBards Entertainment, this sequel will shift the action back in time to the 1960s, and across the planet to rural Japan. The country’s culture has been at the heart of highly unsettling games for decades now, so it can hopefully only get more psychologically unnerving when put through the Konami franchise’s prism. Here’s hoping more details are revealed sooner than later.

The Casting of Frank Stone (TBA)

Set in the fictional universe of Dead by Daylight, The Casting of Frank Stone won’t be a pvp game, but rather an interactive narrative developed by Supermassive Games, the team behind The Quarry and other branching storyline games. Set in 1980 within the Oregon town of Cedar Hills, the game centers on four victims, er, filmmakers whose goal is to film at an abandoned steel mill, all while the hyper-deadly Frank Stone hunts them down. The titular villain’s legacy and past generations will also be explored through the story, adding new context to a franchise that has thrived thanks to playable licensed horror characters from projects such as Stranger Things, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser and many more.

Clock Tower Rewind (TBA)

Many horror gamers have never had a properly official chance to play the 1995 classic Clock Tower, as it’s never been released outside of Japan. But that changes with the completely remastered and enhanced Clock Tower: Rewind, which puts players back in the shoes of orphan teen Jennifer within the Barrows family mansion, where secrets, items and the dreaded Scissorman may be hiding around every corner. While the O.G. version will be available to play, the enhanced mode features new animations, music, cut-scenes, artwork and more.

Paranormal Tales (TBA)

While it may look like an upcoming entry in the V/H/S anthology series, Digital Cybercherries’ Paranormal Tales is a game that’s wholly inspired by the found-footage subgenre, and the player’s P.O.V. comes entirely through body-cam footage, which has a distinct aesthetic compared to traditional FPS games. Gamers will ostensibly be “playing” the doomed footage, so it will be interesting to see how much of the action is predetermined, and how much can be changed as each story progresses.

Project M (TBA)

Bloober Team, the acclaimed company behind Blair Witch, Layers of Fear and The Observer (among others) revealed in early July 2024 that it’s developing a horror game currently dubbed Project M that’ll be a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Even without knowing any other details, that’s exciting enough for it to make this list. It reportedly won’t be on the same scale as past releases, but will be a very important title nonetheless. One can only hope that means one or more of Nintendo’s core characters will take on a freaky adventure.

Silent Hill: Townfall (TBA)

Part of the impetus behind expanding the Silent Hill universe was Konami giving different developers the keys to the kingdom, as it were, to give fans a variety of experiences. The spinoff Silent Hill: Townfall could definitely be a franchise standout, with Annapurna Interactive teaming with NoCode Studio for a story that’s possibly set near an ocean, if the initial teaser footage is an indication. Annapurna has produced too many winners to name, while NoCode developed two of my favorite genre games of the past decade, Stories Beyond and Observation.

It’s a sad reality that every so often, the filmmaking community loses one of its own and, this past week, it lost an absolute giant within the industry. Roger Corman – the acclaimed director and producer – passed away at the tender age of 98. The show business legend was highly regarded for his work within the independent film space and for being instrumental in cultivating the careers of some of cinema’s greatest directors. Admirers have since taken to social media to send well wishes and honor the late Corman. A plethora of big names are doing that as well, including William Shatner and John Carpenter.

William Shatner has a lengthy filmography filled with plenty of titles not related to Star Trek. One of those entries is the 1962 drama The Intruder, which was produced and directed by Roger Corman, who died on Thursday at his Santa Monica home per THR. Shatner referenced his collaboration with the late Corman while sharing a sweet tribute to him on X (formerly known as Twitter):

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1926, the late filmmaker began his career in the mailroom at 20th Century Fox. After dabbling in on-stage work and screenwriting, he eventually produced his first movie, 1954’s Monster from the Ocean Floor and followed that up with the 1955 thriller The Fast and the Furious. (The title of the latter would be licensed off for the contemporary FF film series decades later.) The Highway Dragnet scribe would eventually move into theatrical distribution, through which he would open the floodgates for movies from acclaimed foreign directors to reach the states. While reflecting on his work, John Carpenter – whose films are revered – discussed on X just how the producer impacted him:

What many tend to remember the Filmgroup co-founder for is the way in which he invested in directors. Jonathan Demme, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron and Martin Scorsese are just a few of the esteemed individuals who benefited from his generosity. Ron Howard is another person who owes a portion of his career to the late auteur. The Apollo 13 helmer also used X as his forum to reflect on his relationship with his former colleague:

Famously known as the king of the b-movie, Corman, who also acted in movies, directed 55 films between the 1950s and the 2000s. He helmed science fiction and horror fare like The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and It Conquered the World (1956) as well as dramas like I Mobster (1959) and The Wild Angels (1966). Corman also had a few westerns to his name, including Five Guns West (1955) and The Oklahoma Woman (1956). He also carved out a niche for himself by adapting Edgar Alan Poe’s work. Robert Rodriguez, who’s directed great films himself, shared via X what he learned from Corman:

Few would deny the sheer impact that Roger Corman had on the medium that is film. The moviemaking community as a whole owes him a great deal of gratitude for the doors that he opened, and the mark he leaves on Hollywood is indelible. It’s certainly sad that he’s no longer with us but, through his work, and the memories that these stars and more have shared, he’ll surely never be forgotten. And we here at CinemaBlend extend our deepest condolences to Corman’s family, friends and loved ones during this time.

When it comes to cinematic legends, few names shine as brightly in the genre of horror movies as John Carpenter's. The master of macabre, known for classics like Halloween and The Thing, has indelibly impacted the film industry. However, there's one recent movie that left him bewildered. In a recent interview, the Starman director opened up about his thoughts on the unexpected film he watched and shared his take. The movie in question is Barbie, which he admits went right over his head. 

Carpenter, the maestro of fright, is not someone you'd typically associate with the Barbie doll world. The renowned director and composer, now in his mid-70s, was asked in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times if he still goes to the movies. And, if so, what he's been watching. His response was not all that surprising. He said:

The man behind one of cinema's most terrifying classic horror villains may not be the first person you'd expect to understand the billion-dollar Barbie movie. A generation gap separates the creator of The Fog from the satirical world of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s sentient Mattel dolls. Although witnessing the 75-year-old filmmaker watching the 'I’m Just Ken' Dance Sequence is something I would pay a pretty penny to see. Take my money! 

While Carpenter may have missed the subtler thematic elements of one of the biggest movies to hit the 2023 movie release schedule, he isn’t ready to fold up his director's chair. The Escape From New York filmmaker is returning with his latest miniseries, John Carpenter's Suburban Screams, which hits the small screen today, October 13th. This marks his return to directing, albeit remotely. This much-anticipated comeback comes after a hiatus that began with 2010's The Ward, but the Assault on Precinct 13 creator has maintained a close connection to the horror genre throughout. His new series will be streamable for anyone with a Peacock subscription.

The They Live writer might not be the guy you want to call to take up directing duties for the next movie-based film–though he could probably make a killer slinky flick–with news of the upcoming Halloween TV reboot, one can only wonder if the Chrisitne director will reunite with his old buddy Michael Myers. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, you can dive into John Carpenter's latest creation, Suburban Screams, with all episodes now available for streaming on Peacock. And if you're curious to see what the horror maestro might have missed in Barbie, you can rent it from your preferred digital streaming platform. Remember to explore our 2024 movie release schedule to stay updated on the upcoming horror movies heading to a theater near you.

John Carpenter, the visionary director behind the 1978 classic that introduced the world to the infamous Michael Myers, recently had a thrilling reunion with the man responsible for bringing one of cinema's scariest classic horror villains to life. Yes, the Halloween franchise maestro reunited with none other than OG Michael Myers actor Nick Castle at the eagerly awaited "H45: Halloween 45 Years of Terror" event.

While various actors have stepped into the eerie white repurposed Captain Kirk mask of Michael Myers over the years, Castle originated the role of The Shape. His portrayal of the masked killer in the 1978 classic set the gold standard for all subsequent character interpretations. Adding to the excitement, actor Douglas Tait, known as the Michael Myers Stunt Double in Halloween Kills, captured the moment when these two icons of horror movies came together after years apart. You can catch the video the actor posted to his Instagram of this memorable reunion for yourself embedded below.

Fans gathered to celebrate the enduring legacy of the Halloween franchise at the event, held in the heart of Haddonfield (Pasadena, California, to be precise), featuring a lineup of special guests, exclusive merchandise, and immersive experiences for die-hard fans of the series. But the highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly the surprise appearance of the Christine director. Although the iconic final girl Jamie Lee Curtis was notably absent, The Thing filmmaker did have a heartwarming reunion with P.J. Soles (who is happy about that scene) and Nancy Loomis, the actresses who portrayed Lynda and Annie, respectively, as he took part in a panel discussion, along with Castle, centered around the film, as reported by ScreenRant.

The Fog filmmaker is gearing up for the release of his miniseries, John Carpenter's Suburban Screams, marking his return to directing (albeit remotely). This much-anticipated comeback follows a hiatus since The Ward, but he has remained closely tied to the horror genre throughout. The series will be available to stream for anyone with a Peacock subscription. 

John Carpenter's been embracing his connection to the holiday slasher franchise more and more over the years. He took on the composer and executive producer roles in the recent David Gordon Green trilogy, a collaboration with Blumhouse Productions and Universal, which concluded with Halloween Ends. With the trilogy's completion, the franchise is now open to new distribution and production partnerships, presenting Miramax with exciting opportunities to breathe new life into the Halloween universe. A recent report shows that, much like its iconic villain, the series is far from finished, indicating that a new reboot may already be in development.

We'll stay tuned for any updates regarding Carpenter and the future of Halloween. Meanwhile, catch Halloween Ends with an Amazon Prime video subscription. To discover what other upcoming horror movies are on the horizon, check our 2023 movie release schedule.

Suburban Screams is coming to Peacock – and this is what we know so far. 

When you think of some of the most known horror directors in the world, who is the first person that comes to mind? There are plenty that I could bring up – Ridley Scott, Sam Raimi, or the iconic Wes Craven. You could even think of James Wan’s best movies or all of the awesome Mike Flanagan projects, but for me, I’ve always thought of John Carpenter. 

He's one of the directors that made me love horror ever since I first watched Halloween with my mother (who’s also really into horror). I even re-watched that movie now as an adult, and I still love it just as much. Carpenter has directed some iconic films over his time in Hollywood. Now, he’s finally returning to directing for the first time in more than a decade with Suburban Screams – also known as John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams. 

The new series, which is coming out on Peacock, is releasing soon, but how soon is soon? And what can we expect with a new horror series from a master of horror himself? Here is what we know about Suburban Screams that you might also want to check out. 

What Is The Suburban Screams Premiere Date?

Get ready, horror lovers, because Suburban Screams is premiering on Friday, October 13, 2023. It was announced not long ago that the horror series would be coming out that weekend. 

October itself is looking to be an incredible month for horror. Not only are fans getting the long-awaited Five Nights at Freddy’s movie adaptation (which has been in the works for several years and has finally gotten a trailer and a release date), but The Exorcist: Believer is releasing as well during the first weekend of October. 

Initially, The Exorcist: Believer was supposed to come out the same weekend as Suburban Screams, which would have been a double-whammy for horror lovers – you can binge through an entire horror series before heading to the theaters to scream your heads off. How fitting. 

However, that release date has shifted since The Eras Tour is releasing on the weekend of October 13th instead, the movie that documents Taylor Swift’s wildly successful world tour.

So I guess you can check out the spooky tales of John Carpenter before screaming your head off in a different way – singing “Blank Space” in the theater as Taylor sings it on the big screen. Either way, this 2023 TV schedule is already looking better with this here. 

Suburban Screams Are Based On “True Tales Of Horror”

If you’re wondering what Suburban Screams will be about, we got you covered. The series will be an anthology covering six episodes and will look into true tales of horror that have happened to real-life people. 

The logline of the series says that Suburban Screams will “delve into the monstrous evil” beneath every suburb of America, detailing different stories from different towns.

This would include not only first-hand accounts from the people who went through it, but cinematic reenactments and footage from the cities that it happened in, composed into one thrilling episode – six times in a row. 

Suburban Screams isn’t the first time that the anthology genre has benefited from using horror as the primary source of entertainment. The series American Horror Story is an anthology show, showing vastly different stories every season. That show has run for twelve seasons, all of them ranked, and the twelfth one, titled American Horror Story: Delicate, just came out. 

Not only that, but another super popular horror franchise, called Terrifier, began as an anthology series. All Hallows Eve was the first film in that movie series and detailed several stories featuring horror tales – all of which included that horrifying clown that ended up becoming the mascot for the series. 

Truthfully, making this an anthology series will be great. Not only will all the stories differ in their own way, but we’re getting six new horror tales.

Check Out The Trailer For Suburban Screams

If you’re interested in checking out the trailer for Suburban Screams, be sure to look at it above. Not only does it feature the subjects of these terrifying tales, it also shows some reenactments that viewers will see. And judging just from the little bit we get, I’m already feeling the chills.

John Carpenter Created The Series And Will Direct An Episode

As mentioned above, it’s been confirmed that John Carpenter is the creator of the series. But something else that is major is that Carpenter will be directing one of the episodes. 

This is significant news, especially for movie lovers. Carpenter hasn’t directed anything in years. The last time he directed a film was The Ward, which was in 2010.

Carpenter is known for creating some of the most known horror movies ever. I already mentioned Halloween (which has gone on to have a vastly successful franchise and has several films, all of which we have ranked). However, Carpenter is behind many famous titles like The Thing, The Fog, They Live, In The Mouth of Madness, and more. The director has also worked in other genres, like Big Trouble in Little China and Memoirs of an Invisible Man.

To someone like me, who loves Carpenter’s work, I am so excited to see him return in this way.

Carpenter Also Composed The Theme Of The Series

The last thing we must discuss is that John Carpenter also composed the theme of Suburban Screams. While we might not normally get so excited about the theme song for an upcoming show, with Carpenter's involvement, it's a big deal. 

John Carpenter is known for his musical talent as well. He’s composed several horror themes that have gone on to stay relevant since their premiere. He created the Halloween theme, synonymous with the classic horror movie villain, Michael Myers, and made the themes for The Fog, They Live, Prince of Darkness, and more. 

How can we not be excited about this series, knowing that Carpenter not only created but directed an episode and created the theme? That’s a horror movie lover’s heaven right there. 

Suburban Screams debuts on Peacock on October 13th, so now is the time to binge all your favorite horror movies and get into the spooky mood. You’re not going to want to miss out on this. Now, where is my spooky blanket and Michael Myers mask? 

Stephen King's film adaptations have been getting a lot of remake treatments within the last decade from 2013’s Carrie to 2019’s Pet Sematary. But there are plenty of his previous film adaptations that are in serious need of remakes such as Christine about a homicidal car. Luckily, your wish has been granted by Blumhouse Productions who's in charge of remaking Christine. And the 1983 film’s director John Carpenter has something to say about that.

Christine is considered one of the better Stephen King movies that has received a book-to-film treatment. It basically puts Disney’s Volkswagen Beetle Herbie to shame as Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury whose jealous, possessive personality is out for the kill. 40 years after John Carpenter’s spin on the horror novel, it looks like it’s time for today’s audiences to be introduced to the bloodthirsty vehicle. According to GamesRadar, Total Film mentioned to John Carpenter that Heroes writer Byran Fuller would be making his directorial debut remaking Christine, and here was his reaction.

John Carpenter could probably relate to what Bryan Fuller could be going through making a name for himself as a director with the same movie. As he explained to Total Film, the 1983 horror film was just a job to him as adapting Stephen King’s Christine was not what he initially saw himself doing. During the filming of The Thing, the Halloween director was asked to direct a different adaptation from “The King of Horror”: Firestarter. But after The Thing turned out to be a box office failure, he was replaced by Mark L. Lester. When reading the source material of Christine, Carpenter didn’t feel like King’s story was very scary but needed a project to do for the time being. 

While Christine wasn’t a passion project for John Carpenter, Bryan Fuller has been having a lot of fun making the upcoming Stephen King movie. When it was announced two years ago about a Christine remake, the Pushing Daisies writer spoke to SyFy that his script is a faithful adaptation of King’s book and that it was an amusing challenge to fit an over-500-page book into a 100-page script. It appears that Fuller wants to unravel a lot of layers of King’s book that the Carpenter movie didn’t do. The Fog director did take a lot of creative liberties towards his project like having the car be haunted from the start compared to the book having the car being the ghost of its former owner. Plus, several deaths in the movie were changed to make them look more visually appealing on the screen.

As for when we’ll get to see Bryan Fuller’s Christine remake, the release date is up in the air right now. The last update we got was from two years ago when the television writer said fans need to be patient as they’re still a long way from shooting. On the other hand, there’s still a way for Stephen King fans to see the John Carpenter classic as it’s returning to the big screen next month. Three screenings will be shown nationwide with a special introduction from none other than John Carpenter before the movie starts. Whether you’ve read Stephen King’s novel or you’re a horror film fan, you can see for yourself what you think about the cult classic.

It looks like John Carpenter is showing his support for Bryan Fuller in his directorial endeavor of Christine. While the release date of the upcoming horror film is still unknown, make sure to see the re-release of John Carpenter’s classic in theaters on September 13th.

Lights, camera, Carpenter! If you're a fan of horror—heck, if you're a fan of cinema in general—you can't help but bow down at the altar of John Carpenter. This legendary filmmaker is to horror what Spielberg is to adventure or what Scorsese is to crime dramas. We're talking about the man behind enduring classics like Halloween, The Thing, and Escape from New York, films that didn't just set the bar but ripped it out of the ground and swung it around like a madman. Two of his lesser talked-about classics are returning to theaters this spooky season, and I am thrilled for a new generation to get the opportunity to experience these must-see horror movies. 

