by Kylie Fox

Created on: October 13, 2008

Until 1978, horror films had been dominated, first by the "Hammer" style featuring classic figures like Dracula and Frankenstein, and then by the psychological thrillers typical of Hitchcock and Polanski. Then, along came John Carpenter, later dubbed the "master of terror", a director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and actor, with his hugely successful and terrifying "Halloween". A whole new direction for horror films emerged which was to mark the new trend for generations of fright flicks to come - the teen slasher movie.

John Howard Carter was born in the U.S. on January 16, 1948. The son of a music professor, Carpenter was fascinated by movies and the film making industry, particularly westerns, horror and science fiction. Set on his future course from an early age, Carpenter began filming horror shorts before he had even reached high school.

Following high school, Carpenter first attended Western Kentucky University but soon answered his calling and transferred, in 1968, to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Art. Before graduating, in 1971, Carpenter was awarded an Academy Award for "Best Live Action Short Film" for "The Resurrection of Broncho Billy" in which he acted as co-writer, film editor and music composer.

In 1974, Carpenter directed his first major film, "Dark Star", which left much of Hollywood marvelling at his film-making and multi-tasking abilities; he'd worked as writer, producer, director and composer, all within the confines of a shoestring $60,000 budget.

"Assault on Precinct 13" followed in 1976. Again, Carpenter was to don many cap in the film's creation; writing, directing, scoring and editing. The low budget thriller was originally met with mixed reviews and poor takings at the box office. Following a screening at the London Film Festival in 1977, however, it became a critical and commercial success in Europe.

In 1978, Carpenter's success was to skyrocket with the film which would also launch the career of Jamie Lee Curtis. Halloween, as well as being the catalyst for a whole new sub-genre of horror - the slasher, was to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. The film, shot on a budget of $320,000, generated an astonishing $65 million at the box office.

Much speculation and debate has ensued regarding Carpenter's motivations when making Halloween. Some declare him to be a true feminist, as only the female character is strong enough to, not only survive, but defeat the villain, Michael Myers. Others swear that the film is an allegory on the "virtue of sexual purity and the danger of casual sex." Carpenter denies both of these theories, saying he was not making any kind of moral statement, he simply wanted to make "an old haunted house movie" based around "normal teenagers."

More commercial success followed for Carpenter in the 1980's with films like: "The Fog" (1980); the science fiction adventure, "Escape From New York" (1981); "The Thing"(1982); Stephen King's "Christine" (1983) and; the critically acclaimed, "Starman" in 1984.

"Big Trouble in Little China", the big budget 1986, action comedy, proved to be a box office failure and, Carpenter was forced to return to making lower budget films.

More critical and box office failures were to follow in the 1990's and 2000's though many of his works have developed a cult following since their release to home video and DVD.

In 2006, "Halloween" was to be deemed culturally significant by the U.S. Library of Congress, who selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, ensuring that John Carpenter's legacy as the "master of terror" won't soon be forgotten.

Learn more about this author, Kylie Fox.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.