With the long-awaited sequel Halloween Kills hitting theaters and All Hallow's Eve just a few weeks away, it was the perfect time to revisit one of the most high-profile, critically acclaimed, and financially successful remakes of any film in the John Carpenter catalog. 2018's Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by Danny McBride, tosses away all of the franchise's continuity after what was established in Carpenter's original, and it attempts to faithfully capture the spirit of the 1978 classic and pick up the story four decades after we left off. How successful is it in doing that, and what's in store for the rest of the trilogy it began? Chris, Nick, and returning guest co-host Alexandra Wiles discuss those questions and many more in a comprehensive breakdown and review of Green's sequel/reboot/homage. We've covered a lot, here -- from the evolution and psychology of Laurie Strode to the (too plentiful?) meta nods to the original film to the music and cinematography that, like a lot of this effort, take inspiration from Carpenter's classic work while catering to a more modern taste in horror cinema. Along with that, we also have some more recommendations for your Halloween movie-viewing month -- and, of course, we'll be back in two weeks to tackle our most highly anticipated horror film of the season, Halloween Kills!

Precinct 13: The Movies and Music of John Carpenter

Halloween (2018) f/ Alexandra Wiles

We're back to working our way through John Carpenter's filmography this week, taking a look at the second and final of Carpenter's Masters of Horror episodes. Pro-Life, from the show's second season, features Ron Perlman in a major role and was written by the team that gave us the earlier Carpenter-directed episode Cigarette Burns. Should be great, right? We'll leave you to find out our thoughts on this film -- and we have plenty of them -- but, suffice it to say, this story about a young woman, her fundamentalist father, and the demon baby she's determined to not give birth to is... well, it's not quite what you might expect. Plus: Chris shares his thoughts on the divisive James Wan horror opus Malignant, Nick revisits a classic HBO series with a new movie on the way, and the guys debate Red Letter Media's recent video ranking John Carpenter's films from worst-to-best!

Masters of Horror: Pro-Life (2006)

We're back from a brief late-summer hiatus with lots of new music in the John Carpenter universe to talk about! Our "feature presentation" of this episode, so to speak, is a track-by-track breakdown of the recently released tribute album The Way of Darkness, out now on Italian label Rustblade Records. This album features ten tracks of familiar Carpenter tracks from his movie scores and non-film albums, re-imagined and re-recorded by a selection of artists in the electronic music genre -- including two contributions from Claudio Simonetti, keyboardist for the legendary Goblin. It's an under-the-radar release that Chris and Nick have really come to love, and, chances are, if you're a Carpenter fan, you're going to dig it, too! We also discuss the recent remix collaborations between Carpenter and the well-respected synth-rock band Chvrches and, maybe best of all, the brand-new cut "Unkillable" from the original score of the long-awaited Halloween Kills!

The Way of Darkness (A Tribute to John Carpenter) + Unkillable + Chvrches

What the hell is El Diablo, you ask? Why, it's a made-for-HBO film from 1990 co-written by none other than John Carpenter and Tommy Lee Wallace (as well as Christine screenwriter Bill Phillips). And, at least according to us, it's awesome! This week, Chris and Nick check out a largely forgotten chapter in the history of Carpenter's filmmaking career, a hilarious and surprisingly dark comedy/western featuring Anthony Edwards and Louis Gossett, Jr. -- alongside an impressive supporting cast of familiar faces like Joe Pantoliano, Miguel Sandoval, and John "Gremlins 2" Glover. Carpenter might have passed up the chance to direct this one, but it's not hard to catch a glimpse of the humor, energy, and grit of films like Dark Star and Escape from New York in El Diablo's ACE award-winning script. The film is currently streaming on HBO Max, and we think it's well worth a look! Plus, Chris has an amazing experience with the legendary Bruce Campbell, and Nick salutes a YouTube channel that's dedicated to the most obnoxious actor in action movie history.