The Fog filmmaker has a unique gift for blending real-world issues with pure horror. He transforms everyday items into terrifying subjects, tapping into our deepest fears. Now a new generation that may only know the self-deprecating chain smoking filmmaker through pop culture references can experience his genius first-hand. Fathom Events is bringing back They Live and Christine for special anniversary screenings this September.

You heard it right, folks. The gems They Live and Christine (one of the best Stephen King adaptations and iconic 80s villain) are hitting the big screen again, complete with intros from the Master of Horror filmmaker himself. But this isn't just a rerun of old classics—it's a full-blown celebration. Tailored for die-hard fans and newcomers alike, this event is a chance to experience Carpenter's storytelling genius in all its layered glory.

They Live stars the late wrestling legend Roddy Piper as a man who finds glasses revealing a world controlled by evil aliens. He teams up with Keith David and Meg Foster to fight back. The film shows on September 3rd and 6th at 4 PM and 7 PM local time. Christine, adapted from a Stephen King novel of the same name, follows a nerdy guy and his killer car. It screens on September 10th and 13th at 4 PM and 7 PM.

What elevates this event is that the Star Man creator's films were made for the big screen, long before the era of smartphones and streaming. So put aside your small screens and even your fancy home theater setups. Carpenter designed his films with the grandeur of cinema in mind, using sound and visuals that truly shine in a communal theater environment. Plus, his original scores—often self-composed—sound incredible on a theater's audio system. The experience is so immersive that it can't be fully replicated at home. Trust me, I've already got my tickets and counting down the days!

They Live and Christine are often overshadowed in talks about Carpenter's great body of work, even though they've left their mark on pop culture. From inspiring a season of Stranger Things to the epic Family Guy chicken fight scenes, his influence is felt across generations, whether they realize it or not. What fans may not know is, besides these 14 awesome behind-the-scenes facts, that Christine, the movie, and the book were developed simultaneously—and, as a devoted Stephen King reader, I dare say the film surpasses the book. The movie makes you believe a car can kill by using innovative effects before the CGI era.

So, mark your calendars, prep your popcorn, and brace yourselves for a double dose of one of the seminal horror filmmaker’s brilliance. Whether you're a longtime aficionado or a newbie eager to dive into the world of one of cinema’s greatest visionaries, this Event is a horror happening you won't want to miss! I know I won’t. 

Our readers might be interested in our list of upcoming horror movies or the schedule of 2023 movie releases to see what else is coming to a theater near you. 

John Carpenter, the mastermind behind some of the best horror movies of all time, like The Thing and Halloween, hasn’t been in the director’s chair in over a decade. Well, he is back in action, but this time he's taken a somewhat unconventional approach. During a panel discussion, the horror icon revealed the exciting news about his next project which had fans buzzing with anticipation. He recently returned to directing for an upcoming series, and he worked on it in a very cushy way: from the comfort of his own couch. 

During a panel interview at the recent Texas Frightmare Weekend (posted to YouTube by Robert Sommerfield), the Master of Horror dropped the news that he just wrapped directing a television series. While his return to directing is exciting, the biggest bombshell was that while the show was shot in Prague, Carpenter led the project from his home in Los Angeles using technology. He told the crowd:

While John Carpenter has an impressive repertoire of classics (not to mention some of Kurt Russell's best performances) like Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York, it's been a while since he sat in the director's seat on a motion picture. Besides a few music videos, the haunting 2010 thriller The Ward marked his most recent directorial effort. However, during the Texas Frightmare Weekend, Carpenter sent shockwaves through the crowd when he dropped hints about a possible sequel to his iconic sci-fi horror flick, The Thing. 

Interestingly, despite The Thing's initial lukewarm reception from both audiences and critics upon its 1982 release, it has since transformed into a revered masterpiece and a true gem within the horror genre. Considering the film's enduring legacy, it's a wonder that a sequel hasn’t been greenlit in the past 40 years. While a prequel was released in 2011 (which unfairly received excessive criticism), the news of a possible return to the otherworldly realm with Carpenter's involvement is undeniably thrilling. One can only wonder if the original director will take the helm on the new project if it materializes.

Carpenter has focused on his musical endeavors and occasional production work in recent years, such as the successful Halloween trilogy for Blumhouse. Still, he hasn’t completely abandoned the directing arena. He did a music video for Christine a few years back, showcasing his passion for creating visual experiences. However, having him at the helm of a TV show, even from the cozy confines of his couch, is monumental for longtime fans.

No word as of yet if Suburban Screams will hit the 2023 TV schedule or where fans can watch it. While we wait for more news about its release, I can't help but fervently hope that the rumors swirling around a possible The Thing sequel comes to fruition. Until then, I’ll just have to settle for revisiting some of his classics, like 1978’s Halloween, which is one of the best horror movies streaming on Shudder. 

It’s always fascinated me when a director shows favoritism toward a specific actor. Now, that’s not to say that they go easy on the actor in question. No, no. It just means that when said director is developing a project, they might have a specific actor in mind, and they likely work very well with them. 

Now, I’ve already covered Scorsese and his preference for Robert De Niro (with whom he has collaborated with nine times – nope, scratch that, make that 10 with the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon), and Leonardo DiCaprio (whom Scorsese has worked with five times – nope, make that six, as he's also in Killers of the Flower Moon). I’ve also covered Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, which is another famous duo, as they’ve worked together eight times.  

Now, I want to cover Kurt Russell, who has appeared in five John Carpenter movies. It may not be the longest collaboration, but each performance is mega memorable, and I want to talk about them.  

5. Elvis Presley - Elvis 

Elvis was a TV movie that came out in 1979, which was one year after Carpenter’s super popular Halloween. It was also the first collaboration between Kurt Russell and John Carpenter, so it’s special for that alone. But, what also makes it unique is that Russell is a very good Elvis. The TV film is about Elvis getting ready to perform at a big concert, and his thoughts about his past leading up to this major moment.  

I know a great many people now want to call Austin Butler the definitive Elvis after his megawatt performance in Baz Luhrmann’s recent movie, but honestly, Russell is probably the best version of the singer I've ever seen, as he just has it all. He’s got the charisma, the swagger, but also the sensitive side that comes packaged with the Elvis mystique.   

Interestingly enough, since Russell has technically played Elvis twice, once in this movie, and also as an impersonator in 3000 Miles to Graceland, it’s a great comparison to see him play it straight in Elvis, and then to play it more over-the-top in the other movie. It just goes to show the depth and range that he has as an actor, and the talent that Carpenter has as a director. So, why is it at the bottom of this list then? Well, because Russell has just embodied better, more interesting characters for Carpenter, as you’re about to see.  

4. Snake Plissken - Escape From L.A. 

OK, so this one is a bit of a doozy. In 1996's Escape from L.A., which is a sequel to the cult-classic, Escape from New York, there's been a devastating earthquake that has splintered L.A. off from the rest of the country. 

The president of the United States is an ultra conservative nut job who basically forces people under his will, and would you believe it? Good 'ol Snake Plissken somehow gets wrangled into an adventure after the president's daughter goes off with the man she loves, who just so happens to be a revolutionary who now has America's most powerful weapon in his possession. 

The movie is…something else. I once ranked all of the Highlander films, and it was interesting to see the complete tonal shift that the second Highlander movie, The Quickening, had when compared to the excellent first movie, and we kind of get that here in Escape from L.A., since it's a big departure from the more serious tone of Escape from New York. 

However, Snake is still as cool as ever in this film, and definitely not the problem. It's just the situations he's put in this time around are pretty ridiculous, like a game of basketball to the death, or surfing on a massive wave. Sure, the movie around Kurt Russell's Plissken is questionable (I still kind of love it, though), but the performance is still on point. Snake rules!       

3. Snake Plissken - Escape From New York  

In 1981's Escape from New York, which preceded Escape from L.A., we get convict Snake Plissken on a mission to rescue the president of the United States, who is trapped in Manhattan, which has been made into a prison city. 

This is the same character, but this time, the scenario around him isn't as crazy. In this way, Plissken is just such a better performance from Russell since the things he has to contend with feel more grounded and less outlandish, which really changes everything. 

As mentioned before, the star was never the problem in Escape from L.A. It was the story around him. Well, in Escape from New York, that isn't an issue, since it's a genuinely good movie, and Russell is great in it as the hard as nails Plissken. I said it before, and I'll say it again. Snake rules!  

2. R.J. MacReady - The Thing 

In this John Carpenter horror classic from 1982, a remote crew in Antarctica have to deal with a shape-shifting alien that can mimic other people and even animals, and the crew has to stop it before it kills them all.    

Kurt Russell plays helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady in The Thing, and it's probably his most understated performance in a John Carpenter film ever. Here, we experience the fear and paranoia along with MacReady, who is both resourceful, but also completely out of his depth. It's a masterful performance, which is all the more impressive for not feeling like a performance at all.  

1. Jack Burton - Big Trouble In Little China 

Biased much? Maybe. 1986's Big Trouble in Little China is either my favorite movie of all time, or my second favorite movie, depending on the day (and in case you're wondering, the other movie vying for my love and affection is Apocalypse Now). I've discussed my love for it before, and it hits all the right buttons for me.    

Essentially, it's a story about a truck driver (Russell) who gets ensnared in an adventure against an ancient magician who needs "a girl with green eyes" so that his curse can be lifted. 

But, the reason why this will always be the quintessential Kurt Russell/John Carpenter collaboration is that the movie is a comedy, but Russell's character, Jack Burton, doesn't realize that he's the butt of the joke. It's an extremely difficult tightrope to cross, to be both cool, but also a gigantic dork, but the actor manages to pull it off with aplomb. Indeed! 

Which Kurt Russell/John Carpenter collaboration is YOUR favorite? For more news on the actor and this director, be sure to swing by here often! 

Jamie Lee Curtis had many iconic roles in Hollywood long before Everything Everywhere All At Once, but it took that film to earn the actress her first nomination and eventual win at the 95th Academy Awards. She's received a sea of congratulations from fans who knew it was a long time coming. and one prominent director who likely knew Curtis would get her flowers eventually. Halloween director John Carpenter sent a message to Curtis shortly after her big win. 

John Carpenter, writer and director of the first Halloween and screenwriter for the sequel, played a key role in making Jamie Lee Curtis one of Hollywood's most iconic scream queens. Now the Laurie Strode actress can add an Oscar to her collection and further cement her legacy, and Carpenter was here for it. The director sent out a brief message on Twitter congratulating his collaborator:

It's a simple message, but one that assures the world that John Carpenter is happy for Jamie Lee Curtis. It's possible he'll send a more personal and heartfelt message privately in the coming days, and the public will just have to wait and see if Carpenter or Curtis offer it to the world.

While Jamie Lee Curtis never received major awards consideration for her work in the Halloween franchise, it goes without saying the horror movie played an integral part in her career. John Carpenter's movie was the first feature film that Curtis was cast in, and it would lead to many more roles in horror and gain her a following in the genre. 

The actress is still considered a top name in the horror genre but made great strides in becoming known for her work in other prominent movies. It all ultimately led to her Oscar nomination in Everything Everywhere All At Once, specifically being nominated for Best Supporting Actress like her mother, Janet Leigh. Leigh was nominated in 1960 for her role in Psycho but lost the award to Shirley Mae Jones.

In an ironic twist, Janet Leigh won a Golden Globe the year for Psycho, where her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, lost despite winning an Oscar. Curtis lost her Golden Globe nomination to actress Angela Bassett, who won for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Bassett was also someone movie fans thought could end up winning the Oscar, but as we now know, the award went to Curtis. 

Jamie Lee Curtis' win may be of little surprise to anyone who saw Everything Everywhere All At Once, as she crushed her role as Deirdre. It was a role that asked everything from being a boring pencil-pusher to a hulking monster, and Curtis rose to the challenge and passed with flying colors. 

Jamie Lee Curtis is just one of many big winners during the Oscars, so be sure to keep checking in to see who won what as the night continues. Between that and the jokes about Will Smith and Chris Rock's slap, readers can stick with CinemaBlend to ensure they don't miss a moment!

Cocaine Bear is a 2023 movie release on its way to our hearts, given the movie’s inspirations. Director Elizabeth Banks, who is of course famous for her acting work, found her third movie to be behind the camera with Cocaine Bear. It’s her first horror movie and wow, did she look to the greats to tell the story of a bear who consumes 70 pounds of coke and goes insane any human nearby. 

When CinemaBlend attended a Los Angeles event for Cocaine Bear earlier this week, Elizabeth Banks shared some insight into what to expect from the upcoming horror movie, aside from that wild NSFW Cocaine Bear trailer that just dropped online. In her words: 

Banks has first-hand experience working with Sam Raimi on the Spider-Man movies as Betty Brant, even though she did screen test for MJ Watson. Though, she’s definitely thinking about his famed work in horror on things like the Evil Dead movies. The actor/director spoke about playing homage to Raimi along with filmmakers like Halloween’s John Carpenter and another all-time great. As she continued: 

It’s true. No part of me wants to see a shark when I go to the beach, but if I saw a bear on a trip to a national forest, part of me really wants to pet it. Elizabeth Banks implemented this element of Cocaine Bear thanks to looking at two of the most iconic movies of all time: Jaws and Jurassic Park. All that, and she told us that she and the cast all watched 1986 coming-of-age classic, Stand By Me before they began rolling cameras on the horror comedy. Despite Cocaine Bear looking like a really funny and vulgar horror movie, it sounds like it has a lot of dimensions to it. 

Additionally, during the event, Elizabeth Banks showed us a full scene from Cocaine Bear, which she likened to Fast and Furious because of the car chase elements. It’s produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who have teased that it's “insane” too. Given the mood board of inspirations that make up this movie, including it being also inspired by an actual bear who ingested cocaine in the ‘80s after a drug drop gone wrong, I’m certainly all in on Elizabeth Banks next directorial effort. 

In the making of 2022's Scream, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet stepped into some massive shoes given that Wes Craven, one of the greatest horror directors of all time, had helmed the four previous installments. Things most definitely worked out well in that case, as the film was a hit when it was released earlier this year and a sequel is on the way in 2023 – and evidently it's inspired a big dose of confidence, as the filmmakers are now planning to "reboot" a John Carpenter classic: Escape From New York.

Movie fans have been hearing talk about a new take on Escape From New York for over a decade now, but this is the first movement that we've seen with the idea in quite a while. According to Deadline, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, along with their producing partner Chad Villella (collectively known as Radio Silence), are now attached to try and move the project forward, and John Carpenter is attached as an executive producer (the article doesn't mention how hands-on he will or won't be). The search for a screenwriter has begun, but the trade doesn't mention any specific names.

This is the first news that we've heard about a new Escape From New York movie since February 2019 when The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell was hired to write the screenplay for a developing version... but that was hardly the first whack that has been taken at the project. Before Whannell, Robert Rodriguez was lined up to take the helm, and before him it was Luther creator Neil Cross who had the gig. If we rewind back to 2010, we'll find that The Crazies director Breck Eisner was at one point attached. 

Knowing that history, it's understandable if one has doubts about Radio Silence's version actually making real progress forward, but people also had doubts about a new Scream movie being made after the passing of Wes Craven, and we all know how that turned out.

If a new Escape From New York actually does make meaningful steps towards production, it probably won't be until the middle of next year given that the work on the alluded-to Scream 6 is not done. Featuring a stellar cast including Courteney Cox and Hayden Panettiere, the movie has already completed principal photography, but it is now in post-production and still aiming to be ready for its set March 10, 2023 release date. 

The idea of a new version of Escape From New York is a bit worrisome for fans, as the original still holds up incredibly well and a full-on remake would be unnecessary, but Radio Silence's track record should inspire would-be worries to have some hope. Not only is Scream a terrific film that is just as sharp as any of its franchise predecessors, but Ready Or Not (their breakout hit) is brilliant and one of the best horror movies of the last decade.

Stay tuned for more updates and discover all of the other films set to come out next year in addition to Scream 6 with our 2023 Movie Release Calendar.

It is a great time to be a horror fan, as the genre has been going through a bit of a resurgence of late. This includes long-standing franchises getting revitalized for a new era. One of the horror franchises with the longest (and wildest) legacies is the Halloween series, beginning in 1978 with the original - which also just so happens to be one of the best horror movies of all time, and the latest entry, Halloween Ends, almost upon us. On that note, it turns out the original film's director, the wonderfully self-deprecating John Carpenter, had an amusing response when being asked about the type of horror the public gets in A24 movies.

John Carpenter sat down for an interview with The AV Club, where he discussed everything from his love of gaming to his career as a composer and executive producing the latest Halloween films. The interview becomes quite humorous when the interviewer's questions on elevated horror led to this exchange: 

Interviewer: Shifting gears slightly: Are you familiar with the phrase 'elevated horror?'

John Carpenter: I don't know what that means. I mean, I can guess what it means, but I don't really know.

Interviewer: People usually use it to refer to A24's movies, horror that's very heavy on the metaphorical. Hereditary, Midsommar, movies like that.

JC: I have no idea what you're talking about.

Interviewer: Fair enough!

JC:  But I hear you, I hear you. There's metaphorical horror. But all movies have … they don't have messages. They have themes. Thematic material, and some horror films have thematic material. The good ones do.

This is an excellent answer from the director because the topic of elevated horror has been hotly debated by horror fans over the past few years. Some look for nothing more than thrills and kills in their scary movies, whereas other fans are looking for something more cerebral. Some consider anything made by Hereditary and Midsommar director Ari Aster to be a brilliant horror piece, while others don't believe Aster's films are scary because they don't have the traditional jump scares and can come off as being bogged down in trying too hard to have a theme. Carpenter's answer seems to suggest all good movies should have a theme. 

