I had very much intended to take part in the John Carpenter blogathon thing being coordinated this week by Radiator Heaven. After all, it was only a few months ago that a sudden moment of drunken clarity led me to the realisation that John Carpenter is THE BEST DIRECTOR EVER. I’m told that in my enthusiasm I may have also deemed him THE KING OF THE WORLD, but that’s up for debate. Point is - I think he has made a lot of great movies, and I really enjoy his whole, y’know, ‘John Carpenter’ shtick. So naturally I wanted to do my bit.
I had it all planned out – I was gonna write this amazing, free-wheeling essay that’s been bouncing around my head for years, about my memories of first seeing “John Carpenter’s Vampires” on TV, and about the notion of John Carpenter being an ANTI-auteur (much in the sense of an antipope), ticking all the boxes of established auteur theory but at the same time embodying the complete opposite of all the unspoken virtues that it is assumed an ‘auteur’ should represent, and about how “Vampires” in all it’s ridiculous, ugly glory is the purest distillation of Carpenterism thus committed to screen.
But sadly, I fucked up, and forgot to factor in all the stupid crap modern life compels me to do when I should be sitting in quiet repose contemplating John Carpenter movies, and that essay is just not going to get written this week I’m afraid.
All I can think to do by way of compensation is to post this video again – that is, John Carpenter’s video for The Coupe de Villes, the band he formed with two other horror movie directors(?!?), rocking out on the theme tune he recorded for his own movie, “Big Trouble In Little China”. Truly, a more convincing testament to the joys of Carpenterism would be hard to find.
By visiting this post at The Manchester Morgue, you can download the entirety of The Coupe de Villes' couldn’t-be-more-perfectly-titled album “Waiting Out The Eighties”. Featuring hits like “She Has Friends in LA”, “Midnight Train” and “Darlin’ (All Night Long)”, I speak with no irony whatsoever when I declare it an absolutely brilliant listen.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m gonna run, run into the mystic night, and try to finish off a few new movie reviews to see us through the next couple of weeks…
4 comments:
Don't worry friend, I'm cooking up another event I'd like you to take part in. It's not John Carpenter I'm afraid, but it will be good.
You win the lovely blog award: http://pragmatismisawesome.blogspot.com
just because I don't comment doesn't mean I don't read :)and I'm sorry you're not able to write your essay. It would've been beautifully written and I'm sure filled with sincere adulation for the merits of John Carpenter. The time will come
I've read your blog for quite a while and find it really interesting.
As for Vampires, that's a curious one. If I remember correctly I was drunk when I watched it, and whilst it did seem very flawed, it also showed some visual flair, and didn't seem to me anything like as bad as it's often made out to be.
Any opinion of In the Mouth of Madness? The weird thing is the more it tried to impress, the worst it was. The megalomaniacal horror writer living in a black cathedral was really cool, as were the closing scenes. Too bad there were so many ridiculous special effects.
Spector: hey, thanks so much! I think that's one of the 'awards' I already got... I'll have to check - much appreciated anyway!
Gregor: Drunk is the only way to watch "Vampires" I think - I absolutely love it, but like a few of Carpenter's later films (They Live, Ghosts of Mars) I see it as more of an unacknowledged camp classic than anything, with its mixture of OTT machismo, barely concealed homoeroticism, childish misogyny, hilarious plot situations and "did I just hear that right?!?" dialogue.
I had "In The Mouth Of Madness" on video as a teenager and used to watch it a lot - I really enjoyed the whole pseudo-Lovecraftian descent-into-madness/cosmic horror stuff - it has a few genuinely powerful moments that stick in my head to this day, although it's a few years since I saw it; I'm not sure how well it would hold up to more grown up scrutiny... definitely a good attempt at a serious horror movie that was heading in the right direction though...
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