On Carpenter
One of the really groovy thing I received for Christmas was JOHN CARPENTER, THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, by Gilles Boulenger. I'd had great hopes for this book. I'm a big fan of many of Carpenter's movies and he's one of the people I'd pick in that "10 People That Most Intrigue Me" list I keep thinking about formulating as message board fodder. The book ended up being one big interview with Carpenter, moving through each movie chronologically and every now and then touching on an event that happened at that time. There are some starter biological and general methodology questions, too, but it's mostly about the movies and craft and themes.
The interview is at times enlightening and at times frustrating. There are way too many examples of Boulenger asking a fairly complex question such as,"Were you using the continuing encroachment of space to up the overall tension?" And Carpenter would answer with a meager, "Yeah." And not in a "That's obvious, let's move on" type way, but simply as "That is correct" with no additional insight. It was sloppy of Boulenger and made one feel the question as a whole was worthless.
One thing that stood out for me with Carpenter was just how many box office failures he's had. I didn't really realize that. It's pretty clear to me, from reading the interview and reflecting on his movies, that Carpenter just needs a small budget. He doesn't seem to have the vision to make his ideas translate to the screen in a way that justifies the budget. Not that he doesn't have a worthy vision, just that it doesn't translate onscreen in a way that will make enough money to recoup a lot of money.
The best gem I took from the book, so far, was his thoughts on his love of German expressionism vs. Russian montage. Not so much as the concepts themselves, but in terms of his films. It's something that is obvious in Halloween, even with not knowing the actual concept, but I appreciated it a lot when I watched The Thing for the first time this weekend. Letting the camera sit and framing the shot to let the suspense build, rather than doing multiple quick cuts. It's a double edged sword, I think, because it can build tension, but it can also make scenes drag a little. I think there's probably a happy medium. I've got ASSULT ON PRECINCT 13 ready to watch, again for the first time, and I'm looking forward to that.
The biggest disappointment I had with the book was not getting any more insight into Carpenter's use of religion in films. There are several mentions, but nothing that I thought fully explored why it is so prevalent in them.
All in all, it was probably worth $20 for a Carpenter fan, although a used copy at half the price and reasonable condition would be a steal. A great attraction to the book were the many pictures, including a middle section of color plates with pictures I thought were freshers than one might expect.
The interview is at times enlightening and at times frustrating. There are way too many examples of Boulenger asking a fairly complex question such as,"Were you using the continuing encroachment of space to up the overall tension?" And Carpenter would answer with a meager, "Yeah." And not in a "That's obvious, let's move on" type way, but simply as "That is correct" with no additional insight. It was sloppy of Boulenger and made one feel the question as a whole was worthless.
One thing that stood out for me with Carpenter was just how many box office failures he's had. I didn't really realize that. It's pretty clear to me, from reading the interview and reflecting on his movies, that Carpenter just needs a small budget. He doesn't seem to have the vision to make his ideas translate to the screen in a way that justifies the budget. Not that he doesn't have a worthy vision, just that it doesn't translate onscreen in a way that will make enough money to recoup a lot of money.
The best gem I took from the book, so far, was his thoughts on his love of German expressionism vs. Russian montage. Not so much as the concepts themselves, but in terms of his films. It's something that is obvious in Halloween, even with not knowing the actual concept, but I appreciated it a lot when I watched The Thing for the first time this weekend. Letting the camera sit and framing the shot to let the suspense build, rather than doing multiple quick cuts. It's a double edged sword, I think, because it can build tension, but it can also make scenes drag a little. I think there's probably a happy medium. I've got ASSULT ON PRECINCT 13 ready to watch, again for the first time, and I'm looking forward to that.
The biggest disappointment I had with the book was not getting any more insight into Carpenter's use of religion in films. There are several mentions, but nothing that I thought fully explored why it is so prevalent in them.
All in all, it was probably worth $20 for a Carpenter fan, although a used copy at half the price and reasonable condition would be a steal. A great attraction to the book were the many pictures, including a middle section of color plates with pictures I thought were freshers than one might expect.
posted by David Worrell @ 10:39 PM
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