El Diablo (1990)

Yep, we did it again! After tackling the limp Carpenter retread that was 2005's The Fog, we simply couldn't leave that same year's version of our show's namesake on the table. So, Chris, Nick, and special guest Alexandra Wiles checked out director Jean-Francois Richet's Assault on Precinct 13, and, it turns out, we had a lot to discuss about it! Unlike some remakes, this one at least has the guts to try something different from Carpenter's original, swapping out its L.A. setting for a cold New Year's Eve in the industrial sprawl of Detroit and replacing its iconic cop/criminal duo with a strung-out Ethan Hawke and an ice-cold (and, perhaps, a little too Morpheus-like) Laurence Fishburne. And, this time, it isn't a faceless street gang that lays siege to the derelict police station, and (thankfully?) nobody dies while eating ice cream. But, at any rate, this movie -- which is notably lacking in Carpenter's involvement -- has left us with a lot of questions. Like, is a steady stream of automatic gunfire a good substitute for character development? (Spoiler: it's not). Would this movie be improved by the addition of some familiar faces from other beloved franchises? (Spoiler: it would). And, just how did that remote, moonlit forest suddenly appear in the middle of the Motor City? (Spoiler: we have no f*cking clue). So, join us for an unexpectedly in-depth analysis of this not-quite-classic, plus: Nick throws some shade at the Purge franchise, Alex and Chris celebrate a recent horror sequel that definitely did not suck, and we consider just how many close-range Molotov cocktails constitute overkill.

Remake Review: Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) f/ Alexandra Wiles

We're back, and we've got a real barnburner (cigarette burner?) for you this time! Chris, Nick, and returning guest co-host Josh Mosley have A LOT to unpack about John Carpenter's first of two episodes of the sadly defunct Showtime anthology series Masters of Horror. With its In the Mouth of Madness-style plot, its graphic bloodletting, and its unique ideas on the medium of film, Cigarette Burns certainly stands out in the Carpenter filmography -- this is definitely not a case of late-career check-cashing. But, there's often a big difference between "interesting" and "good," and while one of your hosts thinks Cigarette Burns is a masterpiece, there's definitely a strong case that can be (and, over the course of this epic-length episode, is) made that this might not be among the director's strongest work. Hate it or love it, though, this hour-long film  leaves us with all kinds of things to talk about, and we appreciate Josh being in for the long haul!

Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (2005) f/ Josh Mosley

This week, we're headed back to good old Antonio Bay... But, this time around, it's not quite the same place that John Carpenter introduced us to in his classic 1980 chiller. No, against our better judgment (seriously, this thing has a 4% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes!), we've decided to take a look at director Rupert Wainwright's 2005 remake of The Fog to see if there's anything in it that's worth seeing for die-hard Carpenter fans like ourselves. You'll have to listen to find out, but, as with the movie itself, you're not likely to be shocked. Still, Chris and Nick put their usual level of over-thought into this largely forgotten PG-13 affair, and if nothing else, it's a chance to discuss remakes and reboots of beloved genre films -- some of which really did do some interesting things to justify their existence. We also ponder the question of what the most truly original John Carpenter film might be, celebrate the return of moviegoing in the post-COVID world, and discuss the recent Guardian piece about why Ghosts of Mars might not be so bad, after all.

Remake Review: The Fog (2005)

On our latest episode, it's finally time to take a look at John Carpenter's post-millennial moviemaking career, beginning with his 2001 effort Ghosts of Mars. This sci-fi/action/horror romp marks Carpenter's last foray into directing (relatively) big-budget studio movies to date, and while the film didn't set the world on fire critically or commercially, it did receive a memorable thumbs-up review from Roger Ebert. The film stars Ice Cube and Natasha Henstridge alongside a stacked cast of B-movie favorites -- from Pam Grier to Carpenter regular Peter Jason -- and it puts a high-concept sci-fi spin on a lot of familiar Carpenter ideas: outlaw antiheroes, western movie tropes, Alamo-esque siege situations, and more! At first glance, Ghosts of Mars looks a lot like classic Carpenter -- but, is the final product an unheralded late-career masterpiece, a misfire of epic proportions, a hyper-violent Scooby Doo episode set in space, or something else entirely? Chris and Nick attempt to tackle those questions, and many, many others that this film leaves unanswered, in a discussion that, love the film or hate it, we at least hope gives it its due!

