Precinct 13: The Movies and Music of John Carpenter

Hello out there, and welcome back! As promised, Chris and Nick have returned with an all-new episode to discuss Halloween Ends, the final film in David Gordon Green's sequel trilogy that's now out in theaters and on Peacock. Like every Halloween fan out there, we've got some thoughts on this unique and highly divisive horror film, featuring an original score by John Carpenter (with his usual collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies) as well as what is -- supposedly -- the very last on-screen appearance of Jamie Lee Curtis as babysitter, massacre survivor, and, uh, pumpkin pie baker Laurie Strode. We really enjoyed being back to talk all things Carpenter once again, and we hope you'll join us for an in-depth, occasionally rather heated talk about the final (?) chapter in the franchise that he and Debra Hill kicked off back in 1978. Enjoy, and, if you're a horror fan, please join us on our new show, The Shuddering (shudderingpod.simplecast.com)! Be warned: MAJOR SPOILERS for Halloween Ends beginning at 36:10 on this episode! They conclude at 1:21:25.

Well, everybody, this is it! On this extra-special (and extra-lengthy) episode of Precinct 13, Chris and Nick reveal the top seven films in their Carpenter rankings -- and cap off our three-part sort-of series finale with a look back at some of our favorite stuff. We also welcome back Megan Mosley, who you might remember from our Halloween and The Fog episodes from way back when, to share her own rankings and thoughts on the Carpenter canon. We hope you enjoy this look back at everything we've done over the past few years on the show, and please stay subscribed! We'll be back any time there's something new to talk about in the world of filmmaker, composer, and all-around fascinating creative talent John Carpenter. Thank you all for listening, and please share with us your thoughts on the show, your own Carpenter rankings, or anything else that's on your mind! And, hey, if you like what we do around here, check out our new show, The Shuddering, coming soon -- we're on Facebook and Twitter @ShudderingPod if you'd like to stay informed as we get set to launch!

We're back again, and the time has finally come to unveil our rankings of all of the John Carpenter-directed films we've covered since Precinct 13's humble beginnings in the fall of 2019! This week's show is part one of our three-part "final" episode extravaganza (more on that in just a second), and we're welcoming back two-time guest host Alexandra Wiles to share her own rankings of all of the Carpenter films. Chris and Nick, meanwhile, share their bottom eight -- some of which you probably have already figured out, others that might be a little bit of a shocker -- and you can hear the rest of their lists as we look back and close out the show over the next few episodes! As we've mentioned several times before, this isn't quite the end of Precinct 13, but now that we've covered all of the Carpenter movies, we'll be moving on to a whole new show (a few details of which we'll reveal on this episode...) and periodically checking back whenever something new happens in the Carpenter universe. So, sit back and enjoy, send your own Carpenter rankings to us precinct13podcast@gmail.com, and stay tuned for our favorites in the weeks ahead!

2011's The Ward may not be one of the heavy hitters in the John Carpenter canon, but does this modestly budgeted return to feature filmmaking nevertheless have something to offer the Master of Horror's fans? Chris and Nick consider that question in a discussion that also touches on the future of Carpenter's directorial career -- and whether or not there'll actually be one! Yes, that's right, folks: this is Carpenter's last film, made an entire decade ago, and it might just end up being the final entry in his filmography. Fear not, though -- we at Precinct 13 still have a few more episodes waiting in the wings, and we're not quite ready to step away from all things J.C. just yet! But, for now, our in-depth look at The Ward covers everything from the film's female ensemble cast (a Carpenter first!), its relationship to Carpenter's classic genre works, its slew of new collaborators both behind and in front of the camera, and even which national chain restaurants we'd compare this movie to (trust us, it does sort of make sense!). Plus, Chris revisits Nick's all-time favorite film, Nick thoroughly enjoys a bonkers 90s horror sequel, and the guys propose a cinematic collaboration that would definitely be one for the ages (or, at least, one for the aged)!

