"...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

Saturday, October 9, 2010

John Carpenter Week: Contributions - Saturday, October 9

So, this is the last day of John Carpenter Week and I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed something. I am humbled and extremely pleased with everything that was submitted and you all made this week a success! I would also like to thank everyone who stopped by and commented and for everyone who supported this blogathon on their own blogs. I couldn't have done this without any of you!


Here is the latest round of contributions from around the blogosphere.




"We spend the majority of the film getting to know these characters, learning about their relationships to Antonio Bay and to each other. Each of their stories is intercut, and each character gains new insights into the mystery that they must slowly piece together with the others’ help. It’s kind of like a small-town horror version of Nashville."
- There's something in the fog! - Pussy Goes Grrr

"I'd be lying if I said John Carpenter's 1995 remake fared as well.  In an effort to update the threat to appeal to  the audience of the time, I think it loses some of the original's grace and simplicity.  That being said, Carpenter can still wring out a tense sequence with the best of them and also knows that, like Howard Hawks, if something worked the first time, best not to mess with it."
- War Within the Mind: Two Looks at the Climax of Village of the Damned - Celluloid Moon




"As silly or weird as this sounds, John Carpenter is the one who inadvertently caused me to go on this path I'm trying to take into becoming a Film Archivist and working in film preservation. It started with coveting the job of the main character in Cigarette Burns, his entry to the first season of Showtime's Masters of Horror."
- Cigarette Burns changed my life - Hold onto yr genre




"Birack puts together a team of students specialising in a variety of scientific areas and in a way can be seen to be splitting the almost Sherlockian genius of Quatermass into a number of characters. And here we're back to my dad's Dolph Lundgren comment above. These characters aren't action heroes, they're academics - a point no more obvious than in the fact that they spend a good majority of the third Act knocking down a wall (Lundgren would've kicked through it)."
- Traces of Quatermass in Prince of Darkness... - Writer by Night


"Here's one second worth of frames from John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)."
- 24 Frames: The Thing - Colonel Mortimer Will Have His Revenge


"Carpenter's films in particular couple an admirable reverence for horror film conventions with an extraordinary knack for narrative economy. Below, I've taken the first 7 shots of his 1987 film maudit, Prince of Darkness, and tried to get at some sense of what makes each of them work."
- Seven Ways to Go to Hell: The First Seven Shots of John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness - Expressive Esoterica


"This is a terrific album. And I say that with a straight face. I know that you can't see my face from there, but the expression upon it is unreservedly earnest. I probably listen to at least one track from this album every day. My girlfriend wishes that was an exaggeration."
- Music Review: WAITING OUT THE EIGHTIES: PART 1 - Junta Juleil's Culture Shock


" I saw my first John Carpenter film at an impressionable age sometime in the early eighties.  It was a copy of  ‘Assault On Precinct 13’ taped from the late night premiere on ITV.  As your typical latchkey kid, home from school to an empty house,  I was lured the brand new top loading video recorder that just begged me to turn it on."
- Growing up with John Carpenter Part 1 - The Haunted Cinema
Check out Part 2, 3, 4, and 5

8 comments:

  1. Colonel Mortimer Will Have His Revenge had one more contribution for this grand week. Congratulations for an absolutely wonderful celebration of John Carpenter, J.D.!

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  2. My literally last minute (11:59PM EST)contribution to John Carpenter week:

    http://expressiveesoterica.blogspot.com/2010/10/seven-ways-to-go-to-hell-first-seven.html

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  3. By the way, great job. I've enjoyed pouring over everybody's contributions.

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  4. Great job on putting this blogathon together, JD. It provided me with some great reading and I found some cool blogs in the process. I'm normally against blogathons, but for JC and JD I can make an exception!

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  5. Kudos to you J.D. for this formidable achievement. Unfortunately, this came at a bad time for me with some nagging minor health issues. You are a tireless film scholar, and I just scanned through the posts and am amazed. I guess when I think of Carpenter, it's always HALLOWWEN, THE THING and THE FOG, but this showcase has been eye-opening in more ways than one.

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  6. Great job on this Carpenter blogathon. It was fantastic. There have been some awesome postings.

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  7. le0pard13:

    Thanks for the link and for the kind words!


    Paul Anthony Johnson:

    Thanks for getting this in JUST under the wire! Much appreciated.

    I'm glad you enjoyed everyone's contributions.


    Aaron:

    Thank you for the making an exception with this blogathon. I'm quite honored and just wanted to say again how much I enjoyed your contribution. Thanks again!


    Sam Juliano:

    Thanks, Sam! I'm glad you enjoyed what JC Week had to offer and I'm glad it opened your eyes to Carpenter's body of work. It is quite varied and full of great stuff.


    Keith:

    Thanks for stopping by, Keith! I'm glad you enjoyed JC Week as well.

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  8. Very late to the game, I know, but I finally posted my dry breakdown of Halloween, specifically relating it to the slasher genre as a whole. Here it tis, if you want to include it in the contribution list, or just read it yourself, or whatever: http://cinemagonzo.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-1978-citizen-kane-of-movies.html

    Awesome blog, BTW, and I'll be checking out more of these Carpenter posts.

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