The director went on to say:

John Carpenter is known for being modest, but I think he sells himself short when he compares what he does as merely providing carpet. Music can make or break a film. Can you imagine any Halloween movie without Carpenter's iconic theme?

However, I love John Carpenter's answer regarding elevated horror because, whether he meant for it or not, I think he cut through all the noise surrounding the discussion. While I am a fan of many of the films A24 releases, I'm not a fan of how elitist the discussion of elevated horror can often feel. Why can't you love Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives just as much as The Witch (albeit for different reasons) without drawing a line in the sand in types of horror films that deserve respect?

Like Carpenter, I think scary movies should be scary, and all the good ones have a theme. However, I just so happen to believe the Stephen King-directed 1987 cult classic Maximum Overdrive is good in its way, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a film further away from the word 'elevated' than it. 

You can listen to Carpenter's latest musical offering when Halloween Ends hits theaters and streaming (for everyone with a Peacock subscription) on October 14. As far as the overall horror landscape goes, whether you're looking for the return of a long-running franchise, including  a new Exorcist trilogy reportedly around the corner, a blend of horror-comedy like what the Jordan Peele movies serve up, or something entirely new and unexpected like the bonkers Barbarian, 2022 and 2023 has a slew of upcoming horror releases to whet your appetite.

For news on all other upcoming movie release dates, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

With the fall now upon us and October almost here, we’ve entered the time affectionately known as spooky season. Many of us will be curling up to watch some of the best horror movies during this time, and the new slasher threequel Halloween Ends is being released in theaters and streaming on Peacock in just a few weeks. Halloween Ends just released one of John Carpenter’s new songs, and it’s truly chilling.

John Carpenter changed the horror genre forever with the 1978 original Halloween movie, and he’s an executive producer and the composer of David Gordon Green’s current trilogy. His latter contribution is a key way that the last two movies felt so chilling, and smart money says that the iconic filmmaker is going to pull out all the stops for Halloween Ends. Now we can hear one of the new tracks for the highly anticipated slasher, check it out below courtesy of Carpenter’s YouTube account:

Is it October 14th yet? The stakes of Halloween Ends have never been higher, as the upcoming slasher is expected to be Jamie Lee Curtis’ final performance as franchise hero Laurie Strode. The movie’s contents are a total mystery, but it sounds like this chilling track will be heard as Michael Myers claims one of his many victims throughout its runtime. 

This new song is titled “Junk Yard” which likely gives away the setting for this particular attack by Michael Myers. Halloween Ends will pick up years after the events of the last two movies, allowing the timeline to catch up to the real world. But unfortunately for the town of Haddonfield, the Shape will once again come knocking, eventually landing him face to face with Laurie Strode herself.

The contents of Halloween Ends have largely been kept under wraps, no doubt an attempt to keep spoilers away from moviegoing audiences. Indeed, the final trailer is the first time we got to see clear glimpses of the various characters making up the story. As a reminder, you can check out the latest footage below,

As we can see, Halloween Ends will feature a substantial time jump, which should allow the various returning characters to change from when we last saw them. For Jamie Lee Crutis’ Laurie Strode, she’s seemingly finally moved on with her life, adn is no longer obsessed with The Boogeyman. Which means she’ll be unprepared when Michael finally returns to Haddonfield. 

Aside from Jamie Lee Curtis’ final performance as her signature character, fans are also eager to catch up with other returning faces. While most of the cast of Halloween Kills was killed by Michael (including Judy Greer’s Karen), Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) and original survivor Lindsey (Kyle Richards) will once again appear.  

Halloween Ends will hit theaters and Peacock on October 14th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

The horror genre is a tried and true aspect of the film industry, known for making a profit on a relatively small budget. Given the current renaissance for the genre, some of the best horror movies have returned to theaters via new sequels like the current Halloween trilogy. But will Halloween Ends actually complete the slasher franchise for good? John Carpenter has gotten honest about this prospect.

John Carpenter changed the film world forever with his 1978 original Halloween movie, and Michael Myers has never been far from theaters in the decades since. David Gordon Green’s 2018 movie was a wild success and served as a direct sequel to the original– complete with Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. Two more sequels were ordered, with Halloween Ends being Curtis’ last performance as the final girl. But does that mean the franchise is over? Carpenter doesn’t think so, as he shared at Pennsylvania's Steel City Convention (via ComicBook), 

Well, there you have it. Horror franchises are never really dead, and John Carpenter doesn’t seem to think that Halloween Ends will be the last time we see Michael Myers terrorizing babysitters. That is, assuming that the highly anticipated threequel makes money at the box office. But given the stakes involved, smart money says folks are going to show up to see Jamie Lee Curtis fight The Shape one last time.

John Carpenter’s assessment of Halloween’s future is super honest and realistic, considering that the film industry is ultimately about making money. While Jamie Lee Curtis might be retiring as Laurie Strode, it seems inevitable that another Halloween movie would eventually arrive in theaters. That’s just what beloved horror franchises do, such as Friday the 13th, Child’s Play, and (of course) the Scream franchise.

Anticipation for Halloween Ends has been steadily building since it was revealed that Jamie Lee Curtis would be making her swan song as a scream queen. Halloween Kills arrived last October, but Laurie Strode and Michael Myers didn’t actually have any contact, since she spent most of it in Haddonfield Hospital. And after the masked villain killed off most of the town (including her daughter Karen), smart money says Laurie will be back with a vengeance. You can see the first footage from the upcoming slasher below,

Not much is known about what will happen in Halloween Ends, which is probably for the best considering spoilers. What is clear is that the slasher will feature a time jump, allowing the timeline in-universe to catch up to the real world. Fans are excited to see the return of Real Housewives icon Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace, one of the few survivors of Kills. 

Halloween Ends will hit theaters on October 14th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Forty years ago this summer, John Carpenter released one of his best movies, with the terrifying, claustrophobic, and psychological fright-fest that is The Thing, which happened to be remake. Over the years, I’ve watched this landmark achievement from the “Master of Horror” more times than I can count, including once when I was way too young to a) understand the movie and b) handle some of its more traumatic moments.

With 2022 being the 40th anniversary of The Thing, and movies like Jordan Peele’s Nope making me think about it more than I have in quite some time, I decided to give it another spin and revisit U.S. Outpost #31 once again. In doing so, I had a few random thoughts about the movie, its characters, special effects, and legacy in general, and I thought this would be as good a place as any to share them…

Kurt Russell Is Just So Damn Cool In The Thing

In the past, I have gone on the record saying that Snake Plissken from Escape from New York is Kurt Russell’s most badass character, and I still stand by that after watching The Thing again. However, this shouldn’t take away from the fact that R.J. MacReady is just so damn cool in The Thing. He has a distinct look with that flowing hair and bushy beard (especially when it’s covered in ice), flies a helicopter, spends most of the movie with a flamethrower, and drinks J&R Rare Blend like it’s going out of style.

There are a lot of great characters in The Thing, but MacReady is in a league of his own. And even though his ways are a little draconian when all hell breaks loose, he’s the one person in the secluded and isolated research outpost that seems to have it figured out. Plus, is there a better response to shit getting out of hand than MacReady’s classic “first goddamn week of winter” line? I think not.

Despite Being Released 40 Years Ago, The Thing’s Special Effects Hold Up Really Well

After burning through the 2022 Disney+ documentary series, Light & Magic, which dives into Industrial Light & Magic’s impact on the industry, I’ve been thinking more and more about my favorite visual effects in movies. At the top of that list is The Thing. it’s amazing what creature designer Bob Bottin and crew were able to achieve 40 years ago with a random assortment of materials, tools, and ingenuity.

Whether it’s the Dog-Thing early in the movie or the Norris-Thing near the end, these special effects hold up really well; much better than some of the early CGI work that would follow a decade later. These practical effects give the movie a higher sense of realism and also add a timeless quality.

The Blood Test Scene Is A Masterclass In Suspense

One thing that makes sci-fi horror movies like Ridley Scott’s Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing such staples of the genre is the way in which both slowly build up tension to a boiling point. In the case of Carpenter’s 1982 classic, this is quite literal. In the final stretch of the movie, none of the survivors really know who is human and who is the shapeshifting alien, leading to the classic blood test scene.

This scene is a masterclass in suspense and is one of my favorite in any sci-fi movie. It’s simple (R.J. MacReady figures out the alien blood will avoid extreme heat and so he put a heated wire in containers of each survivor’s blood) and effective as you don’t know who has been assimilated until the tension is at its peak. And then after building up for several minutes, it exploded into one of the most terrifying scenes of the movie.

The Thing Is So Much More Than A Standard Alien Movie

If you saw The Thing while randomly scrolling through a streaming service or at a movie store, you’d probably think it was just another alien movie, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Sure, on the surface it’s a movie about an alien eating and assimilating humans, but it becomes so much more than that as the story unfolds.

This is a movie about paranoia and mistrust of your fellow man and how isolation and fear can further exacerbate the situation. More times than not, it’s the humans’ own fear of one another that makes the situation get out of hand, allowing the alien to hide in the shadows and sometimes even in plain sight.

I Can’t Believe Critics Didn’t Like The Movie Upon Release

If you look at the Rotten Tomatoes page for The Thing, you’ll see that the movie is “Certified Fresh” with an 83% critic score, but John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror film wasn’t also so beloved. In fact, upon its release in June 1982, the movie was largely panned by critics, with the late Vincent Canby of the New York Times opening his negative review by describing it as “foolish, depressing, and overproduced.” Even Roger Ebert, who loved horror movies like Dawn of the Dead, gave The Thing two-and-a-half stars in a review in which he called it a “barf-bag movie.” But Ebert, who passed away in 2013, also hated quite a few beloved movies.

Was it too dark, too nihilistic, too gory for reviewers? The same can be said about audiences, as the movie only made around $19.6 million at the box office upon release, per BoxOfficeMojo.

You Could Have Seen The Thing And E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Back-To-Back In Theaters

Here’s something I didn’t think about until recently: The Thing and E.T. the Extra-terrestrial came out within two weeks of one another in June 1982, meaning you could have sat through one hell of a double-feature at your local theater 40 years ago. Imagine watching Henry Thomas’ Elliot and E.T. form an emotional connection and then two hours later watching a shapeshifting alien build a whole different kind of bond with humans. Also, I wonder if any parents bought a ticket to The Thing to appease their children after E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was sold out.

Other Random Thoughts About The Thing

Those aren’t the only thoughts I have about The Thing and its legacy 40 years after its release. Below are some shorter ideas that also ran through my head on my most recent rewatch.

• Ennio Morricone’s Score Is Nothing Short Of Brilliant
• This Is Still One Of My Favorite John Carpenter Movies
• Wilford Brimley’s Meltdown Is Both Over The Top And Tragic
• Let’s Just Act Like The 2011 Prequel Doesn’t Exist

All in all, The Thing is a movie that I never really get tired of watching. In my opinion, it’s one of the best horror movies of all time as well as an all-time great sci-fi flick, and it’s impact can still be felt all these years later.

It’s a good time to be a horror fan, with properties new and old killing it at the box office as the genre experiences a thrilling renaissance. One filmmaker who has been making waves for years is Jordan Peele, who ultimately won an Oscar for the screenplay of his directorial debut Get Out. He followed this up with 2019’s Us, and is once again returning to theaters this weekend with the new scary movie Nope. But when someone on Twitter called Peele the best horror movie director, he wasn’t having it.

All three of Jordan Peele’s directorial efforts have been horror movies, with his vision offering moving cultural commentary and a new perspective on scares. The early reviews for Nope have been fairly positive, so it looks like Peele was able to hit horror gold a third time. But that doesn’t mean that the comedian turned filmmaker is getting a big head, as evidenced by his reaction to a Tweet claiming he was the best horror director. Check it out for yourself below,

Well, there you have it. It looks like Jordan Peele isn’t going to be taking up the mantle of the best horror director anytime soon. Instead, the acclaimed filmmaker has reserved that spot for original Halloween director John Carpenter. Indeed, his 1978 slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis changed the genre forever. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg regarding Carpenter’s contributions to horror as a whole.

While Jordan Peele’s work shows how much innovation and originality can still be found within the horror genre, he has to tip his hat to one of the greats: John Carpenter. In addition to his work directing Halloween and crafting its iconic score, he’s also got plenty of other contributions to the genre. Other iconic scary movies include The Fog, The Thing, Christine, and Prince of Darkness. It looks like his work truly has an impact on Peele.

John Carpenter remains active in horror to this day, as he’s an executive producer on the current Halloween movies, and has been handling the new trilogy’s music. One can only hope that Jordan Peele follows suit and works in horror at the age of 74.

Luckily for fans of Jordan Peele’s work, the wait for his new movie Nope is nearly over. This blockbuster looks like his biggest project by far, and features a stellar cast including Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. You can check out the movie’s trailer below,

While the contents of Nope are being kept under wraps, it certainly looks like a movie meant to be seen on the biggest screen possible. After all, who doesn’t want to see all the UFO action in its full glory? We’ll just have to wait and see if the characters make it out alive.

Nope hits theaters on July 22nd. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

John Carpenter is a significant part of Stephen King adaptation history, as 1983’s Christine remains one of the best King movies of all time – but had things gone differently, it would have been a different novel from the beloved author that the director brought to the big screen. The filmmaker was initially going to make a big screen version of the 1980 book Firestarter, but he ran into two issues: the version he was concocting would have cost $20 million to make, and he was coming off of The Thing, which was a big box office flop. That project fell apart (leaving Mark L. Lester to develop the version released in 1984), but it was shortly thereafter that Carpenter got his hands on a manuscript of Christine.

In that sense, his involvement with the brand new version of Firestarter is him coming full circle. While he’s not directing the movie, he has composed the score along with his son, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel A. Davies. It’s a cool Easter egg for Stephen King fans – so I naturally felt compelled to ask director Keith Thomas about John Carpenter’s history with the source material when I interviewed him late last month during the film’s virtual press day.

As captured in the video at the top of this article, I asked Thomas if he talked with John Carpenter at all about the original version of Firestarter that he was going to make back in the early 1980s. The director explained that he briefly considered asking if there was any music Carpenter had planned for the project before it got scrapped… but it never actually ended up being a part of the conversations that he had with the legendary filmmaker. Said Thomas,

Because it’s not something Keith Thomas ever brought up, it’s unclear if John Carpenter did use any score ideas from his first go-round with the source material – but either way what he has created is fantastic. You can listen to the end titles track from the new Firestarter, which has been released by Back Lot Music on YouTube.

Continuing, Keith Thomas discussed what it was like working with John Carpenter, who has spent most of his career as a composer only making scores for films he himself has directed (the notable exceptions being Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II, Tommy Lee Wallace’s Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, and David Gordon Green’s Halloween). The Firestarter director commended Carpenter for his dedication, and added that Carpenter’s different relationship with the movie had an impact on the way he worked:

Unsurprisingly, Keith Thomas is a big fan of John Carpenter’s, and he makes it sound like the scoring sessions for Firestarter were basically a surreal experience. He added,

Fans will be able to listen to John Carpenter’s full Firestarter soundtrack when the movie premieres this weekend, set to both hit theaters and stream exclusively on Peacock. The film stars Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Gloria Reuben, Michael Greyeyes, Kurtwood Smith, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong (who thinks she’d do quite well in a rematch with Pennywise The Clown from IT). You can also pre-order the soundtrack now and keep track of all Stephen King adaptations in development with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide.

We’re living in an age where many fan-favorite horror movies are coming back around for remakes and sequels more than ever. Interestingly enough, John Carpenter, who has directed and composed the scores for many classics from the genre, gets to experience this revival and be part of it. Now the 74-year-old icon is sharing that he's game for a sequel to be made for one of the best movies on his resume.

John Carpenter is coming off seeing the Halloween movies come back with Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode. Ahead of the trilogy concluding with Halloween Ends later this year, Carpenter shared which of his films he’d like to see continue on screen, saying:

John Carpenter directed The Thing in 1982, and to this day it's regarded as one of the best horror movies of all time.  The movie starring Kurt Russell is about a research team in Antartica that becomes hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the look of its victims. The movie that has a ton of interesting behind-the-scenes stories to go with it is still considered by many to be Carpenter's most defining work as a director. Could it be the latest horror flick to get a sequel? 

While John Carpenter wasn’t definitive on making the sequel to THR, the interest is certainly there. He hasn’t directed in some time, but he’s an active producer, so I could see him enlisting another filmmaker to take the reins unless he decides to get back into the swing of things. 

Back in 2020, it was actually reported that Blumhouse was working on a reboot for The Thing. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for the time being considering two years have passed without additional news about it. Back in 2011, a prequel for The Thing sharing the same title was made and starred Elizabeth Mary Winstead, Joel Edgerton and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, but it was met with negative reception overall. It would be interesting for The Thing to be explored as a sequel instead, perhaps with Kurt Russell back in action somehow? 

While speaking with Fandom, John Carpenter got more in depth about why he’d like to see The Thing back on screen. 

Now that’d be exciting. Kurt Russell has most certainly not been a stranger to movies as of late ,with roles in F9, The Christmas Chronicles movies and Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood. While we imagine what The Thing sequel could be, check out what upcoming horror movies are on the way. 

The works of Stephen King have inspired dozens and dozens of films and television programs in the last 46 years, but John Carpenter’s Christine is one of a kind. Part gory horror flick, part coming-of-age drama, it’s a movie that is as freaky as it is entertaining, one of the best King adaptations ever, and a cinematic experience one only becomes more enamored of after every viewing.