Ghosts of Mars (2001)

Last episode, we sank our fangs into John Carpenter's late 90s horror/western Vampires, a modest box-office hit that paid tribute to some of the director's biggest cinematic inspirations. In keeping with Carpenter's tradition of not caring all that much about making sequels to his own movies, he handed the reins down to his longtime friend and collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace (director of Halloween III: Season of the Witch) for a direct-to-DVD sequel in 2002. Vampires: Los Muertos takes place in the same blood-soaked, vamp-ridden universe as the first film, but, with none of the original cast returning, this time around it's none other than Jon Bon Jovi in the protagonist role, with a whole new bunch of slayers to back him up. So, does this lower-budget, south of the border-set sequel have anything to offer to fans of the original? Or does it totally, ahem, suck? Chris and Nick tackle those questions, and attempt to figure out the film's not-so-coherent plot, in a discussion that takes a slight detour from the Carpenter filmography into the wild (or, at least, wildly inconsistent) world of DVD-era studio sequel-ization.

Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)

It's back to the movies and back to 1998 on the latest Precinct 13, as Chris and Nick sink their fangs into John Carpenter's action/horror/western hybrid, Vampires. Starring James Woods as the leader of a wild bunch of slayers hired by the Catholic church to exterminate the unholy undead, this film was a rare commercial success for Carpenter in the 90s. But, with last-minute studio-imposed budget cuts, a tangle with the MPAA over its bloody mayhem, and the blockbuster Blade breathing down its neck, could this movie live up to the Carpenter classics -- or, at least, to the earlier From Dusk Till Dawn, which covers a lot of the same territory? We've got lots to say about this one -- not all of it positive -- and, along the way, we get into everything from the influence of classic westerns to the crazy "could've beens" on of the casting to the film's uniquely explosive way of dispatching its villainous bloodsuckers. Plus, a few off-the-beaten-path recommendations of genre films that the Carpenter crowd might enjoy, whatever their feelings on this attempted return to form.

John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)

This week, it's a first here on Precinct 13: a look at one of John Carpenter's forays into writing for the comics world. The Joker: Year of the Villain #1 is a one-shot entry into the DC Comics canon that Carpenter co-wrote with Borderlands writer Anthony Burch in 2019; it was released right around the same time that movie audiences were turning out en masse to see Joaquin Phoenix's interpretation of the infamous Batman villain. Our discussion of this unique Carpenter work also gets into the larger world of Carpenter comics, the very un-Joker-like portrayals of villainy in his films, and even a member of Batman's "Rogues Gallery" that you may(o) have never heard of! All that, plus a few more of our musings on non-Carpenter horror, from a solid recent sequel to a long-running, low-key franchise to a movie that shows us what The Thing prequel probably should have looked like.

John Carpenter's The Joker: Year of the Villain #1 (2019)

Among the many things we'd been looking forward to in the year of 2021 was the release of Lost Themes III: Alive After Death, the third collection of John Carpenter's original, non-soundtrack musical compositions. And, now that it's here, we can safely say -- and Chris DOES say so, more than once -- that this album is an absolute banger! We got to hear a lot of these tracks when they were released as singles last year, but your humble hosts and Carpenter aficionados think this album is best enjoyed in its entirety. Nick and Chris do another track-by-track review and commentary of this Sacred Bones Records release, and along the way, we imagine the cinematic visions this music might inspire, consider the locked-in groove that Carpenter and his band (son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies) have established over several albums, and even figure out the correct pronunciation of Moog! Plus, Chris braves the brutal world of Australian horror filmmaker Greg McLean, Nick has a bloody good time with an Italian slasher-movie classic, and we celebrate another one of our favorite cinematic composers, Trent Reznor.

