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List Price: $35.95 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 97551
Released: August 7, 2001 |
| Our Price: $21.91 |
| Used Price: $19.00 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 04/22/2008
Description of John Carpenter:
Christine
She can't (and won't) drive 55.... Stephen King's novel about the twisted love affair between a boy and his car gets transferred to the screen, courtesy of suspense master John Carpenter. Although lacking some of the more outré supernatural elements of the source material, this high-octane cinematic tune-up more than delivers the goods, horror-wise (Christine's midnight rampages will never be forgotten)--as well as being a sly exposé of the random cruelties within the high-school pecking order. Keith Gordon (who has gone on to become a stellar director in his own right, with films such as A Midnight Clear and Mother Night to his credit) gives a wonderfully controlled central performance. Carpenter's atmospheric original score is backed up by a well-chosen collection of rock classics, including George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (the titular character's all-too-apt theme song). --Andrew Wright
Vampires
Talk about an opening. The first few minutes of John Carpenter's Vampires--in which James Woods's vampire killer leads a dawn raid on a New Mexico "goon nest" of bloodsuckers--not only suggests a horror movie that will not pull any punches, it even evokes some of the more disturbing dream-memories of American Westerns. Muscular and uncompromised, the sequence suggests a new Carpenter classic unraveling before one's eyes. Well, dream on. Things don't quite work out that way, but this is still a film to reckon with. There are a few serious (and surprising) misjudgments on the director's part, particularly a mishandling of Sheryl Lee's role as a prostitute poisoned by the bite of a "master vampire" (who pretty much wiped out Woods's team of goon terminators). But aside from some weaknesses, the action is jolting, the suggested complicity of the Catholic Church in destroying monsters is provocative, and the traces of Howard Hawks's continuing influence on Carpenter's storytelling are in evidence. --Tom Keogh
Starman
While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best movie from John Carpenter, others--die-hard romantics and anyone who cried while watching E.T.--might vote in favor of the director's 1984 hit Starman. It's easily Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that ever earned an Oscar nomination. That honor went specifically to Best Actor nominee Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alien visitor to Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat (don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with intelligent flair, sensitivity, and lighthearted humor. If you're not choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be human. --Jeff Shannon
John Carpenter Reviews:
Scary! 
2009-10-26 - I bought this as a Christmas gift for my daughter who is a huge fan of horror movies. The price was unbeatable.
Caveat Emptor-Package in error 
2007-08-28 - One simple note to prevent anyone else from making the same mistake I did-Starman is NOT in widescreen, but is fullscreen only.
finally starman widescreen! 
2007-02-18 - Vampires isn't one of my favorite Carpenters so I considered it a freebie. But to finally have a widescreen Starman dvd was the best ever (and I'd forogtten how good Christine was)
Good for your John Carpenter collection.
2005-10-26 - John Carpenter is one of the best and greatest filmakers of all time in my opinion as most of his films are highly influential, most of his films like Halloween, assault on precint 13 and escape from N.Y. have been imatated numerous times in other films but could not have been as great as these films. Even though he mainly does horror and b-movies he just makes them in his own exciting style which is alot better then an untalented and lazy hack who would rather do a remake these days. Anyway this boxset is a great and an affordable way to collect his films some that you would like and some that you wouldn't but then again its cheap and you can't complain, here is a summary of all three films:
Christine (1983), Christine is based on the best selling novel by Stephen King about a possesed car that somehow ends up changing the life of its owner a nerdy character who suddenly has a transformation into a cool leather jacket wearing highschool student, but bad things happen once the car starts killing people. I thought that the film was just average as it seems more like a coming of age drama than a horror film as the main character has difficulties with his parents and friends who are concerned about his obbsesion with this car, otherwise the film was slow and had a few dull scenes but also had some terrific music and some good setup and death scenes this film gets 3 and a 1/2 stars.
Starman (1984) ,Starman staring Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen is a very nice and touching Sci fi drama that is a change from his violent and gory sci fi horror film The thing as it was rated PG. As a result of the 1970s voyager 2 space probe, an alien ship is sent to study earth. The alien assumes the form of a woman's dead husband and together they go on a road trip and battle against the military and the authorities to send the alien back to his own world. Jeff Bridges performance in this film was fantastic and has earned him an oscar nomination, has an almost child like behaviour as he goes through all the human emotions like crying, laughing ect. 5 stars.
Vampires (1998), Vampires is one of John Carpenters more recent films and is a good one at that, this film is a sort of take from John Carpenter's perspective of the vampire legend or myth as James Wood's character says these aren't your euro trash pipe smoking fa**, the vampires are more evil and demonic and wouldn't mind ripping a guy in half. You should deffinently check this great vampire horror film if only for one reason alone and that would be James Woods tough guy and foul mouthed persona which I thought was cool. The vatican enlists a team of vampire hunters to destroy a group of vampires led by Valek who is basicly the ultimate powerful and indestructable vampire before they find the crucifix that enables them to walk out in the daylight. Yes the storyline might be cheesy but the film was a great gory vampire film with some great action scenes that only Carpenter could make, 4 stars and make sure that you don't see the sequal that has Bon Jovi lol that film sucks.
