John Carpenter (best to worst)
by j.e.collins | created - 15 Dec 2012 | updated - 23 Mar 2018 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,560 | Gross: $13.78M
2. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
PG-13 | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong
Votes: 153,956 | Gross: $11.10M
3. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,762 | Gross: $47.00M
4. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 82,986 | Gross: $21.38M
5. Escape from New York (1981)
R | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 157,481 | Gross: $25.24M
6. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Martin West
Votes: 55,608
7. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
R | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Sam Neill, Jürgen Prochnow, Julie Carmen, David Warner
Votes: 79,321 | Gross: $8.95M
8. Vampires (1998)
R | 108 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
Recovering from an ambush that killed his entire team, a vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to walk in sunlight.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith
Votes: 63,757 | Gross: $20.24M
9. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,456 | Gross: $13.01M
10. Prince of Darkness (1987)
R | 102 min | Horror
A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open the container, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all humanity.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Lisa Blount, Jameson Parker, Victor Wong
Votes: 49,963 | Gross: $14.18M
11. Christine (1983)
R | 110 min | Horror, Thriller
A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky
Votes: 92,439 | Gross: $21.20M
12. Dark Star (1974)
G | 83 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm
Votes: 27,244
13. Body Bags (1993 TV Movie)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Three short stories in the horror genre: the first about a serial killer, the second about a hair transplant gone wrong, and the third about a baseball player.
Directors: John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Larry Sulkis | Stars: John Carpenter, Tom Arnold, Tobe Hooper, Robert Carradine
Votes: 12,608
14. Ghosts of Mars (2001)
R | 98 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
In 2176, a Martian police unit is sent to pick up a highly dangerous criminal at a remote mining post. Upon arrival, the cops find that the post has become a charnel house.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Pam Grier, Jason Statham
Votes: 57,961 | Gross: $8.43M
15. Starman (1984)
PG | 115 min | Romance, Sci-Fi
An alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow's husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel
Votes: 52,159 | Gross: $28.70M
16. Escape from L.A. (1996)
R | 101 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, A.J. Langer
Votes: 80,543 | Gross: $25.48M
17. The Ward (2010)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An institutionalized young woman becomes terrorized by a ghost.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Laura-Leigh
Votes: 44,875
18. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
After a freak accident, a company executive turns completely invisible, goes on the run and becomes hunted by a treacherous CIA official, whilst trying to cope with his new reality.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean
Votes: 26,960 | Gross: $14.36M
19. Village of the Damned (1995)
R | 98 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small town's women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré
Votes: 34,239 | Gross: $9.42M
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