Film Series
John Carpenter: Master of Fear
"One of the greatest horror directors of all time."
—The New York Times
Renegade auteur John Carpenter injects B-movie genres—horror, sci-fi, action—with the bravura stylistic technique of classical Hollywood giants like Howard Hawks and John Ford. Boasting “one of the most consistent and coherent bodies of work in modern cinema” (Kent Jones, Film Comment), Carpenter delivers thrills with his mastery of the widescreen frame, instantly recognizable synthesizer scores, and defiantly anti-establishment attitude.
In conjunction with the upcoming release of his first solo album Lost Themes (Sacred Bones Records), BAM presents a tribute to the legendary director with a rare in-person conversation, a full-career film retrospective, and a selection of his favorite film scores.
The director of Halloween and The Thing joins Brooke Gladstone in conversation.
Carpenter’s ultra-influential breakout hit introduced the world to masked maniac Michael Myers.
John Carpenter’s spine-tingling, nightmarish revision of Howard Hawks’ sci-fi thriller.
A supernatural fog sweeps in to a small seaside town in this underrated chill-fest.
Sam Neill stars in the capstone of John Carpenter’s Apocalypse Trilogy.
Chevy Chase is an invisible stock analyst on the run in Carpenter’s sci-fi comedy.
Carpenter's “most underrated, possibly best feature” (Slant) is this atmospheric chiller.
A group of astronauts must stop a self-aware bomb from blowing them up in this funny flick.
Kurt Russell infiltrates San Francisco’s Chinatown in Carpenter’s breathless kung-fu spectacle.
A street gang terrorizes an LA police station in Carpenter’s lean, mean second feature.
Carpenter’s sleek horror joyride is one of the all-time best Stephen King adaptations.
A vampire slayer (James Woods) battles bloodsucking baddies in this horror-western hybrid.
Telepathic demon-children terrorize a small town in this remake of the 1960 classic.
A teenage pyromaniac is confined to an ominous asylum in this nerve-jangling thriller.
A phantom force turns victims into goth-like zombies in Carpenter’s pulp sci-fi shoot-em-up.
Yuppie aliens brainwash America in this anti-establishment classic.
Manhattan is transformed into a floating cesspool in this classic dystopian thriller.
An eye-patch-sporting antihero (Kurt Russell) goes on a mission through a post-apocalyptic L.A.
An Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges stars as a genial alien in Carpenter’s sci-fi romance.
Dustin Hoffman stars in Sam Peckinpah’s dissection of masculinity and marital strife.
Tangerine Dream’s electronic score heightens the dread in William Friedkin’s masterpiece.
This inventive, big-budget sci-film features the first completely electronic film score.