Favorite Carpenter Moments...

It's the place where he leaves us in The Thing, for me. The two men left, staring at each other, wondering if the other one is friend or foe.

im gonan also have to go with halloween on this one...and since it is my FAVORITE movie,ill go over a few

when the door swings open to lynda and bobs makeout room,and lynda,expecting bob,is looking directly at michael myers,clverely disguised as a ghost with bobs glasses...this shit scared the bejesus outta me when i first saw it,and still freaks me out...maybe not definitive...but definately effective...

the steadicam shot of young michael going up the stairts in the first scene...

and of course the scene where laurie sees the shape standing behind the bushes while walking with annie...whew man,thats creepy...

ok,sorry this turned into my scenes from halloween,but...

'The Thing'

When Norris' head grows legs and walks out the door. Palmer deadpans, "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

I love that line!

------------------
"In my tortured ears there sounds unceasingly a nightmare whirring and flapping, and a faint distant baying as of some gigantic hound. It is not dream - it is not, I fear, even madness - for too much has already happened to give me these merciful doubts." - H.P. Lovecraft

[This message has been edited by Tindalos (edited 12-13-2001).]

I'm with Ryan on most of those, esp. the Wilford Brimley scene. "I wanna come back inside now. I'm all better now... Watch Clark and watch him close, you hear me?"

The scene in Christine when Leigh walks down the hall, the three guys looking on, and Beemis says, "So ... what do you think about admitting china into the UN?" "I think we already did that." When Arnie first sees Christine. And Moochie Welch, trapped, saying "You're a dead man now!" Also the look on Arnie's face when we see that he's inside the car at the end.

In the Fog with Stevie Wayne scrabbling across the roof. Also when Mrs. Kobritz eats it.

The opening scene of Vampires. Opening scene of They Live (and of course the fight).

The blood testing scene in The Thing. And the dog scene: "I don't know but it's weird and pissed off whatever it is."

My favorite moment in Halloween is the very end: "It really was the boogieman" "As a matter of fact, it was." And he looks out, no body. She starts to cry. Then the shots inside the house and in the neighborhood. And you hear his breathing. Then blackout. The best ending of all time, in my humble opinion.

So many more, but there's a couple.

My favorite part of The Thing is when MacReady's trapped outside and the others are arguing about whether to let him back in - and suddenly the door handle starts twisting back and forth from the outside. Just thinking about that creeps me out. Not to many great moments like that in films nowadays.

Trust me. You weren't wrong. I shouldn't be too harsh... I was a fun little movie. (Keep in mind that Carpenter is one of my favorite film makers. In fact, I would hazard to say that 'The Thing', Halloween' and 'Escape from New York' are in my top ten list.) But, I read the book years before this film arrived. I was as disappointed in this adaptation just as much as I was in the 'Salem's Lot' drek.

Just one man's opinion.

Oh, and the opening of 'Escape from New York' with the voice over is also one of my favorite scenes.





------------------
"In my tortured ears there sounds unceasingly a nightmare whirring and flapping, and a faint distant baying as of some gigantic hound. It is not dream - it is not, I fear, even madness - for too much has already happened to give me these merciful doubts." - H.P. Lovecraft

ONE OF MANY FAVORITE CARPENTER MOMENTS:

Snake Plissken, weary and pissed-off, with no leads, no help coming from the outside, no chance of escape, walks to the crash site of the President's escape pod. He straightens an abandoned dining room chair on the sidewalk and takes a seat.

(Compare it to the same moment in "Escape from L.A." and you might start to understand the difference between what Carpenter was and what he has become.)

Y'all have already named so many of my favorite scenes, but just to add a couple more:

Any and all mirror scenes in Prince of Darkness.

The traffic light scene in Starman (the only Carpenter film ever up for a major oscar, I believe).

And the opening scene of Vampires, the only scene that managed to rival the book.

--Adam

grabass, great line. Donald Moffat is the secret weapon in that flick, so great. "We're all very tired, but if it's all the same to you I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!!!"

Aye, I love the opening of The Thing with the great theme playing over the Chopper relentlessly chasing the dog. brilliant stuff, and it really puts ya in the middle of things right away.

And Big Trouble in Little China is just one big Carpenter moment, I feel...

------------------
Paprika Chicken, Baby!

Sean
Sean's Horror Art

[This message has been edited by sethos (edited 01-08-2002).]

DARKSTAR
"Don't give me that probable intelligent life crap, find me something to blow up!"

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13:
Wilson and Wells playing "potatoes" in order to decide who goes outside

HALLOWEEN:
"The Evil is gone from here!" and "Hey Lonnie! Get your ass away from there!"

THE FOG:
The persistant, ominous knocking on Tommy Atkins door with a scythe...the clock shattering...

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK:
Tough guy Snake Plissken admitting that he "don't like needles."

THE THING:
"First goddamned week of winter." and Mac's kicks sombrero

CHRISTINE:
Arnie coaxing Christine to regenerate "Show me" and the "Love has a voracious appettite" speech.

STARMAN:
Jeff Bridges asking imploringly, "Define shit"

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA:
Everything about this baby...especially Jack Burton firing his gun into the air, dislodging ceiling bricks and knocking himself out. "Yessir, the Check is in the mail!"