In that same spirit, knowing about the making of Christine only enriches the experience as well – which has helped inspire the creation of this feature. You can read about the full history of Stephen King’s Christine and the making of the film in my Adapting Stephen King column, but below you’ll find 14 fun behind-the-scenes facts that you may have never known about the classic movie.

Christine Was Named After Christine Forrest, George Romero’s Ex Wife

Stephen King and director George Romero became close collaborators in the early years of King’s career, working together to try and develop adaptations of Salem’s Lot and The Stand before they made Creepshow together in 1982. As noted on that movie’s filmmaker commentary track, it was during those years that Romero married actress/producer Christine Forrest – and while the filmmaker ultimately cast her in a number of his films before their divorce in 2010, the author paid tribute to their friendship by naming his iconic, evil 1958 Plymouth Fury after her.

John Carpenter Was Developing A Different Stephen King Adaptation Before Making Christine

Given the respective statuses of John Carpenter and Stephen King in the horror genre, it makes all the sense in the world that their voices would together create iconic horror (hence the amazingness of Christine) – but before that book existed there were plans for Carpenter to helm a totally different King adaptation: Firestarter. Sadly, that project wound up being too potentially pricy for Universal Pictures, leading them to reject the script written by Bill Phillips, but it was in the aftermath of that rejection when Phillips and Carpenter got their hands on a manuscript version of King’s novel about a possessed car.

The Assembly Line Opening Of Christine Was Inspired By An Idea From Alfred Hitchcock

There are a number of deviations that John Carpenter’s Christine makes from the novel on which it is based, and that includes the very first scene where the titular vehicle kills a man via asphyxia while still on the assembly line. It’s not a totally original idea, however, as the director admits on the film’s commentary track that he took inspiration from an idea he sources to Alfred Hitchcock: the concept being that audiences would watch a car get built, and then at the very end a body would fall out of the trunk.

Alexandra Paul Played A Prank On John Carpenter With The Help Of Her Twin Sister

Based on the stories told in various featurettes made about Christine, the set of the film was a loose and breezy environment that inspired the cast and filmmakers to have a bit of extra fun during the production. A perfect example of this is a story that Alexandra Paul tells about a day when she had her identical twin sister help pull a prank on John Carpenter. Paul quietly switched with her sibling for a scene, and while the director got a sense that something was off when filming started, he only figured it out when Paul’s twin started delivering dialogue.

John Carpenter Played Pranks Of His Own On Christine’s Sound Team

If you walk away from the story above thinking that John Carpenter was merely a victim of his cast’s tomfoolery, think again, as he had his own fun in the making of Christine. On the filmmaker commentary he explains that he would sometimes surreptitiously unplug cables in the sound department before calling “action,” as he loved to watch them freak out and try to figure out what was wrong.

Beating Up Christine Was Not A Fun Experience For Buddy Repperton’s Gang

Clearly there was a positive atmosphere flowing in the making of Christine, but that doesn’t mean that every sequence was fun to shoot. During the scene where Buddy Repperton and his gang destroy the eponymous car, they were tasked with trying to tear apart a real 1958 Plymouth Fury, and that wasn’t as awesome as it may sound. With shards of metal and broken glass all over, some of the actors got seriously cut up.

There’s A Specific Reason Keith Gordon Sounds Different During The Dinner Scene

Keith Gordon’s Arnie Cunningham goes through a complete emotional and physical evolution over the course of Christine, but the actor’s impressive commitment to the role isn’t the explanation as to why his voice takes on a different tenor in the scene when Arnie defends his beloved car to his parents and makes his mother cry. Per Gordon on the movie’s commentary, he was having an asthma attack of sorts on that particular day of production, and he tried to fight through it to shoot the sequence.

There Is A Driver Inside Christine When She Is On Fire And Chasing Buddy Repperton

If Christine were to be remade today (and there is a project in the works), a scene where the car is on fire would surely be filmed with a vehicle operated by remote control – but that option evidently wasn’t available to John Carpenter and his crew in the early 1980s. As a result, the scene where an enflamed Christine is hunting down Buddy Repperton was filmed with a driver inside the car. Stunt coordinator Terry Leonard was given an oxygen bottle because the fire was sucking all of the oxygen out of the cabin, though there was also constant concern about the gas tank.

Keith Gordon Nearly Passed Out Filming Arnie’s Death Scene

Keith Gordon’s ability to breathe is the subject of not one, but two different stories from behind-the-scenes of Christine shared on the movie's filmmaker commentary. While shooting the scene at the end of the movie where Arnie Cunningham dies, Gordon decided that he wanted to look red and flushed as he reached out to caress the grill of his beloved car. Unfortunately, his method for doing this was holding his breath, and it got to a point where he nearly passed out because not enough oxygen was getting to his brain.

The Space Used For The Darnell’s Garage Set Was Also Used As An On-Set Body Shop

Stephen King is very specific in his book about Christine being a 1958 Plymouth Fury – and that was something that John Carpenter knew he had to stay faithful to in his adaptation. The production was able to acquire 24 total Furys, according to the Blu-ray special features, and parts were cannibalized to create a total of 17 workable versions that could serve different functions. In order to keep these vital machines running properly, half of the space that was used as the Darnell’s Garage set was used as an on-set body shop. By the end of filming, all but two of the cars were destroyed.

Being A Vegetarian, Alexandra Paul Had A Trick For Eating A Hamburger On Screen

One of the most famous scenes in John Carpenter’s 1983 film is when Alexandra Paul’s Leigh is at the drive-in with Arnie and gets trapped in Christine’s passenger seat – the car magically causing her to choke on the hamburger that she is eating. What’s a bit funny about the making of the scene, though, is that the actress never actually took a real bite of the burger because she is a vegetarian. Paul didn’t want to make a big fuss about it on set, forcing the production to find some kind of alternative, so instead she just pushed the beef patty back in the sandwich and nibbled at the bun.

Hydraulics And Reversed Photography Were Used For Christine’s Self-Reconstruction

Watching Christine rebuild herself after being assaulted by Buddy Repperton’s gang is a genuine example of movie magic, and a sequence that is in no way diminished when you discover how John Carpenter was able to create the effect. According to the film’s commentary, hydraulics were used to push and pull parts of the car, and the sequences were shot upside down. The negative was simply flipped during post-production, and what resulted is dazzling.

Two Cameos Were Cut From The End Of The Movie

On a soundtrack full of amazing music, George Thorogood’s “Bad To The Bone” is a key standout in Christine, so it makes all the sense in the world that John Carpenter invited Thorogood to set so that he could make a brief cameo at the end of the film – paired for a scene with screenwriter Bill Phillips. Unfortunately, the bit ended up getting left on the cutting room floor because, per the movie’s bonus features, the performances by the musician and the writer were… unimpressive.

Christine Hit Theaters While The Softcover Edition Of Stephen King’s Book Was Still Topping The Charts

The vast majority of book adaptations come together once a novel has already proven to be a hit, but Stephen King was in a special place back in early 1980s and was able to sell movie rights for his stories long before they hit store shelves. In the case of Christine, the John Carpenter film was released just eight months after hardcovers went on sale, and it was playing in theaters while the softcover was the best-selling book in the country.

To read more about the long history of Stephen King stories on the big and small screens, check out my weekly Adapting Stephen King column, and to learn about all of the projects based on the author’s works that are currently in development, you should read our Upcoming Stephen King Movies And TV feature.

“Master of Horror” is a title bestowed only to most the esteemed and skilled in the art of tapping into an audience’s deepest fears, such as Stephen King, George A. Romero, or Wes Craven. John Carpenter immediately earned that same distinction with the release of Halloween - which (like many of his films) he co-wrote, co-produced, directed, and composed the music for - in 1978. 

Of course, if horror movies are not your cup of tea, not all John Carpenter movies are scary, but all of them (which you can find on streaming, available for digital rental, or on physical media) are undeniably thrilling. You may also notice that many of the following films have been remade or have a remake in the works, such as one of the filmmaker’s first action-packed cult classics.

Assault On Precinct 13 (1976)

A highway patrolman (Austin Stoker), a pair of death row inmates (Darwin Joston and Tony Burton), and a secretary (Laurie Zimmer) barricade themselves inside an inoperative police station and try, by any means necessary, to defend themselves against a street gang’s relentless onslaught during one violent Los Angeles night.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: A lifelong fan of western movies, John Carpenter took the plot of one of his favorites - 1959’s Rio Bravo - and updated it with a modern setting to craft the plot of Assault on Precinct 13, which is such a sharp and intense action thriller that I am amazed it is not referenced as one of the director’s best more often.

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Halloween (1978)

A psychiatrist (Donald Pleasance) races to prevent a massacre when one of his most infamous former patients, Michael Myers, escapes from a mental asylum and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he stalks a group of unwitting, young babysitters on All Hallows’ Eve.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: Of course, the film most often referenced in association with director John Carpenter is the film he and co-screenwriter Debra Hill, arguably, invented the modern slasher movie with, Halloween - the visceral, atmospheric masterpiece that introduced one of cinema’s greatest horror movie villains and cemented Jamie Lee Curtis (in her big screen debut) as the quintessential Scream Queen.

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The Fog (1980)

A group of locals from the coastal California community of Antonio Bay (where a tragic shipwreck occurred exactly 100 years earlier) struggle to survive when a thick, ominous mist surrounds the town and brings with it an army of bloodthirsty ghouls. 

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: John Carpenter would reunite with Jamie Lee Curtis (and fellow Halloween actress Nancy Kyes) for The Fog - a classic ghost story which takes the term “atmospheric” to a more literal level and was also the director’s second collaboration with his then-wife, and fellow legendary Scream Queen, Adrienne Barbeau, after the 1978 TV movie Someone’s Watching Me!

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Escape From New York (1981)

In a war-torn, futuristic United States, a hardened criminal (Kurt Russell) is offered a pardon if he can discreetly extract the kidnapped president (Donald Pleasance), within 24 hours, from the large maximum security prison that was once New York City. 

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: John Carpenter would reunite with Adrienne Barbeau (and a few more of his frequent players) for Escape from New York - a dystopian thriller with the look of a grim, avant garde drama, the pulse of a grindhouse movie, and the wit of a political satire, that was also the director’s second collaboration with Snake Plissken actor Kurt Russell after the 1979 TV movie, Elvis.

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The Thing (1982)

After they come into contact with an otherworldly organism that can disguise itself as a perfect recreation of whoever comes into contact with it, a group of American researchers stationed in Antarctica begin to question how many of them are still human. 

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: John Carpenter would reunite with Kurt Russell (and pass music composition duties to the legendary Ennio Morricone) for The Thing - the perfect blend of a creature feature with flawless practical effects and a mystery thriller fueled by non-stop paranoia that more faithfully adapts John W. Campbell Jr.’s short story “Who Goes There?” than Howard Hawks’ 1951 monster movie The Thing from Another World did.

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Christine (1983)

A gawky high school student (Keith Gordon) begins to undergo a dramatic change in behavior that severely affects his relationship with his best friend (John Stockwell) and his new girlfriend (Alexandra Paul), after he purchases a killer red 1958 Plymouth Fury that turns out to, literally, have a mind of its own with grave intentions.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: Released in the same year when the novel that inspired it was published, Christine is the first and (technically) last time that John Carpenter would tackle a Stephen King story, and one that literally demonizes a machine that is commonly recognized as a symbol of necessity and, to many people, passion.

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Starman (1984)

A widowed woman (Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Karen Allen) tries to help an extraterrestrial visitor who has taken a human form that resembles her late husband (Oscar winner Jeff Bridges) find his way back home.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: John Carpenter would eventually branch out into films of a less macabre and more romantic nature with Starman - the story of a much friendlier shapeshifting alien than the one from The Thing, who is played by Bridges in a transformative performance that earned him his second Academy Award nomination.

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Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

A wise-cracking truck driver (Kurt Russell) becomes embroiled in a centuries-long fight against a mystical evil that has kidnapped his friend’s fiancée and stolen his semi-truck in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: John Carpenter and Kurt Russell would eventually reunite again for Big Trouble in Little China - a cult favorite action movie that is far less bleak than Escape from New York but a much stranger and more absurd creature feature than The Thing, with some kick-ass kung-fu sequences and beautiful special effects work.

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• All Of Kurt Russell's Most Badass Characters, Ranked

They Live (1988)

An average construction worker (late professional wrestler-turned-actor “Rowdy” Roddy Piper) finds a special pair of sunglasses that allow him to see the subliminal, manipulative messages hidden in mass media by a race of tyrannical, grotesque aliens whose human disguises he can also see through.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: Everything that John Carpenter does best you can find in his adaptation of Ray Nelson’s short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning,” called They Live - one of the best ‘80s movies (which also stars The Thing actor Keith David) for its bleak, chilling, action-packed sci-fi elements blended with witty and thought-provoking social commentary.

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Body Bags (1993)

A coroner (John Carpenter) who looks haggard enough to be a corpse himself presents three bizarre tales about the morgue’s latest “guests” - one taking place during a particularly excruciating night shift for a gas station attendant (Alex Datcher), another following a middle-aged man (Stacy Keach) who goes to extreme lengths to have hair again, and one more about a professional baseball player (Mark Hamill) who receives an eye transplant from a mysterious donor.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: Not only does John Carpenter co-produce, help compose the score for, and direct two segments of the Showtime original movie Body Bags (the other of which was helmed by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre creator Tobe Hooper), he also appears as the comically ghoulish narrator in one of the most charmingly cheesy anthology horror movies ever. 

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In The Mouth Of Madness (1994)

An insurance investigator (Jurassic Park cast member Sam Neill) is tasked with finding a missing horror novelist whose stories, as he comes to find out, have a more profound impact on reality than he is prepared to discover.

Why it is one of John Carpenter’s best: Earlier, I said that Christine was “technically” the only time John Carpenter would tackle a Stephen King story, because In the Mouth of Madness - yet another strange and amusingly meta apocalyptic fantasy with some cool creature effects - is clearly inspired by the beloved author, but less by his actual work and more by his nearly unparalleled influence in pop culture.

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It has been a while since John Carpenter directed a feature-length film - the last one being The Ward in 2010, which followed a pretty sizable gap after 2001’s Ghosts of Mars, with a couple episodes of Masters of Horror in between. Luckily, he is still involved in cinema, having most recently helped produce and compose the scores for Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends - the latest in a franchise he pioneered more than four decades ago.

Countless film projects were pushed back last year, with studios hoping for a solid box office performance once moviegoers started returning to theaters. Horror fans were bummed when Halloween Kills was delayed a full year, although David Gordon Green’s slasher is nearly upon us. And a new clip features John Carpenter’s chilling new song for the sequel.

John Carpenter made film history with the 1978 original Halloween movie, composing the theme song in addition to helming the iconic project. While David Gordon Green is directing the current trilogy, Carpenter has stayed involved as a composer and executive producer. A new clip showed off Michael Myers’ escape from Laurie’s burning home, while also revealing the scary new take on the theme song for Halloween Kills. Check it out.

Is anyone else’s heart racing? John Carpenter once again proves why he’s a horror icon, as this new take on the beloved theme song is definitely going to increase tension and fear when Halloween Kills arrives in theaters this October. Let’s break it all down.

The above video comes to us from the YouTube of Sacred Bones Records. The title of this new track is “Unkillable”, which seems like an appropriate way to refer to Halloween Kills’ Michael Myers. And while we’ve all heard John Carpenter’s iconic theme before, this heavy synth and time signature really amp things up in a thrilling way.

The contents of Halloween Kills have been kept under wraps, but the limited footage and information certainly makes the sequel sound like a bloodbath. David Gordon Green assembled a strong ensemble cast to populate Haddonfield, as the town arms up to fight Michael Myers themselves. Unfortunately, he might just be “Unkillable.”

While he’s not directing the current Halloween trilogy, John Carpenter certainly seems thrilled with the work done by David Gordon Green and writer Danny McBride. The 2018 sequel was clearly influenced by the original, leaning heavily on building tension. And Halloween Kills will feature a number of returning actors from the original, reprising their roles and fighting Michael Myers themselves. This includes Nancy Stephens, Kyle Richards, and Charles Cyphers.

It should be interesting to see which characters survive Halloween Kills, and if they get invited to the final installment in the trilogy: Halloween Ends. That upcoming movie has the potential to be Jamie Lee Curtis’ final bow as Laurie Strode, and it’ll end the thrilling story that began in 2018. We’ll just have to wait and see if major characters like Karen or Allyson make it through the next installment.

Halloween Kills is currently set to arrive in theaters on October 15th. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

By 1983, Stephen King was a proven Hollywood commodity. In addition to being a popular and best-selling author, it had been spectacularly demonstrated through five feature films and one TV movie how well-suited his works were for adaptation. As a result, the industry began developing King’s books for live-action even before they were published – which is the short story behind how John Carpenter’s Christine arrived in theaters just eight months after the novel it’s based on first hit shelves and while softcover editions still reigned at the top of the New York Times fiction rankings.

Carpenter originally had his eyes on a different adaptation, collaborating with screenwriter Bill Phillips to try and make a feature film version of the 1980 novel Firestarter, but when the vision for that project fell through (more on that in a couple weeks) it didn’t take long for the director to take a swing at a different Stephen King book. He had been given a manuscript for Christine and began talking about it with Phillips, and while the scenarist initially laughed at the idea of a story centered around a haunted car, he didn’t end up needing to finish the book before calling the Halloween filmmaker and confirming his interest in making the movie.

Christine has a powerful legacy, what with it being a collaboration between two of pop culture’s great Masters Of Horror… but one could make the argument that makes it particularly open for scrutiny and reexamination. How does it compare to the novel, and how has it held up over time? Those are the questions revving the engine of this week’s Adapting Stephen King.

