Search Results for: "the complete carpenter"

The Complete Carpenter: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Comments 10 comments

John Carpenter has seen plenty of his films underperform when first released, only to turn into cult icons years later. But Big Trouble in Little China, Carpenter’s ninth feature film, didn’t just underperform. It was the biggest flop of his career up to that point, pulling in $1.1 million against a budget of $25 million. This ended Carpenter’s phase with the big studios and sent him back to the indie world. Big Trouble in Little China started on the page…

Read More Read More

The Complete Carpenter: Halloween (1978)

Comments 11 comments

Uhm, Happy Early Valentine’s Day? In my analysis of John Carpenter’s career, I’ve now reached his third movie, the low-budget horror smash Halloween. It’s Carpenter’s most financially successful film. It’s his most influential film. And, starting with a famous November 1978 Village Voice article by Tom Allen that helped turn the director into a recognized auteur, his most critically analyzed film. So here I tread, timorously, to add to the massive cultural heap of Halloween. At least tackling the movie…

Read More Read More

Vintage Treasures: Re-Birth (The Chrysalids) by John Wyndham

Comments 4 comments

Cover by Michael Herring In the 1950s, Ballantine Books reprinted much of John Wyndham’s science fiction in the US with memorable covers by Richard Powers, including The Kraken Wakes (1953), The Chrysalids (1955), Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter (1956), Trouble with Lichen (1960), and The Infinite Moment (1961). In the process they also made up new names for it, because, you know, America. So The Kraken Wakes became Out of the Deeps, and The Chrysalids became Re-Birth. In the mid-70s, which was when…

Read More Read More