PRINCE OF DARKNESS:
"I have a message for you...and you're not going to like it..."

THEY LIVE:
Republican aliens! Brilliant! Besides running out of bubble gum and kicking ass, the moment where Nada spies cash money via the sunglasses...and sees that the subliminal message reads THIS IS YOUR GOD.

MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN:
Not as bad or uneven of a film as most would suggest. Fails mostly because of an unsympathetic Chevy Chase and unbelievable Daryl Hannah. Sam Neil steals the show as the unscrupulous villian. Best scene: The chase through the park where Halloway undresses on the run, bit by bit...

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS:
"You'd think a guy that out-sells Stephen King could afford better representation"

VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED:
An uneven film to be sure...I understand JC took this assignment on the promise he'd get to remake Creature From the Black Lagoon. Anyway...there are still a few nice moments...among them, the lead alien girl noting that "There are going to be changes"

VAMPIRES:
James Woods is kick ass as Jack Crow. Best moments: Jack Crow crucified by Valek and the Cardinal and Father Adam assurring Jack that he is "fleet of foot" because he "used to play soccer"

ESCAPE FROM LA:
What the hell did everyone want from this sequel anyway? I'm convinced that it would have been a whipping boy flick no matter what Carpenter delievered. The film is a sly joke from beginning to end...and you gotta love a movie that has THE BALLS to have its anti-hero SURF out of Wilshire canyon. The ending...with Snake shutting down the earth is genius.

GHOSTS OF MARS:
A guiltless, fun B-movie. What were you expecting with a title like that? A Pretentious James Cameron movie? Now, Ghosts is good, goofy fun, the best moment being when the criminals are idiotic enough to get locked into the cell when freeing Desolation Williams. That, and Jason Statham, standing infront of Pam Grier's decapitated head informs Natasha Henstridge that "We have a situation here."

Mechshark, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

While we're on the subject of Carpenter, I'm wondering if anyone out there has ever read a pair of scripts which I have been searching forever for.

first, the unproduced ESCAPE FROM LA by Coleman Luck. This was commissioned by Carpenter and Russell in the late eighties. Legend has it that it featured LA as a giant insane asylum and Snake Plissken turned out to be a clone(!).

Second, before Carpenter sold off his share of the Halloween franchise, he commissioned Denis Etchison to pen a script for a potential HALLOWEEN IV. This one was a psychological Halloween...The Shape wasn't a real person...he was created out of the fear of the folk of Haddonfield and the two surviving kids Jamie Lee baby-sat in the original. Sounds intriguing to me...but the suits squashed it and Carpenter bailed.

Anybody know anything further about either of these? Or where I might find them?

I've read both the CREATURE script (which seemed like a first draft with a lot of work needed) and PINCUSHION. I really liked Pincushion...I think it could make one heck of a film. Too bad it's dead in the water.

I also have Carpenter's unfilmed script for MELTDOWN. It is interesting, and it contains some lines and ideas that eventually wound up in PRINCE OF DARKNESS.

One thing I would really like to know: The story behind EL DIABLO. JC was really passionate about this flick. He wanted Kurt Russell to play the lead of course, bt studios back in the day, didn't believe in Russell as a lead, and the western at the time, was a dead genre. Anyhow, it was made, with little fan-fare as a decent HBO film in the eighties. Carpenter exec. produced it...and the story has some nice JC elements to it. But I've always wondered why he lets this project go...and how his version would have differed from the one that was made. If anybody is going to American Cinemathque festival on JC, maybe you can ask him...

I've read both the CREATURE script (which seemed like a first draft with a lot of work needed) and PINCUSHION. I really liked Pincushion...I think it could make one heck of a film. Too bad it's dead in the water.

I also have Carpenter's unfilmed script for MELTDOWN. It is interesting, and it contains some lines and ideas that eventually wound up in PRINCE OF DARKNESS.

One thing I would really like to know: The story behind EL DIABLO. JC was really passionate about this flick. He wanted Kurt Russell to play the lead of course, bt studios back in the day, didn't believe in Russell as a lead, and the western at the time, was a dead genre. Anyhow, it was made, with little fan-fare as a decent HBO film in the eighties. Carpenter exec. produced it...and the story has some nice JC elements to it. But I've always wondered why he lets this project go...and how his version would have differed from the one that was made. If anybody is going to American Cinemathque festival on JC, maybe you can ask him...

Boy, I hope that JC really isn't bitter...I mean, I figured his "let it roll off my back" attitude was the reason why he's survived so long in the Hollywood game. But who knows?

As for VICTORY OUT OF TIME...I heard him mention this title many times in the past....but never heard any plot details. Do have the scoop Django?

Boy, I hope that JC really isn't bitter...I mean, I figured his "let it roll off my back" attitude was the reason why he's survived so long in the Hollywood game. But who knows?

As for VICTORY OUT OF TIME...I heard him mention this title many times in the past....but never heard any plot details. Do have the scoop Django?

Damn! You stole my thunder!
That's the very scene I was going to reference.

This movie is still in my top 10. Rarely does a remake surpass the original, but "The Thing" does hands down. Probably because it sticks a lot closer to the original short story.

Just more proof that great minds think alike ;-).

My measly $0.02 worth.

mahduk