What Christine Is About

When the initial idea for Christine started bouncing around inside Stephen King’s head, a rumination on an old red Cadillac he owned, it was a comedic short story. As told by the author to Douglas A. Winter for “Stephen King: The Art Of Darkness,” the mental first draft followed a kid who gets a car with an odometer that runs backwards, and while initially that has the effect of making it more beautiful and run better over time, it ultimately falls “into component parts” when it hits zero.

As things evolved, that kid became Arnold Cunningham (a name inspired by the restaurant and protagonist from Happy Days); that car became Christine (named after George A. Romero’s wife at the time); and the plot took a turn for the sinister.

Christine is the quintessential coming of age horror story, its vehicle – both literally and figuratively – being the great symbol of maturity in American culture. By the time you’re learning how to drive, you’re making the decisions about where your life is going to take you and the kind of person that you’re going to become. As choices are made, formative relationships are bonded, and priorities are ordered, it can be a time of great discovery and painful mistakes. For Arnie, Christine is both.

The book also being in part a Stephen King-style romance, the pizza-faced, nebbish Arnie falls in love with the titular 1958 Plymouth Fury at first sight while driving home from school with his jock best friend, Dennis Guidler. The car is in garbage condition, but it technically runs, and the teen decides he must have it. It immediately causes a fissure in his relationship with his parents, two college professors who refuse to allow the heap of junk to be parked at their house – but that’s just where things start.

In truth, Christine is not too dissimilar to the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, as it operates as a kind of psychic battery that generates a dark and corrupting energy. It enhances Arnie’s confidence, and even clears up his skin and magically fixes his eyesight, but it also feeds on his soul, and proves to have an agency of its own – expressing envy toward anyone who steals affection away from her (such as Arnie’s first ever girlfriend, Leigh Cabot) and murderous rage toward anyone who might try to hurt her.

How John Carpenter's Christine Differs From Stephen King's Book

Christine is most certainly a mean machine, and very much the star of the show in Stephen King’s novel, but a key aspect of the source material that the movie wholly ignores is that she is a kind of co-antagonist. To continue the psychic battery metaphor, her energy source for decades in the book is her first owner and world class sonofabitch, Roland D. LeBay, and his spirit is not only attached to the vehicle, but a massive part of Arnie’s corruption. The nerdy teen doesn’t just become obsessive, aggressive, and nihilistic, but starts actually transforming into LeBay – using his vocabulary, such as calling everybody a “shitter,” and even seeing his signature devolve into one that looks similar to the crotchety old man’s.

Keith Gordon’s Arnie does still call people “shitter” in John Carpenter’s movie, and there is a deleted scene where Dennis (John Stockwell) and Leigh (Alexandra Paul) notice that their friend’s handwriting has changed, but beyond that Roland LeBay is made out to be the same kind of victim that Arnie is. The film almost circumvents him entirely, as he is long deceased at the start of the story, and it’s his brother, George (Roberts Blossom), who sells Christine. It’s essentially a narrative shortcut, as George is established as a presence much earlier on, and is already around when Dennis begins looking into the car’s deadly history (which is where the sibling factors into the Stephen King book).

The decision by John Carpenter and Bill Phillips to axe Roland LeBay left them with the capacity to shine an even brighter light on the titular vehicle, and the wholly invented opening sequence is an extension of this. The novel sees Christine come off the line in its custom shade of red without issue, while Carpenter decided to crib an idea he attributes to Alfred Hitchcock – the original concept having been a montage of a car being built that ends with a body falling out of the trunk.

With greater narrative real estate, Stephen King’s Christine also features a number of notable plot lines that needed to be either deleted or compressed when being adapted. Dennis and Leigh, for example, don’t spark the same kind of romantic relationship that’s in the source material (some scenes were filmed, but they didn’t make the final cut). There is also a point in the book where Arnie’s father, Michael, makes an attempt to reach out to his increasingly rebellious son by renting him a space for his car at an airport lot, and it’s actually there that bully Buddy Repperton and his crew make their assault on the Plymouth Fury. Moving that action to Darnell’s Garage for the film removed the need for an extra location for the production.

Speaking of Darnell (Robert Prosky), there is also a plotline from the book that paints him as a far shadier operator, quietly smuggling drugs and using Arnie as a willing mule.

Additionally of note is that nearly every death in John Carpenter’s Christine happens differently in the book – and Carpenter actually spares a number of lives. As far as the high school hoodlums go, Moochie (Malcolm Danare) doesn’t get crushed in a narrow ally in Stephen King’s version, but instead is smashed in the street and run over multiple times. Repperton (William Ostrander), Richie Trelawney (Steven Tash), and a third friend, Bobby Stanton, meanwhile, get taken down by the villainous automobile in a deadly car crash while racing through a snowy state park instead of in the fiery incident at the gas station.

The most disappointing death from the book not to see in the movie is definitely Darnell’s. John Carpenter goes the low-budget approach in the adaptation, Christine ratcheting up her driver’s seat so that she crushes him against the steering wheel while he sits inside her, but Stephen King’s book has a bit more flash: the evil car decides to pay a visit to Darnell at home, by which I mean she literally drives into his house and tears both it and him up.

Simply being an asshole instead of a straight up drug smuggler, Darnell is shown some mercy in the film – but getting off even lighter are Detective Rudolph Junkins (Harry Dean Stanton), and Arnie’s parents (Christina Belford, Robert Darnell) – all of whom die in the book but survive the movie. Admittedly the former meets his maker relatively quietly in the source material, run off the road by Christine because she doesn’t like the progress that he is making in his investigation.

As for Arnie’s parents, their endings are tied into key changes made to Christine’s ending. As written by Stephen King, the finale doesn’t actually include Arnie, as the event is timed to when the young autophile is out of town visiting colleges (it’s implied that when Christine is “destroyed,” Roland LeBay’s spirit leaves it to try and complete his possession of Arnie, but when that happens Arnie and his mom are killed in a car “accident”). As for dad, Christine lures him into her cabin shortly before her showdown with Dennis and Leigh and kills him with carbon monoxide (John Carpenter has it so that Arnie flies out of the windshield during the fight, ultimately killing him, but in the book it is Michael’s body).

Lastly, while both versions end with a question mark regarding the fate of Christine, the book wraps things up differently. In a flash forward, Dennis reads an article that says the last of Buddy Repperton’s gang (one not featured at all in the film) was killed in a “bizarre murder by car” – leading him to question if the Plymouth Fury’s rampage really is over even after the big showdown.

Is It Worthy Of The King?

Taking Roland LeBay out of the story has massive repercussions for John Carpenter’s Christine. There is a kind of tongue-in-cheek tone that is instilled when you take the step from the car being possessed by a miserable misanthrope versus being simply evil (which is not to say that Stephen King’s novel doesn’t have its own dark sense of humor), and the context for Arnie’s corruption is altered. Without LeBay’s misery and poisonous attitude infecting the teenager like a virus through the red leather seats, the coming of age metaphor is softened and doesn’t click the same way it does in the book, not to mention that it removes a tool from the adaptation’s horror toolbox.

Along with the other changes, the movie version is its own experience compared to the novel – but as an interpretation of the material it is a winning one. It features a significant number of alterations, but it gets at the core of what the author’s story is about, and it remains a stunning example of pure movie magic that makes its timelessness on par with rock ‘n roll.

Featuring legendary character actor Harry Dean Stanton as the biggest name in the cast, and what amounts to very little action, the movie is intimate and really all about the characters, highlighting what is always the best aspect of Stephen King’s writing. Arnie, Dennis, and Leigh are all traditional archetypes – the nerd, the jock, and the beautiful new girl in school – but the story serves to subvert their traditional roles to the point that they become unrecognizable by the end, and while doing so makes them out to be compelling and unexpected heroes and villains.

Of course, a significant reason why Christine’s production was scaled back was because of the cost commitment to bringing to life the titular 1958 Plymouth Fury – but that’s just picture perfect representation of John Carpenter knowing where to put priorities. In addition to the car having an arc as strong as any of the other characters’, it’s stunning just how scary she can be. In any other circumstance it would be silly to call a fire red sports car brutal, possessive, and intimidating, but the movie flawlessly grafts those emotions on to Christine, and makes her far more than a machine.

Obviously actions and relationships speak loudly, but it’s also the technical brilliance employed bringing the villainous vehicle to life. Christine rebuilding herself is simply the result of the crew crushing individual parts with hydraulics while filming in reverse with the camera upside-down, but in the moment watching it just looks like sorcery, and it’s spectacular. It still has some freedom to have an air of silly (said rebuilding scene is set up as a kind of sexy strip tease, beginning with Arnie’s “Okay... show me”), but the temperature of your blood also drops as you watch the sedan run down Buddy Repperton on an empty road while engulfed in flames and all you can register is her ruthlessness and indestructibility.

Needless to say, the developing remake of Christine has a tremendously high bar to clear.

How To Watch John Carpenter's Christine

Giving John Carpenter’s Christine the love and care it deserves, Sony celebrated the 35th anniversary of the movie’s theatrical arrival with the release of a 4K edition in 2018 – a set that not only sports multiple featurettes and deleted scenes, but also a commentary track with John Carpenter and Keith Gordon (you can also still find it on Blu-ray and DVD). If you’re looking for a more instant viewing experience, the film is available to rent and purchase digitally from all major outlets, and is currently streaming on Starz.

Coming up next week, Adapting Stephen King will examine a movie that kick-started one of the author’s strangest cinematic legacies: Fritz Kiersch’s Children Of The Corn. Look for it live on CinemaBlend next Wednesday, and click on the banners below to read past installments of this column!

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As a master of the horror genre with a penchant for politically motivated allegory, there is one film by director John Carpenter that best defines his career. His chilling, highly suspenseful creature feature The Thing follows a group of American researchers in Antartica, led by Kurt Russell, who begin to question who among them they can trust after discovering a hostile otherworldly being with the ability to imitate any living organism. The movie has sparked questions over the years, which we may be able to answer through some The Thing behind-the-scenes facts that are just as fascinating as the film itself.

The 1982 sci-fi thriller is lauded as one of the best horror movies of all time for its astoundingly realistic creature effects and unnerving paranoid atmosphere, as well as one of the few horror remakes that actually don’t suck - even surpassing the 1951 original by more faithfully honoring the short story that inspired it, John W. Campbell Jr.’s “Who Goes There?” However, it actually took a long time for the initially panned box office bomb to achieve the praise it receives, which may actually be the film’s most confounding mystery. Perhaps we can figure it out as we unveil many other secrets of The Thing with the following these bits of trivia, starting with a glimpse at the imitation the movie could have been.

Tobe Hooper Was Approached To Direct The Thing Before John Carpenter

It is hard to imagine anyone better to helm The Thing than John Carpenter, who coincidentally incorporated a TV broadcast of The Thing from Another World into his original Halloween movie in 1978. However, he had not yet made the hit slasher masterpiece when Universal began considering who should remake the alien invasion movie, which is why Tobe Hooper was their first choice.

According to Bloody Disgusting, the studio parted ways with the director of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre when his vision resembled what producer Stuart Cohen described as “a sort of Antartica Moby Dick” vastly different from the source material. Tobe Hooper would go on to direct Poltergeist in 1982, depending on who you ask, that is.

The Thing’s Famous “Burned In” Title Card Was A Practical Effect

Thankfully, John Carpenter agreed The Thing should be more like “Who Goes There?” than The Thing from Another World was, but did pay tribute to Howard Hawks’ B-movie by recreating its iconic title card that literally “burns” into the screen. Visual effects artist Peter Kuran described how he achieved the effect 1998’s feature-length documentary The Thing: Terror Takes Shape, which can be found on Shout Factory’s 2016 Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release that Amazon has available. He first drew the ominous design of the title on an animation cell which he placed behind a fish tank filled with smoke and covered with a trash bag that, when lit on fire, revealed the title in all its glory.

The Thing’s Interior Scenes Were Shot In A Refrigerated Soundstage

The Thing also resembles the 1951 film's Antarctic setting, even though no shooting took place there, exterior shots were achieved in Alaska and British Columbia and the inside of U.S. Outpost 31 built on a Universal Studios soundstage cooled to an authentically cold temperature. Cinematographer Dean Cundey recalled on the Terror Takes Shape doc how the warmly dressed cast and crew would walk out into the Los Angeles summer heat to the see confused faces of studio tourists. They would eventually grow tired of changing for lunch breaks and opted to endure the heat instead, according to star Richard Masur.

Canine Actor Jed Made His Film Debut In The Thing

By starring as resident dog handler Clark, Richard Masur got to spend a lot of time with Jed, whose performance as the titular creature's wolfdog disguise often gets more praise than most of the human cast. This makes it all the more surprising to learn that the animal actor, who would go onto star in both of Disney's White Fang movies, had never been in a film before The Thing on top of having little experience working with people, as Masur claims in Terror Takes Shape. Perhaps that was crucial to the memorably chilling and fittingly "alien" atmosphere of his onscreen presence.

Doc’s Arm-Loss Effect In The Thing Was Achieved By Hiring An Amputee

When naming The Thing's most shocking flagship moment, many cite "Doc" Copper's (Richard Dysart) attempt to revive what he does not realize is an imitation of Norris (Charles Hallahan), whose stomach turns into a large mouth that chomps down on Doc's arms. In Terror Takes Shape, Rob Bottin, the man we can thank for the film's stunning practical effects, reveals that, in the following wide shot, the now armless Doc is then played by a man, who had lost his arms in an industrial accident, wearing a mask modeled from Dysart's face. Bottin also mentions how this same double was wearing fake arms made of jello, wax bones, and rubber in the close-up of the grotesque amputation.

Rob Bottin Was Hospitalized For Exhaustion By The End Of The Thing’s Production

Rob Bottin, a big inspiration to the special effects designer of 2011's The Thing prequel Alec Gillis, was only 22 when John Carpenter hired him as to design the titular creature and its make-up effects, though you would believe he was an industry veteran by his impeccable work in the film that would prove to be more tiresome than one should really allow. Just take this excerpt from his Terror Takes Shape interview to see why:

Any filmmaker would agree that no one should ever work themselves to threatening levels of exhaustion for their art. Of course, when the result is one of the scariest movie monsters in history, you cannot say it was not entirely worth it.

Fangoria Magazine Held A Creature Drawing Contest Prior To The Thing's Release

Of course, the ability to shape-shift into an unlimited amount of forms is what really makes the alien antagonist of The Thing especially scary, unpredictable, and such an amazing creative opportunity. Renowned horror magazine Fangoria used that opportunity to hold a contest challenging readers to submit drawings of what they imagined the creature would look like, promising a trip to Universal Studios to the most accurate or unique illustration.

The winning submission, which Fangoria later shared on Instagram in 2018, really looks nothing like any of what the creature becomes in the film, but is so terrifying, it almost makes you wonder if that is what scared audiences from the theater. However, the makers of The Thing have other ideas.

Cast And Crew Believe E.T.’s Success Caused The Thing’s Critical And Commercial Failure

With how highly regarded it is today, it is hard to believe that The Thing initially received poor reviews when it was came out in the Summer of 1982 and grossed a worldwide total of only less than $20 million. Well, audiences may recall that a little movie called E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released just two weeks earlier and, as Dean Cundey would explain in the following Terror Takes Shape excerpt, he and most others involved with the horror flick assume the hit family film is what sealed its fate:

Norris actor Charles Hallahan also claimed in the documentary that if more time had passed between the release of The Thing and the heartwarming E.T. (which Steven Spielberg almost made into a killer alien horror movie, too, believe it or not), it could have been a real success. Of course, not everyone involved felt too confident in the film's nihilistic overtones either.

An Alternate Ending To The Thing Was Shot To Give Audiences A More Hopeful Conclusion

Editor Todd Ramsay recalls in Terror Takes Shape approaching John Carpenter with the idea of, instead of ending The Thing with an uncertain fate for lone survivors R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (future Community star Keith David) that the audience may respond better to something more concrete and positive. Carpenter decided to shoot an alternate scene in which MacReady is rescued and confirmed to be still human, but to stay true to the source material, he ultimately opted to leave it out. Horror fans are thankful for ending we got for its more appropriately somber quality and, especially, the debates it has since sparked.

Dean Cundey Implanted A Subtle Hint At Who Is Or Is Not The Thing

While The Thing never gets old no matter how many times you see it, nothing really tops the mystery of who the creature is imitating in the first viewing. Well, apparently it is much easier to distinguish the humans from the creature than we all realized as director of photography Dean Cundey would reveal in this pull from a 2016 interview with Blumhouse:

As you can see from the photo of Palmer (David Clennon) above, all it really took to know he was an alien was paying close attention to the shadows over his brow. Yet, does this also explain the The Thing's ambiguous ending that never confirms if Keith David and Kurt Russell's characters are still human? I will leave that one up to you.

Quick bonus fact before we go: did you know that the late legendary composer Ennio Morricone repurposed some unused music from his The Thing score for The Hateful Eight in 2015? What is really ironic is how he was actually nominated for a Razzie for composing the horror film while Quentin Tarantino's western, also starring Kurt Russell, earned him his first and only Academy Award, not counting his honorary Oscar in 2007. I suppose the real lesson to take from all of this is that good things come to those who wait.

The horror genre is a unique pocket of the film world, which has enthralled audiences since cinema's earliest days. As far as modern horror franchises go, there are few quite as iconic as John Carpenter's Halloween. The original 1978 movie changed slashers forever, and Michael Myers has never been far from theaters. As we wait for the release of Blumhouse's Halloween Kills, Carpenter recently explained why he's glad to be known as the "Halloween Guy."

