John Howard Carpenter, born January 16 1948 is one of the most legendary horror directors in film history. Since his debut feature Dark Star (1974), he has created some of the most iconic films of all time. Brig explores Halloween (1978) to The Thing (1982) to uncover what’s so special about Carpenter’s style.
Music Maestro
Those familiar with Carpenter’s films will know that he not only directs and writes his own films, but scores many of them too. His signature style — pulsing synth beats — add to the sense of foreboding and dread throughout his filmography. The iconic Halloween theme is a perfect example of this, or Laurie’s Theme, a sinister piece that almost mimics the creeping footsteps of Michael Myers. Around 17 of Carpenter’s films feature scores composed, performed or produced (or a combination of those) by the man himself.
Atmosphere
Carpenter doesn’t rely on flashiness or excessive gore to create horror like many of his contemporaries. Many of his beloved films start slow and gradually build to an explosive climax. He relies on slow camera movements and tracking shots to build tension, along with his signature soundtracks. All this can be demonstrated in Halloween‘s sinister opening scene.
The blood test scene in The Thing is around 7 minutes long and only reaches its climax after 5 minutes of build-up. The scene doesn’t rely on music, or lots of action and it’s through visuals, like close-ups and repetition, and atmos sounds that we feel the building tension.
Darkness
Carpenter uses shadows and darkness a lot in his filmography, another way he builds tension and adds to the stories dread. Anything could be hidden in the darkness — whether it’s Michael Myer’s or the creature in The Thing. Even when the evil isn’t on screen, it can be used to keep hold of the audience and have them guessing whether the characters are safe yet.
John Carpenter’s filmography is expansive and covers many genres, but his signature style can be found in many of them, The Fog (1980), Village of The Damned (1995) & The Thing (1980) all share themes of a community, or town, in crisis or paranoia, while films like Christine (1983) and Halloween share their purposeful slow build horror atmosphere.
Carpenter’s last film was 2010’s The Ward, however, he has inspired countless modern films, whether it’s’ It Follows (2014) or something as unassuming as The Hateful Eight (2015) (Tarantino said The Thing was the only film he showed the cast before filming). His influence expands even to TV shows like Stranger Things (2016-) with it’s Carpenter-like atmosphere and synth score. No doubt at all that this influence will continue on in the world of film & tv for many years to come.
Featured Image Credit: Aquarius Releasing
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