After a wonderful weekend celebrating pop culture at a horror convention this past weekend, I woke up this morning to the terrible news that actor Sam Neill, whose work I’ve long admired over at least five decades, has passed away at age 78–an age that seems terribly young to me these days as I tentatively…
Tag: John Carpenter
“The Thing” and I: Director John Carpenter’s sci-fi/horror classic turns 40…
******SAUCER-SIZED SPOILERS!!****** “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Where to start, but at the beginning; “The Thing” first thawed as the novella “Who Goes There?”, written in 1938 by John W. Campbell. It involved a group of Antarctic researchers who discover a spaceship frozen in ice for millions of years. Attempting to remove it…
“They Live” (1988); John Carpenter’s most political film is also one of his most underrated…
*****SPOILERS AHEAD!!***** Writer/director/musician John Carpenter is arguably most famous for 1978’s “Halloween” and 1982’s “The Thing,” but in 1988 he crafted a clever social/political satire called “They Live,” that went largely unnoticed upon its initial release. I’ll admit, even I didn’t see the movie until I rented it on laserdisc (yes, I’m that old) sometime…
“Halloween Kills” (2021) offers brutal tricks, but few treats…
******PUMPKIN SPICE SPOILERS!!****** After more than a year’s delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “Halloween Kills” is finally getting a release. Like the Godzilla franchise, Halloween’s continuity has been rebooted multiple times since the classic 1978 original. Halloweens 2, 4, 5 and 6 were (more or less) a straight line series of diminishing quality that…