John Carpenter has had a long, successful career as both a filmmaker and songwriter. Aside from creating Michael Myers and Halloween, he also brought iconic projects to life like The Thing, Christine, and Assault on Precinct 13. His name has always been synonymous with the long-running slasher series, and Carpenter responded to that unbreakable link, saying:

Well, there you have it. It looks like being a living legend doesn't bother John Carpenter very much. He's happy to be labeled as such, and he's still intimately involved in the Halloween movies, being credited an executive producer while also writing the music. And there's two more of those coming down the line, starting with Halloween Kills.

John Carpenter's comments to NME show what a cheerleader for the Halloween franchise the filmmaker continues to be. While 2018's Halloween movie and the two sequels will all be helmed by David Gordon Green and written by Danny McBride, Carpenter is still able to contribute to Michael Myers' continued life on the big screen. And as such, he'll be the "Halloween Guy" for the foreseeable future.

The world John Carpenter created was originally supposed to return to theaters this past October. Unfortunately Halloween Kills was delayed a full year in hopes of once again making a killing (wink wink) at the box office. While we're still waiting on a full trailer, you can check out the limited footage of that slasher below.

David Gordon Green's 2018 Halloween movie was a direct sequel to John Carpenter's original, ignoring the myriad other installments that have hit theaters over the past 40 years. And while that movie focused on Laurie Strode's trauma and its affect on her family, Halloween Kills will see the town of Haddonfield become a character.

Jamie Lee Curtis has teased that Halloween Kills will be about mob violence, as denizens of Haddonfield including survivors from Michael's first attack arm up to take on The Shape themselves. A number of characters from John Carpenter's original Halloween will be returning in the process, with actors Nancy Stephens, Kyle Richards, and Charles Cyphers reprising their roles from the 1978 classic.

Halloween Kills is currently expected to arrive in theaters on October 15th. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your next movie experience.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed how most of the country consumes its entertainment. Theaters have closed, streaming services are now bringing movies straight to your home and a number of major blockbusters have been delayed. Horror legend John Carpenter recently shed some light on how fans may be able to watch Halloween Kills when it releases.

In a recent interview Halloween creator John Carpenter discussed the possibility of Halloween Kills coming straight to viewers at home, rather than the big screen. As he put it,

The director revealed that it’s definitely a possibility that the sequel will be released straight to PVOD. In his interview with NME, he addressed the reality of the current situation and the perilous state that most theaters are in right now. While it’s certainly not ideal, the director mentions that there’s always the possibility that things will get better and fans can enjoy Halloween Kills on the big screen.

Halloween Kills is a sequel to 2018’s Halloween, a soft reboot of the iconic horror franchise. Fan favorite Jamie Lee Curtis reprised her role as Laurie Strode and will return in the upcoming sequel. While John Carpenter won’t be back in the directors chair, he is attached to work on the music, which makes sense considering the theme for 1978’s Halloween is one of the most recognizable in film history.

David Gordon Green will be returning for Halloween Kills as director. His partnership with Danny McBride on the writing team was a successful one, as 2018’s Halloween was a box office hit, taking home more than $255 million on a $10-15 million budget.

The highly anticipated sequel has been described as “the ultimate slasher” by John Carpenter, who was the mastermind behind the original Halloween. Not bad, as Carpenter is considered one of the best to ever do it in the horror genre. As of now Halloween Kills is scheduled to release in theaters October 15, 2021, but with the current state of the pandemic that could change at any time.

While there is no telling what the 2021 movie schedule will look like come October, it sounds like Halloween Kills will be an awesome return to form regardless of where it releases. Until then, fans of the franchise can return to the film that started it all on Shudder, or head on over to Amazon to check out the most recent entry. I know that I'll be crossing my fingers that we will be able see Halloween Kills in all of its gory glory on the big screen, like it's meant to be seen.

2020 was a wild one, and the entertainment industry came to a screeching halt when sets and theaters around the world were shut down. One of the many movies which were pushed back a full year was David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills. The slasher sequel was meant to be released this past October, before Blumhouse pulled it in hopes of making a box office haul in 2021. The legendary John Carpenter recently spoke about the movie's quality, and definitely made it sound like it's worth the wait.

John Carpenter changed the film world with his 1978 original Halloween movie, starting a slasher property that has never been far from theaters. He's given his blessing to the current trilogy, even writing the music for David Gordon Green's 2018 installment. Halloween Kills was completed ahead of its original release date, and Carpenter's description of the movie will make fans very happy. As he put it,

Talk about high praise. It sounds like David Gordon Green and Danny McBride really outdid themselves with Halloween Kills. Everything we've heard from the set has teased a much bigger scope, as well as a massive bodycount. And now if John Carpenter is to be believed, the delayed project is the "ultimate slasher." Is it October yet?

John Carpenter's comments to EW are definitely exciting, although it makes the extra year of waiting for Halloween Kills all the more painful. While not much is known about the movie's contents, the second installment in the current trilogy is seemingly gearing up to be a horror version of The Avengers. Various characters from Carpenter's original movie will return, as Haddonfield arms up to take on The Shape themselves.

Perhaps it's this formation of characters that makes Halloween Kills feel like the ultimate slasher to John Carpenter. Joining Jamie Lee Curtis are original Halloween actors Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, and Charles Cyphers who are all reprising their roles forty years later. Additionally we'll meet adult versions of the characters Tommy Doyle and Lonnie Elam, played by Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Longstreet respectively.

While we haven't been treated to a full trailer, some limited footage from Halloween Kills has been released to help satiate the fandom. In it we see the mob violence of Haddonfield, as every character is armed to the teeth now that Michael Myers is back. Check it out below.

2018's Halloween focused largely on Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode, and the trauma she experienced in the decades since surviving her fateful encounter with The Shape. We saw how this affected her family, although her obsession ultimately paid off when Michael managed to escape his transport from Smith's Grove. But he seemingly survived Laurie's basement trap, and will be back for blood in Halloween Kills.

As we get closer to Halloween Kills' release this coming fall, fans are no doubt going to become more vocal about wanting to see a full trailer. And while there are some moviegoers who might be worried about the sequel getting delayed again, Jason Blum has expressed his commitment to putting out the sequel this October no matter what.

Halloween Kills is currently set to arrive in theaters on October 15th. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your next movie experience.

2020 has been a hell of a year that has led to many people largely isolating themselves at home. This has led to a need to keep one's self entertained, frequently through the use of TV, movies, or video games. If you're in need of something new to play now because you've played everything else you own, there's always the newest entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise. I haven't actually played it yet, I'm taking that perspective from one of the masters of horror, who is also a master gamer. John Carpenter says the new AC is pretty great, and fans are going a little wild.

While video games in general have largely aged with the generation that grew up playing home console games in the 1980s, and thus, the "average gamer" is not the child or the teenager that often comes to mind, John Carpenter, at 72, is certainly outside of the key demographic. Perhaps this is why seeing the writer/composer/director praise a popular video game now has fans doing a social media double take. While this isn't the first time Carpenter has talked gaming on social media, clearly many are taking notice for the first time.

The Assassin's Creed franchise has been running for over a decade and has a dozen entries in its console game history along with a handful of handheld and mobile spinoffs. The series has been largely a big hit with fans but in recent years there have been some issues with games feeling less polished than they should, or otherwise coming up short. The newest game, which focuses on Viking assassins, according to John Carpenter, fixes the problems and is another impressive installment in the series.

As game reviews go, John Carpenter's response may not be in depth, but it covers the bases and it will probably mean more to many fans that what traditional critics have to say. It's also causing some fans to suggest that if the great John Carpenter is a gamer, then the man needs to get involved in the industry. Imagine what Carpenter could do with a game adaption of one of his films considering how well he understands games from a player's perspective.

John Carpenter has some time to play more video games just like the rest of us. While he's been involved as a producer of the recent Halloween rebbot/sequel, those movies, like every other theatrical release, are on hold. And so, really what else should Carpenter do but hang out and play video games. It's what many of us would do in his position. We'd be so lucky to be able to do what he can.

And John Carpenter's praise for the new Assassin's Creed game is not one sided. While the man behind Halloween is praising the game, the people behind the game are equally in awe of John Carpenter. He gets praised in Italian, because the best games in the Assassin's Creed series were focused on the Italian Renaissance time period and the style has sort of stuck.

As somebody who has largely moved on from the Assassin's Creed games, I have to say John Carpenter's endorsement certainly has me considering giving the new one a try.

Every October a slew of horror movies are released, dating all the way back to John Carpenter's 1978 classic Halloween. Michael Myers was set to return to theaters this year with David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills, but it was delayed a full calendar year. But the filmmaker is still providing more exciting Michael Myers content. Namely by adapting the original movie into a children's book.

Director David Gordon Green has a real love for the OG Halloween, which can be seen by his 2018 sequel. And while we'll have to wait another year before catching up on Laurie Strode and the town of Haddonfield, Green has taken the time to make John Carpenter's classic slasher into an adorable picture book. You can check out how The Shape looks below.

Michael Myers has never been more adorable. While the iconic villain will likely still be murdering Laurie's friends throughout the Halloween children's book, I can't help but love this cartoon version of the boogeyman. Somebody cue the theme song.

The above sneak peak of David Gordon Green's book comes to us from EW. Titled The Legend of Halloween, the new children's book was written by the filmmaker himself, featuring art by director Onur Tukel. This new retelling of the original Halloween movie is complete with rhyming couplets, and animated version of all of the iconic characters like Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode.

The Legend of Halloween is currently available for pre-order on the upcoming book's official website. David Gordon Green's upcoming print project is billed as "the perfect treat for Halloween fans of (almost) all ages!" It also comes with a synopsis which reads:

If that isn't the most delightful way to explain the murderous contents of Halloween, I'm not sure what is. This is another shining example of how much David Gordon Green loves John Carpenter's iconic movie. He knows that film in and out, which is likely why so many characters will be returning for Halloween Kills. More images from The Legend of Halloween have also hit the internet, showing a few pages of the book adaptation.

While the book is only available for pre-order, it's announcement is sure to help satiate the rabid Halloween fans who were expecting another big screen adventure this month. Halloween Kills will now arrive in 2021, which is understandable but disappointing news. Luckily some new footage recently arrived, which debuted the return of beloved Halloween characters.

Haddonfield is expected to be a character itself in Halloween Kills, as the survivors from Michael's 1978 rampage through Haddonfield will return as The Shape continues his murder spree. Nancy Stephens, Kyle Richards, and Charles Cypher will all reprise their roles from John Carpenter's movie. Additionally, adult version of characters Tommy Doyle and Lonnie Elam will also appear.

Halloween Kills is currently set to arrive in theaters on October 15, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your trips to the movies next year.

The horror genre has been in a renaissance for the past few years, as a variety of quality movies arrived in theaters to critical and box office acclaim. This includes remakes of classic franchises like 2018's Halloween. Directed by David Gordon Green, the sequel started a new timeline and broke records in the process. Two more sequels are coming starting with Halloween Kills, and John Carpenter recently explained why he's so excited for the fans to see it.

The original Halloween movie arrived back in 1978 from iconic director John Carpenter. It revolutionized slashers forever, and would kickstart a franchise that has last decades. The filmmaker/composer has been a vocal proponent of David Gordon Green's vision for his own trilogy, with Carpenter helping to write the movie's score. He recently explained why he was so excited to share Halloween Kills with the generations of fans, saying:

Well, color me stoked. The extra year of waiting for Halloween Kills to arrive in theaters is going to be a long one. At least, if John Carpenter's assessment of his franchise's latest is to be believed. He's seen the upcoming movie himself, as it's already in the can and originally slatted for an October 16th.

John Carpenter's comments at Fantasia Fest are sure to delight fans who are eagerly anticipating any updates about Halloween Kills' contents. Since it was originally set to hit theaters in just a few months, the anticipation for the sequels is at a fever pitch. Unfortunately it was delayed a year until theaters are fully open and the movie is able to make some cheddar at the box office.

Moviegoers have been anxious anticipated a trailer for Halloween Kills, which has the potential to satiate the fans who won't be returning to Haddonfield this coming fall. And while it's unclear when that trailer will arrive, we were treated to a brief teaser, featuring Laurie and her family directly after the events of the last Halloween movie. You can check that out below.

Thrilling right? Everyone involved in Halloween Kills has praised its scope and size, which will seemingly greatly expand the story told in 2018's Halloween. Because while that sequel focused on Laurie's trauma and its affect on her family, Halloween Kills will show how the entire town of Haddonfield reacts to Michael Myers' return.

Jamie Lee Curtis previously teased that Halloween Kills will "unpack" the events of John Carpenter's original, and now we can see why. The various survivors from Michael's first rampage will return for the delayed sequel, featuring the return of OG Halloween actors Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, and Nancy Stephens.

Halloween Kills is currently set to arrive in theaters on October 15th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next movie experience.

It's a difficult job bringing to life a hulking monster like Halloween's Michael Myers. That’s especially true when you learn about some of the experiences the actor who brought him to life in John Carpenter’s Halloween, horror legend Nick Castle, went through. Presenting the formidable physical presence of The Shape that would hunt down Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode for one fateful night in 1978, Castle apparently had some pretty horrible moments while filming that iconic genre classic. And recently Castle detailed "the worst part"of filming the iconic classic.

The one moment that Castle was particularly not fond of is, surprisingly, the rainy night that starts the action within Halloween’s insidious plot. Apparently, according to his discussion with the hosts of The Thing with Two Heads' video podcast, Nick Castle did his own stunts in the scene involving Michael’s big escape from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. As he recalled that decision, the regret of doing so came through in the following thoughts:

It may not sound like too taxing of a scenario, but if you’re out in the middle of the night, wearing nothing but a thin hospital gown like Nick Castle was, the slightest breeze could chill you to the bone. If you’re curious which classic Halloween scene Castle is talking about, or if you just want to relive a chilling piece of horror history, you can watch it in the clip from the film we’ll provide below. If you’re in a hurry to see the stunt, skip to 02:36, but I highly recommend letting the whole moment play out in its entirety.

Learning from his past, and more than likely due to the time that’s passed in-between playing Michael Myers in 1978’s Halloween and his return to key aspects of the 2018 legacyquel’s resurrection of the man himself, Nick Castle is definitely not doing the stunts he used to. Yet his presence, and his assistance, in bringing Haddonfield’s prodigal son to life for contemporary moviegoers has been most assuredly felt in the recent release. I'm all the more excited for his return in Halloween Kills as well.

Here’s hoping it’s not so rainy when he stalks into theaters for that particular film on October 15, 2021, which will lead to the ominously titled Halloween Ends rounding out this new trilogy on October 14, 2022. Take a look at what else is still planning to hit theaters this year with our full schedule.

It's a good time to be a horror fan. The genre has been booming for years now, with plenty of new and original projects coming to theaters and making tons of money in the process. Classic franchises also returned to theaters, like 2018's Halloween which was massively successful. The director and writer combination of David Gordon Green and Danny McBride are re-teaming for two more sequels, starting with Halloween Kills. Original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle is returning to help bring The Shape to life, although he recently admitted he was nervous about his big cameo being cut.

In Blumhouse's Halloween, Nick Castle helped support stunt performer James Jude Courtney's performance as the villainous Michael Myers. It's Castle's breath that can be heard in the movie, and he's also the unmasked version of the character. He's set to appear in Halloween Kills when it hits theaters next October, although the actor/director did explain that he's worried one particular sequence might end up on the cutting room floor. As he put it,

Well, that was honest. While Nick Castle was careful not to actually reveal anything about Halloween Kills' mysterious contents, he seems to think one particular sequence is in danger of being left on the cutting room floor. We'll just have to wait and see when the highly anticipated sequel hits theaters in time for the titular holiday next year.

Nick Castle's comments come from his recent appearance on The Thing With Two Heads podcast help to peel back the curtain behind Halloween Kills' production. The movie was originally slated for a release this coming October, but was delayed a full year amid global health concerns and closed theaters.

Halloween Kills is no doubt nearly complete, despite having to wait a year and change before hitting theaters. The upcoming sequel will pick up immediately after 2018's Halloween, and will unpack the events of John Carpenter's original movie. Rather than only focusing on Laurie and her family, the entire town of Haddonfield will be expanded, with survivors of Michael's assaults deciding how to fight back against evil.

Fans were hoping that a Halloween Kills trailer would arrive, although that'll likely be in months from now. Some brief clips were revealed, helping to satiate moviegoers as they wait an extra year for the slasher to arrive. We'll just have to see if Nick Castle's big cameo as Michael Myers makes it into the theatrical cut.

Halloween Kills is currently set to arrive in theaters on October 15th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next movie experience.

The horror genre was built on long-standing franchises, and there are few quite as iconic as Halloween. John Carpenter's 1978 classic was a game changer for slashers, and Blumhouse recently brought the property back to theaters with David Gordon Green's 2018 sequel. Blumhouse's Halloween was a huge success, with two more sequels coming to create a bonafide trilogy. And it turns out that John Carpenter had a hilariously blunt response to seeing Michael Myers' new mask.

2018's Halloween ignored the myriad sequels of the past, and focused on Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) 40 years after surviving Michael Myers' attack on Haddonfield. Those decades weren't kind to Laurie's psyche, and they were equally unkind to The Shape's signature mask. Because once he escaped Smith's Grove and procured his mask, it was appropriately aged and cracked given the time. Make-up effects designer Christopher Nelson was tasked with creating an older version of Michael's mask, and recently shared John Carpenter's hilarious reaction to it. As Nelson put it,

On top of his work as a filmmaker and composer, the legendary John Carpenter is also known for his biting sense of humor. While he didn't direct, Carpenter was involved in David Gordon Green's Halloween sequel, including writing the music. And on top of that contribution, he clearly provided some on set laughs.

