Triple Love Special: John Carpenter

Love Hate Relationship

For the latest in the Triple Love Special series, Alex and Andy spend an episode talking up movie director/writer, composer, satirist, and all-around awesome dude, John Carpenter

They begin with a primer on Carpenter’s early years, from his time as a two time college drop-out) once for music, once for film) to his first couple of film effort, which included an Oscar-winning short, a sci-fi comedy with a sentient bomb, and a classic all-in-one-location thriller.

Alex then launches into a discussion of his favorite Carpenter film, and one of his favorites of all time, Halloween. He talks up how it defined the slasher genre with only four deaths and a miniscule budget, how Carpenter largely improvised the score with a few days in a studio and synths he didn’t know how to work, the contributions of the great Debra Hill, and why it’s more than a little misinterpreted.

Andy then takes some time to talk up his cornerstone Carpenter film, The Thing. He talks about its magnificent effects (due in large part to collaborator Rob Bottin), its ambiguous and tension-riddled structure and story, and why he’s come back to it so many times.

They conclude with a rundown of later Carpenter works and his influence as a composer and satirist. They give the man his due as an anti-auteur, gleefully collaborating with so many other figures, how much he accomplished with only a handful of works, his political leanings (and why They Live is a lot more than kicking ass and chewing bubble gum).