Born 16 January 1948 in Carthage, New York, John Carpenter's directorial debut was with the cult classic, Dark Star (1974) which was made during his time at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema. He is cited as being instrumental in returning the horror genre to the box office with Halloween (1978). In addition to directing, he also composes much of the music for his films and has the occasional cameo role, much like M.

Night Shyamalan.

His film directorial credits are:

Masters of Horror (2 episodes, 2005-2006)
Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Vampires (1998)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Village of the Damned (1995)
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Body Bags (1993)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
They Live (1988)
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Starman (1984)
Christine (1983)
The Thing (1982)
Escape from New York (1981)
The Fog (1980)
Elvis (1979)
Someone's Watching Me! (1978)
Halloween (1978)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Dark Star (1974)

Carpenter is generally categorised as a horror director, but he has certainly not limited himself solely to that genre, having also directed the Elvis Presley biopic, Elvis, thrillers such as Assault on Precinct 13 and Memoirs of an Invisible Man and science fiction like Dark Star, Escape from New York/L.A. and Starman.

Recently, three of his films have been remade for the next generation - Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog and Halloween with mixed reactions. Die hard fans did not feel the need for them to be remade and voiced their opinions vehemently.

Many of Carpenter's films (with the exceptions of Halloween and Starman) have not faired well at the box office, but have become slow-burn cult classics through video and DVD. This has hindered funding for Carpenter and, to a degree, maintained his low budget image. Perversely, fans generally prefer Carpenter's lower budget films; more recent films which have wielded larger 'Hollywood' budgets like Escape From L.A. and Ghosts of Mars have been universally criticised as being under par for the director.

Over the years, Carpenter has had mixed success and later films certainly have not received the acclaim of those from his formative years, but the horror maestro will forever be remember for such immortal classics as Halloween and The Fog.

Learn more about this author, Rod Glenn.
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