Christopher Nelson's A+ story about John Carpenter comes from his podcast The Thing With Two Heads. When speaking with original Michael Myers actor Nick Castle, the conversation eventually turned to their various interactions with the great John Carpenter. Creating the iconic villain's mask for the new Halloween was no doubt a high takes task, but it's refreshing to hear there was still a sense of levity and fun on set.

Halloween ended up being a massive success, with the new version of Michael Myers' mask showing how time had passed, and even including evidence of his original conflict with Laurie all those years ago. The horror villain will be back for two more sequels, starting with Halloween Kills. Picking up immediately after the events of the last film, the (delayed) sequel will largely focus on Haddonfield's response to Michael's return, and unpack the events of the 1978 original movie.

Halloween Kills is currently expected to hit theaters on October 15th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

The horror genre has been in a serious renaissance lately, leading to the return of classic franchises. David Gordon Green's Halloween was a record-breaking success when it hit theaters in 2018, leading Blumhouse to order two more movies to make a new trilogy. The first of those movies is Halloween Kills, which will reunite Green with writer Danny McBride. After years of patiently waiting, the upcoming sequel's first footage was just released, but there's bad news.

Halloween Kills was poised to hit theaters this coming October, in time for the titular holiday. As such, the generations of fans have been patiently waiting on some footage from the movie, especially a full trailer. John Carpenter himself originally shared the movie's first footage, but it's accompanied by some disappointing news. Namely, that Halloween Kills has been pushed back a year to Oct. 15, 2021. You can check out the movie's first few moments of footage below.

Well, that was thrilling. Clearly Halloween Kills will pick up just moments after the events of the 2018 film. And now we may know how Michael Myers managed to survive being trapped and seemingly burned to death in Laurie's basement. Emergency services presumably put out the fire, to the dismay of the Strode women. Let's break down what we're being shown here.

The brief clip came to us from the Twitter of John Carpenter himself, who created Michael Myers and began the long standing franchise back in 1978. The aftermath of 2018's Halloween is shown, with bodies in the street and Laurie Strode's isolated home in flames. From there we see the trio of Strode women, with Karen and Allyson on either side of Laurie. The trio are bleeding and shaking in the back of the truck that picked them up on the road, before they hear sirens.

It soon becomes clear that aid is coming to Laurie's home, and that they could potentially stop Michael Myers from finally dying once and for all. All three women cry in anguish, as Jamie Lee Curtis' protagonist screams in vain for he first responders to stop. Curtis is the OG scream queen, and will clearly give another gripping performance in Halloween Kills. It's just too bad that we'll have to wait over a year until it finally hits theaters.

Halloween Kills has been pushed back a full calendar year, with its release moving from October 2020 to October 2021. And since there is also Halloween Ends on the way, that movie will also need to move back a year as well. And with intense clips like the one above likely to make their way online to help keep up anticipation, the wait is going to be a difficult one for hardcore fans.

Halloween Kills will arrive in theaters on October 15th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

The horror genre was built on long-standing franchises, including John Carpetner's Halloween. The original 1978 movie made Jamie Lee Curtis a star, and influenced countless slashers that followed. Michael Myers returned to theaters with David Gordon Green's 2018 sequel, which was a record-breaking success. Two new sequels will form a bonafide trilogy, starting with Halloween Kills this coming October. And Carpenter recently teased the massive bodycount that The Shape will amass throughout its runtime.

2018's Halloween was a direct sequel to John Carpenter's original movie, ignoring the myriad sequels that were released over the past 40 years. Carpenter himself returned to compose the score, which he also did for Halloween Kills. Carpenter has already seen the movie's cut, and spoke to its grisly amount of dead bodies, saying:

Well, that's certainly exciting. Laurie Strode and her family failed to actually kill Michael Myers when they trapped him in her basement, and he'll be out for another rampage though Haddonfield when Halloween Kills. And this time it looks like he'll take even more victims than his 2018 appearance. That's saying something, because the most recent installment to the franchise was violent and deadly.

John Carpenter's comments to IndieWire is sure to excite the generations of horror fans out there who can't wait for Halloween Kills to hit theaters in just a few months. The 2018 movie brought Michael Myer back with a vengeance as he tore through Haddonfield, killing and sparing residents at random. The Shape killed a whopping 17 people throughout the course of the movie. But it looks like he'll be even more murderous in Halloween Kills.

Jamie Lee Curtis has teased that the upcoming sequel will "unpack" the events of John Carpenter's original Halloween. This is obvious in the movie's cast, which will see the return of both actors and characters from the 1978 classic. Kyle Richards, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens will all reprise their role from the original movie, while we'll also meet adult (recast) versions of characters Tommy Doyle and Lonnie Elam. Although if Carpenter's comments are any indication, a lot of them aren't going to survive their second encounter with The Boogeyman.

Halloween Kills will also see the return of Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode, as well as her daughter and granddaughter played by Judy Greer and Andi Matichak respectively. The women are no doubt bonded by their united front against Michael Myers, and it should be interesting to see how his appearance changes the family dynamic. Laurie was about Michael right all along, despite her trauma and flaws.

All will be revealed when Halloween Kills hits theaters on October 16th. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

The horror genre was built on certain groundbreaking franchises, chief among them being Halloween. John Carpenter's original 1978 movie made Jamie Lee Curtis a star, and broke new ground as a slasher. The property has never truly been far from theaters, as countless incarnations and timelines have brought Michael Myers back to rack up a body count. Throughout it all The Shape has worn his iconic white mask, and now we can see exactly how it was made.

The original Halloween movie was made on a very small budget, with plenty of creative filmmaking needed in order complete John Carpenter's vision of Haddonfield. Michael Myers' iconic face was actually a mask of William Shatner's likeness from Star Trek, with filmmaker Tommy Lee Wallace making some adjustments to craft the now iconic look. A new video reveals exactly how Wallace made this happen, as he creates a new Michael Myers mask right in front of our eyes. Check it out below.

I mean, how cool is that? Michael Myers' appearance is an iconic part of the Halloween brand that has terrified moviegoers for decades. And while we've seen plenty of different versions, it turns out that the OG design doesn't even take much time to craft. Let's break down exactly how to make The Shape's mask from an old school William Shatner one.

The above video featuring Tommy Lee Wallace comes to us from Sean Clark's YouTube, and was originally intended for Halloween: The Complete Collection Box Set. In it Halloween OG collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace as reveals exactly how Michael Myers' appearance was accomplished for the original 1978 movie. And that includes the use of a Captain Kirk mask in the likeness of actor William Shatner.

First off, Tommy Lee Wallace changed the color of the mask's hair. By using a spray paint, Captain Kirk's blonde locks are transformed into The Shape's messy dark mane of hair. He also removes the mask's side burns and eyebrows, to create a less human appearance. Additionally, Wallace cut the eye holes to make them larger. Finally, the mask is sprayed in "appliance white" paint, which creates the creepy pale skin of Halloween's villain. Adorably enough, the mask rocks a shower cap during this last part, as to not accidentally paint the hair white.

As Tommy Lee Wallace mentions in the video, no on involved in Halloween expected John Carpenter's slasher to become such a pop culture sensation. As a result, Michael Myers' appearance has become a staple of the horror genre, recreated for the myriad sequels that have hit theaters over the years. And there's something extra scary about the original mask, which was void of emotion or battle scars.

Plenty of different versions of the mask followed, including the one currently in rotation for David Gordon Green's Halloween and its two upcoming sequels. Set 40 years after the events of the Carpenter original, the mask is old and distorted from its time in storage. What's more, there are punctures from being stabbed by Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode.

Michael Myers is set to return to theaters with Halloween Kills on October 16th, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

The horror genre is in the midst of a renaissance, in due no small part by Blumhouse Productions. The production company has brought some of the most recent hits to theaters, including Get Out, Insidious, and Happy Death Day. But the studio has also turned its head to the classics, beginning with 2018's Halloween. The movie was a direct sequel to the original, and broke box office records when it arrived in theaters. Two more movies are on the way, and now it seems next year's Halloween Kills will bring us back to a setting from the original sequel.

Halloween II was produced by John Carpenter, but has been removed from the canon of the current trilogy. But David Gordon Green and writer Danny McBride have a real love for the long-running slasher franchise, and peppered nods to the sequels in their first Halloween movie. Halloween Kills will be deeply connected to Carpenter's original 1978 movie, but now it looks like Halloween II's primary setting is factoring in. That's right, we're going to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.

This news comes to us from Twitter, where we see what looks like the set for Halloween Kills. It looks like the upcoming sequel is heading to Haddonfield Memorial, which was the main setting of Halloween II. That 1981 movie followed up on Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode directly after the events of the first film. Laurie was taken to the hospital for medical care, where Michael Myers came looking for her. And that's how you become a final girl.

Laurie once again fought for her life, although that movie has since been removed from the official timeline. Halloween II is also when John Carpenter came up with the idea to make Laurie and Michael siblings. This is a plot twist that dictated the next slew of movies, but is a narrative choice that Carpenter has since admitted he regrets.

The two protagonists are no longer related by blood, but Blumhouse's Halloween showed that Michael and Laurie were still very much connected. Both the heroine and villain spent the last 40 years thinking about their run-in in Haddonfield, and Michael's rampage through the town. Jamie Lee Curtis' signature character was ruled by her trauma, but her preparation for Michael's inevitable return ultimately saved her, as well as Karen and Allyson.

Related: Jamie Lee Curtis Says Halloween Kills Will ‘Unpack’ The Original Movie

Halloween fans will be eager to see how the town's hospital will factor into Halloween Kills. Michael's rampage through the town caused plenty of injuries, but its unclear when the upcoming sequel is set. If the sequel is directly after the events of Halloween, then the reasoning is obvious. But if there's a time jump, then seemingly any plot twist could bring the generations of Strode women to Haddonfield Memorial.

While news of the Halloween sequels was a surprise to the public, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were reportedly planning this trilogy while working on the 2018 sequel. This is a fact that should excite the fans, who are hoping that the following two movies measure up in quality to the most recent addition to the franchise. Clearly there's a specific story being told, this time with an adult Laurie and her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson. But what that story is remains a mystery.

As previously mentioned, the time setting of Halloween Kills is likely going to dictate its storytelling possibilities. If we pick up with Laurie and her family on the night of Michael's return to Haddonfield, moviegoers will be able to see how the Strode women are coping with their latest traumatic experience. The final sequence of 2018's Halloween saw the trio trapping Michael in Laurie's basement, before setting the place ablaze and being picked up by someone driving by in a truck. The ending wasn't especially tidy, so there's plenty of story to be told if we pick up from that exact moment.

On the flip side, Halloween Kills could pick up the story after a time jump. This might allow for characters like Karen and Allyson to get more fleshed out, as moviegoers see how they've coped since surviving their first attack by Michael Myers. Laurie's trauma from her teenage attack put a big wedge in the family unit, as Jamie Lee Curtis' protagonist was never able to truly move on from the incident. Her obsession with preparedness and Michael prevented her from being a proper mother to Karen (Judy Greer), with both adult women seemingly unable to put their differences aside.

But now that Karen has seen the terror of The Shape in person, it should presumably change her perspective on her mother's mental health and previous issues. And aside from getting context about her mother's feelings, Karen will also have to grapple with a fascinating realization: Laurie was right. It was her obsession with Michael that got the three women out alive. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Karen's husband Ray.

Allyson should have an intriguing story for Halloween Kills as well, as she'll likely be closer than ever to Laurie. The two shared a special and tender bond in Halloween (2018), but their encounter with Michael Myers will presumably intensify things. After all, Allyson is the same age Laurie was during the first movie. And just like her grandmother, Allyson's friends were murdered when Michael escaped Smith's Grove.

There are clearly plenty of narrative threads to pull from. Halloween Kills appears like its making Haddonfield into a character itself, bringing back characters from John Carpenter's original movie. So the story could go anywhere, especially with Halloween Ends creating a bonafide trilogy.

Unfortunately, we've got over a year to wait and theorize about what David Gordon Green might have in store for Halloween Kills. Our answers will be provided when the movie hits theaters on October 16th, 2020. It'll be followed by Halloween Ends on October 15th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

While the horror genre has been in a renaissance for years, it's a particularly good time for fans of John Carpenter's Halloween franchise. Michael Myers returned to theaters in a big way with Blumhouse's 2018 sequel, which started a new timeline and brought back Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode 40 years after her original attack. Two more movies are on the way, starting with next year's Halloween Kills. Plenty of actors from the 1978 original are reprising their roles, and it looks like a franchise favorite is going to be appearing in the upcoming sequel.

Halloween Kills looks like it's going to be extremely connected to John Carpenter's classic, as original and new actors will bring various characters back into the franchise's narrative. The latest report indicates that Nurse Marion Chambers will have a role in the sequel, with actress Nancy Stephens playing the role for a whopping fourth time.

This news comes to us from HalloweenMovies, and is sure to excited longtime fans of the Halloween franchise. Marion Chambers has had quite tenure in the franchise, and is one of the recurring characters in the long-running property. She appeared in John Carpenter's Halloween as a nurse assisting Dr. Loomis, and has popped up a few time over the years. What's more, the original actress is playing the fan favorite character once more. Somebody cue the theme song.

Marion Chambers was a critical part of Michael Myers' rampage in the first Halloween. The masked killer ended up using her car to escape, and return to Haddonfield. She reprised this role for the first sequel Halloween II, arriving at Haddonfield to bring her colleague back to Smith's Grove. Marion is present in the game-changing scene that revealed Michael to be Laurie's brother, a twist John Carpenter regrets now.

Nancy Stephens most recently reprised her role in Halloween H20, which focused on an adult Laurie Strode and her teenage son. She shared the opening sequence with a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with Michael Myers killing Marion Chambers in order to find Laurie's whereabouts. She put up a good fight against the masked killer, and fans will be eager to catch up with Marion in Halloween Kills' new timeline.

Related: Halloween Kills Celebrated Its First Day Of Shooting In The Perfect Way

Blumhouse's first Halloween movie focused on Laurie Strode's trauma, which has affected every facet of the survivor's adult life. It was an emotionally-driven look into the protagonists' psyche, but Halloween Kills appears to be a story about Haddonfield as a whole, and the other characters whose lives were changed by Michael Myers.

Halloween actress and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards is also reprising her role from John Carpenter's original as Lindsey Wallace. Anthony Michael Hall is playing the adult version of Tommy Doyle, and Lonnie Elam will be played by Robert Longstreet. It seems like Haddonfield is a character itself this time around, and I'm eager to see how Laurie's story continues, especially now that her daughter Karen and granddaughter Allyson have had their own run-in with Michael.

Halloween Kills will continue the long running franchise when it hits theaters on October 16th, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

In the making of David Gordon Green's Halloween, the decision was made to both embrace and reject certain specific elements of the franchise canon. Namely, while the movie maintains that everything that happened in John Carpenter's original movie still went down, the same cannot be said for the events that played out in any of the other sequels. This obviously means that there is a lot of abandoned material, but certainly one of the most significant missing pieces is the sibling connection between Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode and Michael Myers.

The most recent Halloween even goes as far as to openly mock the idea, with characters referring to the familial relationship as "something that people made up" - and the derision comes with good reason. The idea to make Laurie and Michael brother and sister was never an approach that John Carpenter liked, and he recently went on the record with ComicBook.com explaining both how it came to be, and his thoughts on it in the aftermath:

It was actually 12 minutes that Carpenter needed to add to the runtime of the original Halloween, helping it fill up a two-hour time slot, and the material was filmmed during the production of Halloween II. One of the included extra sequences featured Donald Pleasance's Dr. Loomis visiting the Michael Myers' cell at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, and discovering the word "sister" scratched into the door.

The sibling element was made firmly a part of the Halloween canon in Halloween II, as the information is included as a twist, but as John Carpenter says, it's not exactly a story element that he is proud of. He never planned to make a sequel to the 1978 original, and it just happened to be a convenient thing to include as a twist for a second chapter when the first became a massive hit.

In retrospect he looks at it as an "awful" plot development, but thankfully it was something that was excised from the narrative when it came time to semi-reboot things with David Gordon Green's 2018 feature.

Now, of course, we're in a brand new era of the Halloween franchise, with two more sequels on the way to create their own new fully-developed branch of the canon. Halloween Kills will be the first to come out, set for October 16, 2020, and it will be followed almost exactly one year later by Halloween Ends on October 15, 2021. Both titles have David Gordon Green attached to direct, and he's also co-writing both of them.

Don't expect any resurrected family ties.

As far as horror franchises go, there are few quite as beloved as John Carpenter's Halloween. Michael Myers has been terrifying moviegoers for decades, with entire generations brought up on Halloween flicks. The property was given new life with Blumhouse's recent sequel, which was a critical and box office hit when it arrived in 2018. Two more sequels are coming in the form of Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, but Carpenter doesn't think that's where the property will end.

Blumhouse's upcoming Halloween sequels will create a new trilogy of films, continuing the current timeline, and Laurie Strode's journey to surviving Michael Myers with her family. Laurie, Karen, and Allyson all made it out of the last movie alive, but Michael apparently escaped the giant trap and wasn't burned alive. Halloween Ends' title makes it seem like the franchise might be reaching its ultimately conclusion, but John Carpenter doesn't think that's the case. As he put it:

Touche. The film industry is ultimately about making money, so no franchise is ever truly dead. What's more, the horror genre has always relied heavily on sequels and reboots, so odds are that Michael Myers will never truly be dead and away from theaters in any permanent way.

John Carpenter's comments at Keystone Comic Con in Philadelphia (via Syfy Wire) make a great deal of sense, especially seeing how long the Halloween franchise has been in theaters. The director/composer changed the film world when his 1978 original movie hit theaters, making Jamie Lee Curtis a household name in the process.

