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Is Neil Marshall the new John Carpenter?

post #1 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:24pm
Thread Starter 
Okay, just hear me out. I was watching Dog Soldiers with a friend last night, which led to us watching the trailer for Doomsday, and we started talking about how Neil Marshall could very well be the John Carpenter of this generation.

Now, I'm not saying that he's made anything on par with Halloween or The Thing yet, but he definitely has a Carpenter vibe in that he makes highly entertaining B-movies (or in the case of Doomsday, a film that LOOKS like it could be a highly entertaining B-movie), and has more than proven that he possesses the ability to craft a truly frightening film with The Descent.

Dog Soldiers is gory fun, and has a great sense of humor, and it's easily on par with Carpenter's Vampires , or even early stuff like They Live. I also feel that The Descent could stand alongside The Fog or Prince of Darkness as a more-than-decent low-budget horror flick that is actually scary. And I think we're all aware of Escape From New York's influence on the upcoming Doomsday.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I believe that 20 years from now, genre fans are going to look back fondly on Marshall's films in much the same way that we now look back on Carpenter's early stuff (and some of his late period stuff, too). I don't know if it's a sound theory, but I'm sticking to it until time proves me otherwise.
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post #2 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:29pm
No.
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post #3 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:32pm
Don't think Marshall has Carpenter's low-budget sensibilities and all-around sense of wackiness. Doomsday could change that, though.
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post #4 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:43pm
I've been sufficiently let down by both Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Doomsday looks like the most fun ever, though.

Is Vampires now considered a good Carpenter film? Damn shame.
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post #5 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
I've been sufficiently let down by both Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Doomsday looks like the most fun ever, though.

Is Vampires now considered a good Carpenter film? Damn shame.
Not necessarily a good film, but a decent late Carpenter film. It's all relative.
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post #6 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:50pm
To be fair, Carpenter had been directing for 16 years before Halloween (14 before Assault on Precinct 13) and those were his 8 and 9th films. Marshall is on movie number 4 in nine years. Hey may be the next Carpenter, but I think more time and titles will be needed to tell.

I do think he's off to a good start, though.
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post #7 of 25
2/5/08 at 2:56pm
Liked Dog Soldiers and was a huge fan of The Descent, but he's got a long way to go to match Carpenter's gold-medal run in the 70's and 80's. Ask me again in 2015.
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post #8 of 25
2/5/08 at 3:52pm
I wish Carpenter was still Carpenter.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tieman
I do think he's off to a good start, though.
Yep. Love both DS & DESCENT.
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post #9 of 25
2/5/08 at 4:02pm
Dog Soldiers was entertaining enough, The Descent had good moments, but any time people weren't dying or about to die, the film suffers. Like, a lot. Let's just say he's not an actor's director. And Doomsday...

Seriously? You guys are actually excited about that? It looks like Waterworld crossed with Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I've a feeling in five years time, we won't be uttering Marshall's name with so much reverence.
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post #10 of 25
2/5/08 at 7:15pm
Much as I enjoy Dog Soldiers, I wouldn't call him the new Carpenter. Marshall draws from a really cool pool of movie influences, but unlike in prime Carpenter, Marshall isn't particularly adept at using his influences as a jumping off point for even more cool original stuff.

plus Christopher Smith has a better grip on authentic horror and he's funnier.
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post #11 of 25
2/5/08 at 7:17pm
really though, nobody has Carpenter's attitude.
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post #12 of 25
2/5/08 at 7:22pm
I think it's way too early in Neil's career to call him a Carpenter esque director. So, far one thing that reigned supreme in any Carpenter film and is lacking from Marshall is a worldly doom feel. As in, the events portrayed in the movie could easily spread to the rest of the world. No one is safe from what's happening on screen. Carpenter excelled in this aspect of story telling.

