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Director and producer John Carpenter responsible for introducing the world to actress Jamie Lee Curtis when she starred as Laurie Strode in his 1978 movie "Halloween." After that movie, he became the king of the modern horror film genre. He continued scaring the pants off moviegoers with his creep films for the majority of the 80's.

John Carpenter was born on January 16, 1948 in Carthage, New York to Milton Jean Carter and Howard Ralph Carpenter. His father was a music professor. When Carpenter's dad received a job as head of the music department at Western Kentucky University, the family relocated to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1953.

As a child, John Carpenter was fascinated with the movies of his time, especially Howard Hawks and John Ford westerns. He also enjoyed horror and science fiction B-movies. As a youngster, he began making his own horror movie shorts on 8 mm film.

He briefly went to school at Western Kentucky University. After Western Kentucky, he moved to Los Angeles and transferred the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. He graduated in 1971. While attending USC, he formed a band with fellow future directors, Tommy Lee Wallace and Nick Castle. The band was called The Coup de Villes. In 1962, he began making short films.

As a film student, he co-wrote, edited and composed the music for "The Resurrection of Broncho Billy." In 1970, he won an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Subject for his film, a great achievement for a college student. The short was released by Universal studios and played in movie theaters across the United States and Canada. That same year, he began working on the 1974 film "Dark Star," a science fiction black comedy. He had to put on many hats to complete this low-budget film, including producing, directing and creating a musical score. Carpenter received recognition for his ability to create a movie with very little capital.

Carpenter assumed most of the behind the scenes roles for his next film, 1976s "Assault on Precinct 13." He edited the movie as John T. Chance, a pseudonym that he created in homage to John Wayne's character in "Rio Bravo." The movie was completed on schedule, even though he had to put a lot of personal work in on the movie.

After "Assault on Precinct 13," Carpenter made a number of critical and box-office flops. Yet, he never gave up on his career as a director and filmmaker. He began working on the film that would define him, "Halloween." This slasher flick redefined the horror film genre, with its storyline focused on maniac Michael Myers' terrorization of teenage babysitters in Haddonfield, Illinois. Teenagers would feature prominently in these film forever. The movie was a box-office and critical success.

The movie spawns a number of sequels, and other horror films used similar techniques and plotlines that mimicked what Carpenter created. The dark aura of his movies and the almost limited amount of gore in his movies is a testament to his greatness. He followed the model set by suspense movies, such as the one directed by Hitchcock, in order to scare his audiences. Because of his masterful movie making, he is truly the godfather of the American teen slasher.

Source:

http://www.imdb .com

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