Since then, there's been a whopping ten Halloween sequels, most of which John Carpenter was not involved in. The timeline of the property has been changed a variety of times during those decades of filmmaking, although the heart of the conflict has always been Michael Myers' attempt to hunt down and kill Laurie Strode. Blumhouse's Halloween ignored all of the follow-up movies, serving as a direct sequel to Carpenter's origin flick. And to mark this return, he scored the acclaimed movie and served as an executive producer.

Related: When Halloween Kills Will Begin Filming, According To Co-Writer Danny McBride

It should be fascinating to see what narrative twists director David Gordon Green and writer Danny McBride have up their sleeves for the next two Halloween movies. The dynamic of the Strode women will no doubt change drastically, now that Karen (Judy Greer) and Allyson (Andi Matichak) have had their own experiences with Michael Myers.

Laurie's trauma and obsession with Michael fractured her relationship with Karen, with her daughter eventually being taken away from her as a result. This created a massive divide in the family, although she retained a relationship with her granddaughter Allyson. The three generations of Strodes united in the film's last sequence, shooting, stabbing, and kicking The Shape until he was trapped in Laurie's basement. The women were last seen holding each other as the screen turns to black, and it should be fascinating to see how their family dynamic changes in Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Answers will arrive when Halloween Kills hits theaters October 16, 2020. Halloween Ends will follow the next year on October 15th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

While John Carpenter built a reputation as a filmmaker making low budget creatures features and other films that could easily be described as "schlock," many of his creations have withstood the test of time and become genuine hits in their own right. Carpenter's Halloween is probably his most popular movie. It spawned numerous sequels over the years. However, Carpenter wasn't actually involved in most of them.

The recent Halloween reboot, which acted as a sequel to the original film, while discounting every other previous sequel, was one notable exception. John Carpenter wrote some of the music and also acted as an executive producer. The writer/director recently told Variety that he got involved this time around because producer Jason Blum basically told him to put up or shut up. According to carpenter...

John Carpenter isn't a guy who keeps his opinions to himself. He's pretty honest about how he feels and in the past he's been pretty critical of the various sequels, remakes and reboots, that have been made of his work. Apparently, the solution to that is to just tell the man to get off his ass and do some work to help make the movie good, rather than simply talk about how bad it is.

Most would agree, Jason Blum's strategy worked. The new Halloween was quite successful, winning over a lot of critics and making a strong box office showing as well. It did so well that at least one sequel is on the way, possibly more.

John Carpenter himself says in the interview that he prefers the remakes or reboots that don't necessarily involve him. As the writer of the original film, anybody who wants to remake it needs to pay him, and he doesn't have to do any work. It's hard to argue, that's a pretty good gig

However, while making money is nice, sometimes you also want to make a good movie, and it seems John Carpenter's ego won out. Of course, Carpenter doesn't take sole credit for making the new Halloween good. He also sings the praises of the film's star Jamie Lee Curtis.

Halloween fans will need to deal with her again, as she's expected to return for the sequel to Halloween that is clearly on the way. It appears that John Carpenter is willing to get off his ass to make the sequel great as well.

Though it’s been almost a decade since John Carpenter has directed a feature film, with 2010's The Woods holding that distinction, the prospect of returning to the chair has always been on his mind. And while he’s certainly produced and guided some projects here and there, he hasn’t landed into a directing gig that’s given him the chance just yet.

However, when talking to the press during his attendance at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, one of the horror genre’s masters said some things that sound like that could change at any moment. Specifically, John Carpenter had the following remarks to make:

So while John Carpenter isn’t signed up for any specific project just yet, it looks like he has some irons in the fire that could poke out a monster or two, if need be. Though should he return to the directing game, it sounds like it’s all or nothing for the man who brought us such visionary hits as Halloween, The Thing and They Live.

Without a question, John Carpenter isn’t interested in revisiting his old stuff, so a remake job is out of the question. And looking at his comments about budgeting above, he’s going to need a figure that properly reflects how he sees the movie on the page coming to life. Meaning, as he mentioned above in his discussion with Collider, if it’s a $10 million movie, he’s going to need that full $10 million to make it.

In his downtime from feature directing, Carpenter hasn’t been a slouch. With a strong video game habit and a thriving musical career, the famed horror legend has been putting his art into the universe through other methods. And the world of film has been one of them, albeit in the way of a music video he filmed for his theme to Christine, which he dropped back in 2017. You can watch, and listen, to that particularly awesome track unfold below:

Considering his input on last year’s Halloween sequel led that film to a $254 million take internationally, on a $10 million production budget for director David Gordon Green, it’s fair to say that the John Carpenter touch is far from gone. His sabbatical has done him well, and under the right conditions, you could have a Carpenter-directed film yourself in the near future. So get to it, Hollywood!

Halloween (2018) is currently available on most streaming platforms for rent, with most of the original canon, including Carpenter’s classic original film, being available on Shudder.

Picture having the opportunity to meet your greatest cinematic idol - in particular the director of your favorite film of all time. Now imagine that meeting being the opportunity for you to pitch said creator on a new film to continue the classic's legacy. That's exactly the scenario in which Halloween co-writer Danny McBride found himself in the making of the recent horror blockbuster, and while his concept eventually won out, he was seriously afraid of John Carpenter treating him like a young punk. McBride recently offered his account of the encounter, saying,

You could imagine the pressure on Danny McBride and Halloween co-writer/director David Gordon Green, as they were walking into a meeting with the man who created the epic horror that is Michael Myers. With a reputation for not suffering fools, John Carpenter can be intimidating to those who don't know what they're doing. Lucky for them, and the rest of the world, they knew exactly what they were doing.

As David Gordon Green explained to Vice during a paired interview with his fellow filmmaker, he and Danny McBride had a clear vision in mind when it came to the Halloween sequel they wanted to make. This was shown in their decision to ignore every single sequel in the series, as they wanted to be the only sequel to John Carpenter's 1978 original. Such a choice not only gave audiences something new and fresh to look forward to, it gave the series a new lease on life; one that Carpenter clearly appreciated, given his ultimate involvement with the project as a producer and composer. Considering his history with the franchise only extended to writing Halloween II and producing Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it's not a huge shocker that he was okay with the bulk of everything else being junked.

All it took to win over John Carpenter for Halloween's 2018 sequel was two things: a chance to indulge in his passion for music, via the film's score, and the opportunity to set the franchise's history straight. Danny McBride and David Gordon Green gave him both opportunities, and the rest is now noteworthy cinema history.

Whether any potential follow ups past this point will have that much luck remains unknown. But for now we at least have two Halloween films that John Carpenter personally approves of - both now available on home video for your personal enjoyment.

A remake of Escape From New York has been on the table for a while, with a few different writers and directors attached to the project. So far, none of them have been able to see it to the finish line. But now the remake has got some new creative talent attached. Leigh Whannell, the writer and director of Upgrade, has signed on to direct the new Escape From New York.

Escape From New York is a 1981 action movie starring Kurt Russell and directed by the legendary John Carpenter. Set in the far off future of 1997, Manhattan has been transformed into a maximum security prison for the worst of the worst criminals. When the President of the United States crash lands in the middle of the dystopian city, an outlaw (Russell) is convinced to infiltrate the city and rescue the president.

The movie was followed by a sequel, Escape From L.A., in 1996, with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell returning. It wasn't received as well as the first movie and was a box office bomb, but Escape From New York is considered a classic.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Leigh Whannell has signed on to write the screenplay for the remake. While there is no director attached yet, it's apparently on the table for Whannell to handle directing duties as well. John Carpenter is on board as an executive producer.

Previously, Neil Cross, the creator of the BBC series Luther starring Idris Elba, wrote a draft of the script and Robert Rodriguez was attached to direct. However, Leigh Wannell will be starting from scratch with a script that will retain elements of the original but incorporate new ideas. Sources close to the project say that Whannell is looking to avoid the pitfalls of other remakes of '80s movies such as Total Recall and Robocop.

Leigh Whannell's name might be familiar to horror fans. The filmmaker got his start writing and co-creating the Saw franchise with James Wan, the extremely successful director of Aquaman. The would also collaborate on another hit franchise, Insidious, and Whannell made his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3.

Leigh Whannell's latest feature was Upgrade, a sci-fi action film that he wrote and directed. While not a smash hit, the film has a strong following and earned positive reviews. It was enough to convince studio heads that Whannell was a man to be in business with. News recently broke that Whannell will write and direct a revamped The Invisible Man for Universal as it adjusts its strategy for Dark Universe.

While I don't know if we need another Escape From New York, Whannell seems like the guy to bring it to fruition. There's no release date for the remake yet, but stay tuned for more update with CinemaBlend.

A lot of big name composers have lent their services to a variety of video games, both big and small. Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry these days, so it's not necessarily scoffed at anymore when it comes to composing music for games. In fact, the legendary horror director John Carpenter wants to score a video game.

In an interview with Consequence of Sound, Carpenter talked about reuniting with the Halloween franchise after decades of being away from the series. His score for the hit blockbuster this past Halloween turned out to be a real big success. However, that's not entirely Carpenter's only passion that he wishes to pursue. He's actually quite interested in diving into video games, telling the outlet after being asked if video games influenced the score for the latest movie:

It's definitely a fascinating prospect to consider because John Carpenter is a self-admitted gamer, and has dabbled in discussing video games multiple times across social media or while giving talks in public. He recently gave a truncated review of Bethesda's Fallout 76, and he never shied away from expressing what he liked and didn't like about 2K Games' BioShock trilogy.

The thing is, I don't think that it's that studios don't want to hire him, I think it's that most studios probably don't know that he's eligible for being hired. I can imagine it's a rather daunting discussion for anyone who isn't an AAA studio to even remotely consider the suggestion of hiring John Carpenter to score a video game. That's not to mention that you have a movie legend working on your game, it's not like you can just throw any game his way and hope he scores something iconic for it.

I also imagine that a lot of AAA studios are still chasing current Hollywood trends, which usually sees them going after Hans Zimmer or Harry Gregson-Williams to provide themes or scores for their games, like Konami's Metal Gear Solid or Activision's Call of Duty franchise.

However, with the advent of AA studios under mid-tier publishers like THQ Nordic, Devolver Digital and Focus Home Interactive, it's very possible some studio working on an innovative, mid-budget game would probably love to have Carpenter provide music and consult on their game. Could you imagine a horror game like Alien: Isolation with Carpenter scoring it? Or how about Call of Cthulhu or The Sinking City? That would be awesome.

For now, though, Carpenter still seems to have a toe in Hollywood while keeping video games within his pastime orbit as a fun hobby rather than a form of work. But who knows, maybe after his interview with Consequence of Sound, a bunch of developers will reach out hoping to get the horror legend to score their game?

Spoilers ahead for Blumhouse's Halloween. You've been warned!

If there's one thing the horror genre is known for, its sequels. Tentpole franchises like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street have produced innumerable installments, as the iconography of their villains are enough to make a ton of money at the box office. As such, horror properties are never really dead-- just ask Halloween.

John Carpenter's original Halloween was a game changer for the slasher genre, and catapulted star Jamie Lee Curtis into stardom. Both the franchise and Curtis returned to theaters with Blumhouse's recent Halloween, which made a ton of money while also becoming a critical success in the process. Early rumors about another sequel are swirling, and Carpenter himself has now weighed in, saying:

Well, that's exciting. It looks like John Carpenter is ready for yet another Halloween movie to hit theaters, hopefully including more of his signature score. He returned to write the music and advice the new filmmakers on Blumhouse's Halloween, and that project seems to have reignited his passion for Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, and all the happenings in Haddonfield, Illinois.

John Carpenter's latest comments come from his interview with Consequence Of Sound. While John Carpenter didn't return to the director's hair for Blumhouse's Halloween, he was apart of the music, writing a new arrangement for Halloween's iconic theme song. The track and the movie itself ended up being massive successes, with another sequel seeming more and more like an inevitability with each comment.

Halloween was a massive success when it arrived in theaters in time for this year's annual holiday of the same name. The project retconned the myriad sequels out of existence, allowing the new movie to be a direct sequel to John Carpenter's original. Crafted by Halloween superfans David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, the new movie took a ton of inspiration from the OG movie, while also adding plenty of subtle nods to the sequels like Halloween II and H20.

The movie ended up making a whopping $252.9 million at the box office, on an indie budget of $10 million. Thats a pretty serious profit, which is no doubt why rumors of another Halloween began swirling around shortly thereafter. Both Jamie Lee Curtis and Danny McBride have previously expressed interest in making another movie, if the same team is retained.

Of course, its important to note that Blumhouse hasn't made any official announcements regarding the Halloween franchise's future, so there's no guarantee that another sequel is on the way. Still, Jason Blum himself seems eager to bring another project to theaters, and hopefully have the same financial and critical success a second time around. Here's hoping.

Narratively, there are plenty of threads to pull from in order to continue the story of Blumhouse's Halloween. Franchise leading lady Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) survived her most recent attack from Michael Myers, in a story that was equal parts horror and family drama. Laurie's trauma from her childhood attack caused her to obsess over his return, isolating herself from the world and losing custody of her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) in the process.

But she was ultimately right, and that training and preparation paid off when Michael Myers escaped Smith's Grove and returned to Haddonfield for revenge. Laurie used her home as a fortress, with she, Karen, and granddaughter Allyson fought him off. The trio of Strode women trapped Michael in the house's basement, revealing Laurie's master plant to burn him alive. That's what they did, although a body was never shown onscreen.

Like most horror villains, Michael Myers has a habit of surviving after being presumably killed. This trend started with the original film, with only H20 ever actually showing Michael dying. As such, it would stand to reason for Michael to once again come for Laurie, although his vendetta is now likely extended to her daughter and granddaughter as well.

Another Halloween movie could easily focus on the ongoing and ever-changing relationship between the Strode women. While Karen ultimately took arms again Michael, she faced her childhood trauma and her husband was murdered. The last shot of Blumhouse's Halloween shows Allyson clutching a butcher knife, and it's unclear how she'll react to the blood and mayhem she survived on Halloween night.

Those moviegoers who saw Halloween might have missed a big clue about Michael Myers' fate, if they chose not to stay through the credits. Because after the credits rolled for Blumhouse's first installment in the legendary franchise, you could hear the familiar sound of Michael's breathing within his mask. This seems to indicate his survival, and all but tease another sequel coming down the line. Laurie Strode was originally teased to be battling Michael for the final time in the recent sequel, although that might not have been entirely true.

Given the insane sum of money that Halloween made this October, it seems like Blumhouse would be foolish to pass on the opportunity to produce yet another sequel. The horror studio largely works on indie projects, so the box office success of a movie like Halloween is a bit unprecedented. Add on the glowing reviews and willingness to return for from figures like Jamie Lee Curtis, and it seems like only a matter of time before another project is green-lit. But the question is, when might that happen?

While Blumhouse quickly green-lit Happy Death Day 2U so that a sequel could arrive just one year later, the folks involved in the new Halloween movie seem a bit more methodic and slow about their process. As such, it doesn't seem likely that Laurie Strode will once again battle Michael Myers in less than one year's time-- in time 2019's holiday of the same name. So if Blumhouse decides to make another Halloween movie a reality, there should presumably be plenty of waiting left before we see Jamie Lee Curtis kick ass as the OG scream queen again.

Fans of the Halloween franchise are in luck this Holiday season, Blumhouse's new release will be available digitally on December 28th, and for home purchase on January 15th, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your trips to the movies in the New Year.

Bethesda was a little slow to pull the trigger on putting out review copies of Fallout 76, so most of the critics were reviewing the game along with actual gamers who picked up a copy after it released. One of the people who picked up a copy and reviewed the game was none other than horror icon John Carpenter.

On November 23rd, John Carpenter posted his review on his Twitter account for everyone to see. It's not long, and he doesn't claw through the minutiae of the mechanics or the technical aspects, but he does offer Bethesda some harsh criticism and biting praise all within the span of Twitter's 255 character limit.

Calling the game a "glitchathon" seems like a nice way of pointing out the game's many glitches and bugs that were present during the launch. In fact, there are tons of videos popping up on YouTube right now featuring a compilation of glitches that have made for some good laughs and creepy circumstances from Fallout 76.

Some of these glitches range from NPCs floating around in the air while their geometry stretches across the sky, to enemies T-posing instead of fighting, resulting in them being unable to attack. Other enemies are seen getting stuck in trash cans and chasing players into buildings, only for them to get jammed at the door because the trash can can't fit through the door.

There are other glitches such as enemies that never die, players deforming as they get in and out of power armor, enemies jammed halfway under the ground, item counts that magically keep increasing in your inventory, or the fact that looking at the ground while running sometimes allow you to move faster than normal due to the way the frame-rate is buffered in Fallout 76.

However, despite all these bizarre glitches that have fueled a litany of videos and compilations on YouTube, master of horror John Carpenter still found himself having fun with the game, saying that even with the "hit & miss" missions he still digs it.

Now this doesn't mean that John Carpenter likes just any game. Keep in mind that he's a pretty hardcore gamer and he's occasionally talked about what games are good and what games he hates. For instance, he loved the first BioShock but was no fan at all of BioShock: Infinite.

John Carpenter's criticisms of Fallout 76 aren't isolated, though. A lot of gamers have shared similar sentiments to the director of the original Halloween and Escape From New York. Speaking of which, given that Carpenter was talking about video games, there were the typical fans flooding the mentions, begging Carpenter to work with an indie studio to turn some of his movie ideas into video games. I tend to doubt that's going to happen anytime soon.

However, if you were at least curious what John Carpenter thought about Bethesda's latest Fallout game, then you can read the tweet above to get an idea.