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Book Reviews:

Wallflower Press – 2005
ISBN 1-904764-14-2
$22.50, 224 pages

Grant also stresses that though John Carpenter is a huge fan of Howard Hawks, Carpenter’s films have a more critical political edge than Hawks. Grant points out a great example of this when comparing THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD versus John Carpenter’s THE THING. In Hawks’ film when things get tense the members of the group work together to defeat the alien through traditional American know-how. By contrast, in Carpenter’s version the men have turned on each other and in the end MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David) eye each other as the camp slowly burns down, which fails to resolve the narrative dilemma (has the Thing been defeated? is either or booth of the men a Thing?) and that consequently arouses rather than assuages anxiety about race relations in the US.

David Woods breaks down the political stance John Carpenter took on MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED and THEY LIVE. The main point that he stresses is that Carpenter’s social and political interests are more intricate than it would first seem to be. Carpenter’s films are usually criticized for being taken as shallow and straightforward but as Woods says, if you pay closer attention to the films there is a great deal of complexity.

Steve Smith discusses the real issues that John Carpenter is looking at underneath the surface of his early siege films; ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN, THE FOG and THE THING. Smith says that of the four films HALLOWEEN might function as the paradigm example of a reactionary horror film.

David Burnand and Miguel Mera write the fascinating fourth chapter, which is about the film music of John Carpenter. Never have I seen, let alone read something dissecting the underrated music John Carpenter has created, sometimes with others, the scores to his films. The next paragraph will list some of the things these two guys say about each film Carpenter scored or co-scored.

The music for DARK STAR, whilst containing some potentially engaging ideas, does not develop in a musically interesting way. ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, despite the typical minimalism of Carpenter’s approach, there is a clear comparison to be made with earlier films and pre-cinematic drama. The writers compare HALLOWEEN piercing synthesizer score to that of a female scream. They feel that the high-pitched three-note motif, heard in the beginning of the film as the light in Judith Myers bedroom is shut off (she is about to have sex with her boyfriend) is the mimesis of a scream. Carpenter uses this three-motif again the moment when the murderer sees the naked girl (Michael’s sister Judith). This aural calling card is an important psychological link for the whole film, because it highlights the reason why the murder is about to be committed. ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, there is much evocative use of sound and music with bass lines sounding like heartbeats, and with hypnotic ostinati and colouristic moments creating a sense of soundscape rather than traditional underscore. VAMPIRES mark a significant turning point in Carpenter’s music career. Gone is the slavish reliance on synthesizer, as Carpenter assembles a rock band named The Texas Toad Lickers to play the music.

The last paragraph Burnand and Mera write about Carpenter’s music sums it up. The favoring of synthesizers over fully orchestral scores supports Carpenter’s personalized style, whilst also allowing music to be better absorbed in the soundscape. This has enabled Carpenter to blur the boundaries of sound effects and music.

Sheldon Hall writes an amazing fifth chapter about John Carpenter’s use of the Widescreen format. Something really interesting to note is that the two directors Carpenter mentions the most Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock disliked the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Carpenter says, "I love Panavision as a composing rectangle. There seems to be two really good visual ways of composing. One is the old-fashioned format, which they never use any more (1.33:1/1.37:1). It’s a square. Beautiful to compose and then there’s Panavision, which is also beautiful to compose. It’s perfect for the two shot."

Hall also states that it is Hitchcock rather than Hawks with whom Carpenter belongs spiritually and aesthetically. Although it is Hawks whom Carpenter has most often acknowledged as a role model – it seems to Hall that any similarities between their films is generally superficial. Hitchcock is often identified with the notion of ‘pure cinema’: that is, purely cinematic storytelling, visual (and sonic) narration rather than ‘photographs of people talking’. Carpenter seems to share some aspects of this view of cinema’s potential.

In chapter six, Marie Mulvey-Roberts writes about Carpenter and the Gothic. She states in THE FOG, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, CHRISTINE, VAMPIRES, THE THING and IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, the identity of those who are hosts represents the return of the repressed are inextricably bound up with the evil force preying upon them.

Ian Conrich uses chapter seven to discuss the impact HALLOWEEN and THE THING has had on the public. Conrich actually has compiled data accumulated from Fangoria Magazine on fans reaction to both of those films. This is the first place outside of Fangoria that I have seen anyone write about and use actual fan letters, subscriber ads (when Fangoria use to print them) and articles in such a specific way. I actually lived though the exact period Conrich focuses in on and found it quite mesmerizing to look back on it now.

Kurt Russell in the ESCAPE films is discussed in chapter eight. Robert Shail feels that the Snake Plissken character links John Carpenter’s counter-cultural sensibility with Kurt Russell’s macho backwoodsman, which brings out the surprising affinities between the two men. Plissken is both an anti-authoritarian figure and a vigilante moral crusader.

Tony Williams writes From Elvis to LA: Reflections on the Carpenter-Russell Films. Excluding the television movie ELVIS, Carpenter and Russell have to date collaborated on four films. Williams says this is quite a respectable figure for a post-classical Hollywood era characterized by increasing production costs and the independence of the star. The significance of Russell’s collaboration with Carpenter lies in the fusion of two personalities whose work reinforces, rather than drastically contradicts, negative features within classical Hollywood ideology.

Suzie Young writes a fascinating eleventh chapter about John Carpenter’s use of maternal authority. She states in Carpenter’s cinema, it may be men who fight the battles but frequently it is women – mother figures – who guide them.

CHRISTINE, PRINCE OF DARKNESS and IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS are looked at closely in Chapter Eleven: ‘Something Came Leaking Out’: Carpenter’s Unholy Abominations. Anna Powell writes that these three films underline Carpenter’s pessimism and the inability of the heroes to tackle occult forces. Each initially appears to offer a happy ending in which the demon has been exorcised or the heroes escape. This is immediately undercut by an ironic coda, which implies that the evil is still alive, will return or has ultimately triumphed.

Raiford Guins and Omayra Zaragoza Cruz write the twelfth chapter, Creative Nostalgia in the Films of John Carpenter. They feel if Carpenter is to be understood as an invested critic of mass culture, then it may be because of his optimistic willingness to fully embrace the cyclical nature of genre. They break down BODY BAGS, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS and VAMPIRES to make their point.

The book ends with an informative interview with John Carpenter.

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