Marshall's films so far seem very compartmentalized and have yet to give you the underlying feeling of unease. It's like you are going for the ride, but you are still safe at the end of the movie.
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post #13 of 25
2/5/08 at 8:12pm
I'd have said Bernard Rose was a better candidate, at least in terms of very promising earlier work (Candyman, Paperhouse) and a recent career crash.
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post #14 of 25
2/5/08 at 8:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris O. View Post
Basically, what I'm saying is that I believe that 20 years from now, genre fans are going to look back fondly on Marshall's films in much the same way that we now look back on Carpenter's early stuff (and some of his late period stuff, too). I don't know if it's a sound theory, but I'm sticking to it until time proves me otherwise.
I hope to still be posting pedantic horror related discussion threads & book reviews here 20 years into the future. So you're on. We'll check back in periodically for the next 2 decades.
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post #15 of 25
2/5/08 at 8:46pm
Carpenter did it all. I think I read somewhere that he composes the music to his movies (or used to). Heck, he even sang on the theme song of Big Trouble in Little China.

I enjoyed Dog Soldiers and liked the Descent. Is Marshall as hands on with the whole process as Carpenter is/was? We will have to wait and see.
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post #16 of 25
2/6/08 at 3:16pm

Picking on a nitpicker

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tieman View Post
To be fair, Carpenter had been directing for 16 years before Halloween (14 before Assault on Precinct 13) and those were his 8 and 9th films. Marshall is on movie number 4 in nine years.
Carpenter's first six films are shorts, made between the ages of 14 and 21 ('62 - '69). Marshall probably made short films too before Dog Soldiers, so your point is negligible. Carpenter, however, already had a style by his second feature, something Marshall lacks.
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post #17 of 25
2/6/08 at 3:21pm
He also had Dean Cundey, something Marshall also lacks.
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post #18 of 25
2/6/08 at 3:26pm
Cundey's last film with Carpenter was Big Trouble in Little China. Carpenter's films started sucking exclusively shortly afterward. Coincidence?

Then again, take a look at what Cundey's been doing to pay the bills for the last 14 years or so. Garfield? The Holiday? Jesus. Between this and Rob Bottin not working in years, it's enough to cause a man to despair.
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post #19 of 25
2/6/08 at 3:27pm
Are Marshall's movies as political/paranoid as (a lot of) Carpenter's?

& there's nothing even vaguely innovative about Marshall's movies (so far).

Way too early to make these comparisons. In fact, odd that you'd even want to.
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post #20 of 25
2/6/08 at 4:03pm
Unless we get a "six minute-long brawl in an alley" sort of scene in a Marshall flick, I'd say no.
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post #21 of 25
2/8/08 at 12:36pm
Technically, most of Carpenter's movies are mediocre b-movie stuff at best, but there's... something unexplainable that can only be loved. Mostly found in TROUBLE, NY, LIVE, ASSAULT, MOUTH and FOG. I watch all of them on a regular basis.

Besides, Halloween and Thing are undoubtly two of the best horror movies ever made.

Carpenter's Big Trouble music video
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post #22 of 25
2/8/08 at 2:10pm
Skeletor made a music video! Holy shit.

Too bad he didn't do one for every single one of his films. I would have loved to see an improvised breakdance-off with Cthulu in The Mouth of Madness.

Edit: I'd say Marshall still needs to find a muse, ala Kurt Russell. Some crazy bastard whose screen presence compliments his style of storytelling.
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post #23 of 25
2/8/08 at 11:34pm
nope. I really don't know what else to say other than I really disliked Dog Soldiers.
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post #24 of 25
2/8/08 at 11:37pm
I love every John Carpenet movie...I own all of them except for Village of the Damned and PRince of Darkness--is that even what that movie is called? My girlfriend actually owns in the mouth of madness on VHS...talk about madness. The thing they all have in common that really strikes a chord with me is the music. Assault on Precinct 13's scene with the girl getting shot while buying ice cream! AWESOME! James Woods in Vampires! AWESOME! WOO HOO! Now I'm all excited. I still say if they remake a carpenter movie, it should be They Live.
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post #25 of 25
2/8/08 at 11:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
really though, nobody has Carpenter's attitude.
is kicking doors down an attitude? that's what I think of when I think of carpenter. i don't know why.
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