With the long-awaited sequel Halloween Kills hitting theaters and All Hallow's Eve just a few weeks away, it was the perfect time to revisit one of the most high-profile, critically acclaimed, and financially successful remakes of any film in the John Carpenter catalog. 2018's Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by Danny McBride, tosses away all of the franchise's continuity after what was established in Carpenter's original, and it attempts to faithfully capture the spirit of the 1978 classic and pick up the story four decades after we left off. How successful is it in doing that, and what's in store for the rest of the trilogy it began? Chris, Nick, and returning guest co-host Alexandra Wiles discuss those questions and many more in a comprehensive breakdown and review of Green's sequel/reboot/homage. We've covered a lot, here -- from the evolution and psychology of Laurie Strode to the (too plentiful?) meta nods to the original film to the music and cinematography that, like a lot of this effort, take inspiration from Carpenter's classic work while catering to a more modern taste in horror cinema. Along with that, we also have some more recommendations for your Halloween movie-viewing month -- and, of course, we'll be back in two weeks to tackle our most highly anticipated horror film of the season, Halloween Kills!

We're back from a brief late-summer hiatus with lots of new music in the John Carpenter universe to talk about! Our "feature presentation" of this episode, so to speak, is a track-by-track breakdown of the recently released tribute album The Way of Darkness, out now on Italian label Rustblade Records. This album features ten tracks of familiar Carpenter tracks from his movie scores and non-film albums, re-imagined and re-recorded by a selection of artists in the electronic music genre -- including two contributions from Claudio Simonetti, keyboardist for the legendary Goblin. It's an under-the-radar release that Chris and Nick have really come to love, and, chances are, if you're a Carpenter fan, you're going to dig it, too! We also discuss the recent remix collaborations between Carpenter and the well-respected synth-rock band Chvrches and, maybe best of all, the brand-new cut "Unkillable" from the original score of the long-awaited Halloween Kills!

Yep, we did it again! After tackling the limp Carpenter retread that was 2005's The Fog, we simply couldn't leave that same year's version of our show's namesake on the table. So, Chris, Nick, and special guest Alexandra Wiles checked out director Jean-Francois Richet's Assault on Precinct 13, and, it turns out, we had a lot to discuss about it! Unlike some remakes, this one at least has the guts to try something different from Carpenter's original, swapping out its L.A. setting for a cold New Year's Eve in the industrial sprawl of Detroit and replacing its iconic cop/criminal duo with a strung-out Ethan Hawke and an ice-cold (and, perhaps, a little too Morpheus-like) Laurence Fishburne. And, this time, it isn't a faceless street gang that lays siege to the derelict police station, and (thankfully?) nobody dies while eating ice cream. But, at any rate, this movie -- which is notably lacking in Carpenter's involvement -- has left us with a lot of questions. Like, is a steady stream of automatic gunfire a good substitute for character development? (Spoiler: it's not). Would this movie be improved by the addition of some familiar faces from other beloved franchises? (Spoiler: it would). And, just how did that remote, moonlit forest suddenly appear in the middle of the Motor City? (Spoiler: we have no f*cking clue). So, join us for an unexpectedly in-depth analysis of this not-quite-classic, plus: Nick throws some shade at the Purge franchise, Alex and Chris celebrate a recent horror sequel that definitely did not suck, and we consider just how many close-range Molotov cocktails constitute overkill.

This week, we're headed back to good old Antonio Bay... But, this time around, it's not quite the same place that John Carpenter introduced us to in his classic 1980 chiller. No, against our better judgment (seriously, this thing has a 4% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes!), we've decided to take a look at director Rupert Wainwright's 2005 remake of The Fog to see if there's anything in it that's worth seeing for die-hard Carpenter fans like ourselves. You'll have to listen to find out, but, much like the movie itself, you're not likely to be shocked. Still, Chris and Nick put their usual level of over-thought into this one, and if nothing else, it's a chance to discuss remakes and reboots of beloved genre films -- some of which really did some interesting things to justify their existence. We also ponder the question of what the most truly original John Carpenter film might be, celebrate the return of moviegoing in the post-COVID world, and discuss the recent Guardian piece about why Ghosts of Mars might not be so bad, after all.

