"...the main purpose of criticism...is not to make its readers agree, nice as that is, but to make them, by whatever orthodox or unorthodox method, think." - John Simon

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity." - George Orwell

Monday, October 4, 2010

John Carpenter Week: Contributions - Monday, October 4

Every day I will post links to contributions from bloggers participating in my John Carpenter Week. Please check them out and support all of their hard work. This page will be updated throughout the day so check back often.


"So there I was. . .DVRing Village of the Damned which, fatefully, had decided to be on HBO at 3:15 am one morning and deciding, against the power of the negative masses, that I would DEFEND IT and, above all else, LOVE IT! I mean, all of us usually go into movies with expectations and, at least in my black hearted, pessimistic world, go in expecting absolute suckitude. So why not flip the switch. Why not be a Positive, uh, Pete rather then a Debbie Downer, ya know? So, god damn it, I decided to watch god damn Village of the God Damned and god damn love it. Okay!?"
- John Carpenter's Village of the Damned - Secure Immaturity


"The great pleasure of the ghost story is the simple act of telling, or being told, one. Storytelling, around a glowing fire at night, is one of man’s oldest activities. Few movies convey that simple pleasure, and no movie has done a better job than The Fog. Dear old John Houseman, who would tell more ghost stories the following year in the aptly titled Ghost Story, has the kind of tranquil, seasoned voice that could make any story come alive. He certainly does this one justice, even going so far as to make us jump with his fob watch."
- Favourite Movie Scenes: The Fog - Blah! Movie Edition


"The greatest difference between the two Things is their monsters: Hawks has James Arness in pretty scary alien makeup; Carpenter has a series of icky, protean critters that turn into other critters. Here’s my proposal: the ’82 monster resembles Lovecraft’s “Shoggoths,” which also imitate other life forms. When the protagonist encounters one, he describes it as “a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light.” These same threateningly amorphous qualities are present in Carpenter’s thing."
- hawks/carpenter/lovecraft - Pussy Goes Grrr


"C’mon seriously. Do I really need to tell you? More so then any of his films aside from Halloween, to cross over. It’s one of those movies everyone knows, even those who haven’t seen it. And while that isn’t solely because of the film alone (Shepard Fairey owes John Carpenter a fucking Coke that’s all I’m saying) that doesn’t change the fact that They Live is a film that relentlessly, primally works."
- 31 Days of Horror: Day 3: They Live - Things That Don't Suck


"Still, I wasn't about to leave my seat. The vibe of us all watching Snake Plissken again, together in a darkened movie palace, overcame any projection shortcoming. For me, anyways.


Easily, the biggest draw for the evening was John Carpenter making his way to the front of the Egyptian Theatre after New York's end credits finished."
- Celebrating the Escape Artist - John Carpenter - Lazy Thoughts from a Boomer
 

15 comments:

  1. Hi Radiator Heaven,

    This is a fantastic idea.
    How can I be a part of it?

    Steve
    HalloweenAddict.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for putting my post up there! You rock. I'm currently going through all this wonderful stuff! Awesome Blogathan already!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AllHallowSteve:

    Post something related to John Carpenter and his films and then send me the link either in the Comments section here or email me: mannblogathon@yahoo.com


    Will:

    Thank you for your contribution! I thoroughly enjoyed it and will post a comment on your blog soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the link, J.D. It really is fantastic to be a small part of John Carpenter Week @ RADIATOR HEAVEN. There so much great material from the blogosphere gathering here for this event. Congrats, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey J.D.! Enjoying your John Carpenter Retrospective! You should post some info on that remake of The Thing thats currently being shot...I just saw some pics of it and it looks like they are in fact remaking the damn movie.

    I hope it does the original justices, cause the original is sheer perfection to me!

    ReplyDelete
  6. le0pard13:

    Loved your post, my friend! I am insanely jealous that you got to go to that!

    Thanks for the kind words. There's more good stuff to come!


    The Film Connoisseur:

    I was thinking of posting something about THE THING prequel but I dunno... I'm still on the fence with that project. I might instead do something about THE THING video game. Man, I love that one... and it's quite faithful to the film.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey J.D., I LOVE that game, it was one of the toughest games I ever played! I think it effectively captured the games feeling of dread, also, it was a quite scary gaming experience, those pesky creatures like to jump out of nowhere.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi J.D.

    Congratulations on the response to your John Carpenter blog-a-thon thus far. A very high standard of contributions.

    I've just posted a piece on 'Vampires':

    http://misterneil.blogspot.com/2010/10/vampires.html

    Regards,

    Neil

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great reading thus far, J.D. Here's two more entries:

    http://scenesfromthemorgue.blogspot.
    com/search/label/Halloween

    http://microbrewreviews.blogspot.com
    /search/label/The%20Fog

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This has been one for the books thus far JD. I've submitted another piece BTW. I'm also cooking something up for Cigarette Burns that will have a little extra something special.

    http://thingthatdontsuck.blogspot.com/2010/10/31-days-of-horror-day-5-vampires.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've got a post on The Thing lined up. I played the game, loved it. Even the read the awful comic book miniseries sequel. Avoid it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A great blogathon for one of the greats.
    My new review of The Thing:
    http://www.pluckyoutoo.com/2010/10/thing-about-thing.html

    My old review of Christine:
    http://www.pluckyoutoo.com/2009/11/jealous-redhead-with-big-set-of.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Film Connoisseur:

    Yeah, it is a cool game. I will admit that I got stuck a few times and had to go online to figure out what to do but I felt it was very faithful in look and tone to the film and acted as a sequel of sorts. Plus, for the fanboy in me it was just cool to be able to play around in JC's world for a few hours.


    Neil Fulwood:

    Thank you for the kind words. And thanks for sending me the link to your post. Ah, good to see VAMPIRES getting some recognition. I thought I might be the only one writing about it (to end things off this week).


    W.B. Kelso:

    Thank you so much for the links! These are really great. I've had a shortage of HALLOWEEN-related posts so this is a more than welcome contribution.


    Bryce Wilson:

    Thank you for all your hard work! This is really quite awesome and I look forward to checking out your thoughts on VAMPIRES.

    CIGARETTE BURNS, eh? Sounds good!


    Tommy Salami:

    Thanks for links to both posts! These look fantastic.

    THE THING game is very well done and there have been a few comic spin-offs for THE THING. I actually like the first one that came out that takes place right after the end of the film. I read an interview with Carpenter where he said that if he ever had a chance to make a sequel he would use that as the basis for it. High praise indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Did a post on The Thing.

    Spoiler Alert. It's positive.

    http://thingthatdontsuck.blogspot.com/2010/10/31-days-of-horror-day-7-thing.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bryce Wilson;

    Thanks! Looks awesome. I will leave a comment on yer blog.

    ReplyDelete