10 Best John Carpenter Movies

Made for roughly 300,000 dollars, this film launched the modern slasher genre. Michael Myers' white mask, Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate final girl and the hypnotic piano theme Carpenter composed in a matter of days: Halloween remains the undisputed monument of pure cinematic suspense.

Panned on release, when audiences preferred Spielberg's cuddly E.T., but now universally recognized as one of the best sci-fi horror films ever made. Kurt Russell and his fellow researchers in Antarctica face a shape-shifting alien organism. Rob Bottin's practical effects and the suffocating paranoia are unmatched.

Manhattan has been turned into a maximum-security prison where criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell with eye patch) has 24 hours to rescue the president after his plane goes down. With its raw synthesizer score and cynical atmosphere, Carpenter created the prototype of the modern action antihero.

'I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.' Roddy Piper discovers with special sunglasses that the ruling elite consists of skull-faced aliens manipulating humanity with subliminal messages like 'OBEY' and 'CONSUME'. Brilliant social criticism wrapped in action.

A wild cross between kung fu, Chinese mythology and '80s action. Kurt Russell shines as boastful truck driver Jack Burton, who thinks he's the hero but is really just the bumbling sidekick of his friend Wang Chi. Pure cult perfection.

A mysterious, glowing sea fog rolls in over an idyllic Californian harbor town during its centennial celebrations. Hidden in the fog are the vengeful ghosts of lepers once lured to their deaths by the town's founders. An atmospheric ghost story with Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh.

Carpenter's homage to Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo. In an almost deserted Los Angeles police station, a handful of officers and locked-up criminals must join forces to survive a nighttime siege by a bloodthirsty street gang. Relentlessly tense.

Insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) looks into the mysterious disappearance of a hugely popular horror writer and ends up in a town that seems to have stepped straight out of his books. Carpenter's love letter to H.P. Lovecraft, full of existential madness.

The adaptation of Stephen King's novel about a red 1958 Plymouth Fury with a murderous will of its own that corrupts her nerdy teenage owner Arnie. Carpenter turns a car into a terrifying, jealous monster that repairs itself after crashes.

Carpenter's most tender and emotional film. Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Oscar for his role as an alien who takes the form of a dead man and goes on a road trip across America with his grieving widow (Karen Allen). Heartwarming and melancholy.