Last episode, we sank our fangs into John Carpenter's late 90s horror/western Vampires, a modest box-office hit that paid tribute to some of the director's biggest cinematic inspirations. In keeping with Carpenter's tradition of not caring all that much about making sequels to his own movies, he handed the reins down to his longtime friend and collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace (director of Halloween III: Season of the Witch) for a direct-to-DVD sequel in 2002. Vampires: Los Muertos takes place in the same blood-soaked, vamp-ridden universe as the first film, but, with none of the original cast returning, this time around it's none other than Jon Bon Jovi in the protagonist role, with a whole new bunch of slayers to back him up. So, does this lower-budget, south of the border-set sequel have anything to offer to fans of the original? Or does it totally, ahem, suck? Chris and Nick tackle those questions, and attempt to figure out the film's not-so-coherent plot, in a discussion that takes a slight detour from the Carpenter filmography into the wild (or, at least, wildly inconsistent) world of DVD-era studio sequel-ization.

This week, it's a first here on Precinct 13: a look at one of John Carpenter's forays into writing for the comics world. The Joker: Year of the Villain #1 is a one-shot entry into the DC Comics canon that Carpenter co-wrote with Borderlands writer Anthony Burch in 2019; it was released right around the same time that movie audiences were turning out en masse to see Joaquin Phoenix's interpretation of the infamous Batman villain. Our discussion of this unique Carpenter work also gets into the larger world of Carpenter comics, the very un-Joker-like portrayals of villainy in his films, and even a member of Batman's "Rogues Gallery" that you may(o) have never heard of! All that, plus a few more of our musings on non-Carpenter horror, from a solid recent sequel to a long-running, low-key franchise to a movie that shows us what The Thing prequel probably should have looked like.

This week, a more in-depth breakdown of John Carpenter's Snake Plissken sequel Escape From L.A., featuring returning guest CoolRogRox -- who previously joined us way back when to talk Escape From New York. A huge fan of the original film since its debut, Rog shares with us his thoughts on the non-blockbuster follow-up that piles on the campy moments and over-the-top FX sequences in an attempt to outdo its cult-classic predecessor. Our discussion stretches from Star Wars prequel trilogy comparisons to the eternal coolness of Bruce Campbell and Peter Fonda to the symbolic implications of Snake Plissken's last American Spirit cigarette. Plus, some consideration of how Escape From L.A. incorporates 90s culture in so many fascinating ways, from its satirical targets to its musical choices to its fixation on "extreme sports" -- and so much more! And, finally, after the guys have worked their way through an episodic, frantic plot that starts with a catastrophic earthquake and concludes with the end of the world as we know it, they give some final thoughts on whether this movie deserves a better reputation and why Carpenter himself thinks it's a better movie than his beloved original.

Back in 2016, John Carpenter and his band embarked on a world tour, performing all the classic cuts from his movie soundtracks as well as a selection of songs from his two Lost Themes albums. Sadly, Chris and Nick missed all of those shows, but the John Carpenter Live Retrospective Blu-Ray from Storm King Productions is as close as we could get to actually being there. For our first episode of 2021, we take a look at this one-of-a-kind concert film, a must-have for fans of John Carpenter's composing and a rare glimpse of John Carpenter, unlikely rock star (for better and, certainly, for worse, this ain't no Coupe De Villes!). Along with our thoughts on that, we also get into the filmographies of two other masters of horror whose careers paralleled Carpenter's in some surprising ways -- and dream up an idea for a concert tour that NEEDS to happen when we can all go see live music again!

Oh, the HUMANITY! This week, Chris and Nick welcome back their old buddy Brian Verderosa to discuss John Carpenter's sci-fi/horror remake Village of the Damned, a movie with no shortage of creepy kids, unintentional camp, or lovely northern California locations to its credit. Arriving hot on the heels of Carpenter's boundary-pushing Lovecraftian meta-nightmare In the Mouth of Madness, this film is one of the director's least-loved works, but it does reunite him with cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe, supporting players Peter Jason and George Buck Flower, and some of the settings of 1980's The Fog. Can we find anything to recommend in a movie that even Carpenter himself has expressed his disdain for? Is the film a worthwhile end to the incredible screen career of its late, beloved star Christopher Reeve? And, just how cute is that alien baby in the jar? The answer to those questions, and many more, can be found in this 90s-centric episode, and, speaking of answering questions, we've got a pretty cool prize to give away to one of our movie-loving listeners -- so, stay tuned to see how you can score a Reel Trivia 2021 calendar to keep your cinema knowledge sharp in the new year!