Knights & Knaves Alehouse

I have to go with "Escape from New York" (though a close second is his remake of "The Thing", a movie way ahead of its time). But I mean, come on, Brain.

is "escape from ny" the first snake plissken movie?!? then it can have my vote, too - though it's a close thing between "escape" and "the fog".

I was almost going to cast my vote for "Escape from L.A." (Other) but then realized that, being from Los Angeles myself, you guys might take me seriously!

"The Thing", hands down . . . though I do have a soft spot for "Big Trouble in Little China".

Though it may not be popular to say this here, besides those two movies (and "Escape from New York") I don't really like John Carpenter movies. I don't know if its the over the top acting or his cheesy psuedo Tangerine Dream soundtracks, but I find I have a hard time getting through most of his films now.

EDIT: after looking at his movie list I'd have to correct myself and say I don't like his recent stuff. I forgot he did Holloween, which is a great move, so he does have quite a few good ones in his resume.


- Wheggi

W, another good one you may have missed is called "Prince of Darkness" another Halloween release back in the 80s.

You're right: Prince of Darkness (that's the one with Sam Neal (sp), right?) was a good Lovecraftian movie! I stand corrected, John Carpenter has put out a decent amount of coole genre flicks.

- Wheggi

No Whegster, that was In the Mouth of Madness. Prince of Darkness is the one with the green liquid as the devil in the basement of the church.

Personally, I absolutely adore Carpenter's 80s stuff. He was without a doubt my hands-down favorite director for a long time. Now, he just makes B-movie crap.

My favorites are The Thing, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China and They Live. I also enjoy Halloween, The Fog, Starman and Escape From New York.

The 80s was a great time for movies.

I can't really pick just one. On the list above the only one i didn't really care for was Vampires.

I guess if i had to narrow it all down-- then its still a toss up between Halloween, The Thing, and Prince of Darkness. But Big Trouble in Little China will always have a special place on my movie rack. I just can't help but to love that movie.

BonesMcCoy wrote:No Whegster, that was In the Mouth of Madness. Prince of Darkness is the one with the green liquid as the devil in the basement of the church.

Yep, that's right . . . thanks for the correction. I remember now I didn't like PoD, (remember it being reeeeeeally slow), but In the Mouth of Madness was great. Its been a while since I've seen either.

- Wheggi

Really it's a tie between The Thing and Escape From New York, but just voted for EfNY to say I'd made a choice. Of those listed, The Fog is probably my least favorite. I remember being bored and disappointed, because I liked his films so much.

Overall, the Kurt Russell features were the best, but I have no idea what happend to the abomination known as Escape from L.A. Terrible, simply terrible.

Prince of Darkness is noticeably absent from the list. It belongs in the top five:

The Thing
Escape From New York
Halloween
Vampires
Prince of Darkness

Big Trouble in Little China and They Live would have to be my favorites.

Halloween wins for its brilliant steadicam tracking shots and theme music (and earns bonus points for having P.J. Soles in its cast) -- it's actually pretty high on my list of all time favorite movies. In the Mouth of Madness and They Live are both very good also, as is The Thing (though I greatly prefer the original, so that colors my judgment a little). I must confess I haven't even bothered to see any of his movies from the past 10 years or so.

T. Foster wrote:Halloween wins for its brilliant steadicam tracking shots and theme music (and earns bonus points for having P.J. Soles in its cast) -- it's actually pretty high on my list of all time favorite movies. In the Mouth of Madness and They Live are both very good also, as is The Thing (though I greatly prefer the original, so that colors my judgment a little). I must confess I haven't even bothered to see any of his movies from the past 10 years or so.

I'm surprised to hear that you prefer the original The Thing over JC's version. This was one of those rare instances where the remake was actually truer to the source material (John Campbell's excellent novelette "Who Goes There?") than the original. I just could never get into the Carrot Man . . .

- Wheggi

Vampires.

In the Mouth of Madness!

There is some excellent Cthulhu goodness within. It's the best. I was shocked it wasn't on the list!

--Ghul

All of them!