An American film director screenwriter producer editor composer and occasional actor Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his fourdecade career his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction Most films in Carpenters career were initially commercial and critical failures with the notable exceptions of Halloween 1978 The Fog 1980 Escape from New York 1981 and Starman 1984 However many of Carpenters films from the 1970s and the 1980s have come to be viewed as cult classics and he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker Cult classics that Carpenter directed include Dark Star 1974 Assault on Precinct 13 1976 The Thing 1982 Christine 1983 Big Trouble in Little China 1986 Prince of Darkness 1987 They Live 1988 and In the Mouth of Madness 1995 His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography static cameras use of steadicam and distinctive synthesized scores Carpenter is also notable for having composed or cocomposed most of the music of his films some of them are now considered cult as well with the main theme of Halloween being considered a part of popular culture His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics He released his first studio album Lost Themes in 2015 and also won a Saturn Award for Best Music for Vampires 1998 Carpenter is an outspoken proponent of widescreen filming and all of his theatrical movies with the exception of Dark Star and The Ward were filmed anamorphic with a 2351 or greater aspect ratio The Ward was shot in Super 35 the first time Carpenter has ever used that system Carpenter has stated he feels that the 35mm Panavision anamorphic format is the best movie system there is preferring it over both digital and 3D film Many of Carpenters films have been rereleased on DVD as special editions with numerous bonus features Carpenter has been the subject of the documentary film John Carpenter The Man and His Movies and American Cinematheques 2002 retrospective of his films Moreover in 2006 the United States Library of Congress deemed Halloween to be culturally significant and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry In 2010 writer and actor Mark Gatiss interviewed Carpenter about his career and films for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror Carpenter appears in all three episodes of the series He was also interviewed by Robert Rodriguez for his The Directors Chair series on El Rey Network Many filmmakers have been influenced by Carpenter including James Cameron Quentin Tarantino The Hateful Eight was heavily influenced by The Thing Guillermo del Toro Robert Rodriguez Edgar Wright Danny Boyle Nicolas Winding Refn Bong Joonho among others The video game Dead Space 3 is said to be influenced by Carpenters The Thing The Fog and Halloween and Carpenter has stated that he would be enthusiastic to adapt that series into a feature film
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