The Music of John Carpenter: Lost Themes III: Alive After Death (2021)

This week, a more in-depth breakdown of John Carpenter's Snake Plissken sequel Escape From L.A., featuring returning guest CoolRogRox -- who previously joined us way back when to talk Escape From New York. A huge fan of the original film since its debut, Rog shares with us his thoughts on the non-blockbuster follow-up that piles on the campy moments and over-the-top FX sequences in an attempt to outdo its cult-classic predecessor. Our discussion stretches from Star Wars prequel trilogy comparisons to the eternal coolness of Bruce Campbell and Peter Fonda to the symbolic implications of Snake Plissken's last American Spirit cigarette. Plus, some consideration of how Escape From L.A. incorporates 90s culture in so many fascinating ways, from its satirical targets to its musical choices to its fixation on "extreme sports" -- and so much more! And, finally, after the guys have worked their way through an episodic, frantic plot that starts with a catastrophic earthquake and concludes with the end of the world as we know it, they give some final thoughts on whether this movie deserves a better reputation and why Carpenter himself thinks it's a better movie than his beloved original.

Escape From L.A. (1996) [Part 2] f/ CoolRogRox

Yes, you can still call him Snake... But, even though John Carpenter's most beloved B-movie anti-hero returns in the 1996 sequel Escape From L.A., things are definitely not the same (well, unless you're talking about the plot, which is almost exactly the same!). This week, Chris and Nick take a look at the long-awaited follow-up to Carpenter's classic Escape From New York, and we have so many thoughts on this controversial addition to the Carpenter canon that we're just scratching the surface here -- tune in two weeks from now for even more Plissken palaver. For now, though, we take the big-picture view of this fascinating, flawed, and flamboyant slice of 90s CGI-assisted action  insanity, discussing the film's cast and production, its much-discussed visual effects, a unique and diverse score co-written by Carpenter, and lots of ways in which it both echoes and deviates from its predecessor. Along the way, we touch on everything from  inspired soundtrack choices (is that Tool we're hearing???) to Roger Ebert's uncharacteristically positive review to the mortality rate for Snake Plissken sidekicks, which we think is extraordinarily high. Plus, Chris takes a spin through the small but incredible filmography of Robert Eggers, Nick gets lost at sea while remembering 1992's two competing Christopher Columbus movies, and we get amped-up for some future podcasting goodness straight from Carpenter himself!

Escape from L.A. (1996) [Part 1]

Back in 2016, John Carpenter and his band embarked on a world tour, performing all the classic cuts from his movie soundtracks as well as a selection of songs from his two Lost Themes albums. Sadly, Chris and Nick missed all of those shows, but the John Carpenter Live Retrospective Blu-Ray from Storm King Productions is as close as we could get to actually being there. For our first episode of 2021, we take a look at this one-of-a-kind concert film, a must-have for fans of John Carpenter's composing and a rare glimpse of John Carpenter, unlikely rock star (for better and, certainly, for worse, this ain't no Coupe De Villes!). Along with our thoughts on that, we also get into the filmographies of two other masters of horror whose careers paralleled Carpenter's in some surprising ways -- and dream up an idea for a concert tour that NEEDS to happen when we can all go see live music again! 

John Carpenter Live Retrospective (2018)

Join co-hosts Nick Rocco Scalia and Chris Oliphant on a movie-by-movie journey through the career of filmmaker/composer John Carpenter. From the genre-defining works to the cult classics to the overlooked gems (and misfires), we're covering the entire catalog of this modern master of horror, science fiction, and beyond!

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Precinct 13: The Movies and Music of John Carpenter

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