by Sherry Law

Created on: October 21, 2008   Last Updated: November 13, 2008

As the proud parents gazed down at their squalling newborn son on a cold January day they would have had no idea that he would one day become a leading director of horror films and change the face of the genre forever. John Howard Carpenter was born on January 16, 1948 in Carthage, New York. The son of music professor Howard Ralph Carpenter and Milton Jean Carter, he spent his early years in New York state and, later, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Like so many children of the 1950's, he was fascinated by the world of film, sitting spellbound as he watched westerns by John Ford, B-rated horror films and early science fiction movies.

Before long, however, it wasn't enough to watch the films. By the time he reached junior high school, John was trying his hand behind the camera, shooting short horror films with an old 8 millimeter camera. After graduating from high school, he began attending Western Kentucky University, however before long his love for films led him to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. While learning the basics of theater and motion picture production at USC, he began to show the multiple facets of his talent; co-writing, composing the music and editing the film for the 1970's film, The Resurrection of Broncho Billy. This film won an Academy Award for "Best Live Action Short Film" and was released by Universal Studios.

After graduating from USC in 1971, Carpenter began working on his next project. In both of his next two films, John Carpenter, once again, showed his talent in multiple areas - writing, production, directing and composition of the musical score for the films. Carpenter's 2nd film, Dark Star, was released in 1974. The low-budget ($60,000) science fiction film was a success, unlike the one that followed. Assault on Precinct 13 (an action/thriller), though well received in Europe, had only limited success in the United States when it was released in 1976. Reviewers were mixed in their reactions and the public seemed unimpressed, resulting in poor box office.

It was in 1978 that John Carpenter released a movie that would forever change horror films. Prior to this time, many of the movies that were considered "horror" were not actually horror films, but rather thrillers or suspense, by directors like Roman Polanski and Alfred Hitchcock. With the combination of Carpenter's directing and his unforgettable and repetitively haunting musical score, Halloween was to become a box office hit and introduce movie-goers

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