THE ARCHIVE
Find your way into
Carpenter’s world.
Choose a film, follow a question, or search across the dossiers, music guide and museum.
Enter a name, film or subject to search the archive.
A FIRST VISIT
Four good places to begin.
The Thing
Our most extensive dossier: begin with the overview, then follow a particular question into the evidence.
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Listen beyond the films.
Explore the scores, collaborators, Lost Themes records and Cathedral.
Follow the surviving objects.
Explore artist prints, Japanese chirashi and video editions from our affiliated shops.
Beyond the familiar films.
Six directing works, the student archive and the lesser-known writing assignments.
THE DIRECTED FEATURES
Eighteen films. Many entrances.
Dark Star
Explore Dark Star through USC, the changing screenplay, handmade effects, its philosophical bomb, Benson, Arizona, first reviews and later editions.
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Assault on Precinct 13
Explore Assault on Precinct 13 through The Anderson Alamo script, its ensemble, station design, widescreen staging, score, disputed reception and restoration.
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Halloween
Explore Halloween through Debra Hill’s writing, the ensemble, Haddonfield’s design, camera and sound, early reviews, advertising and its television editions.
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The Fog
Explore The Fog through Hill and Carpenter’s reconstruction, Antonio Bay’s history, Barbeau, coastal spaces, manufactured weather, sound, advertising and reception.
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Escape from New York
Explore Escape from New York through its changing scripts, ensemble, prison-city design, practical effects, electronic score, early reviews and later restorations.
Enter the dossier ↗The Thing
Investigate The Thing through original documents, adaptation, production, performances, sound and its changing reputation.
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Christine
Explore Christine through King and Phillips, Keith Gordon and Alexandra Paul, the revised screenplay, car effects, music, original American and Uruguayan reviews, deleted scenes and surviving vehicles.
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Starman
Explore Starman through Jenny’s grief, Bridges and Allen, the disputed screenplay, Voyager, transformation workshops, Nitzsche’s score, Italian and American criticism, video circulation and a surviving puppet.
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Big Trouble in Little China
Explore Big Trouble in Little China through the Western drafts, Jack and Wang, the ensemble, martial arts, sets, effects, music, community debate and rediscovery.
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Prince of Darkness
Explore Prince of Darkness through the dated script, ensemble, church, cylinder effects, dream transmission, mirror, Carpenter–Howarth music, original reviews and rediscovery.
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They Live
Explore They Live through its source story, screenplay, workers, alien effects, alley fight, sampled blues, divided reviews and continuing cultural life.
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Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Explore Memoirs of an Invisible Man through Saint’s novel, the changing screenplay, Chase and Hannah, early digital effects, Shirley Walker’s score, original reviews and later French and Portuguese exhibition.
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In the Mouth of Madness
Explore In the Mouth of Madness through the 1992 screenplay, Sam Neill and Julie Carmen, fabricated books, KNB and ILM effects, music, conflicting premieres, regional reviews and rediscovery.
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Village of the Damned
Explore Village of the Damned through Wyndham and Rilla, the parents and children, the blackout’s effects, Carpenter and Dave Davies’s score, regional criticism and later rediscovery.
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Escape from L.A.
Explore Escape from L.A. through Snake’s return, the abandoned screenplay, the ruined city, surfing effects, Shirley Walker’s score, divided regional criticism and later rediscovery.
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Vampires
Explore Vampires through the novel, the hunters, Katrina, the red western landscape, practical effects, the blues sessions, divided regional criticism and later editions.
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Ghosts of Mars
Explore Ghosts of Mars through its industrial western, fractured storytelling, physical performances, original design artwork, miniature and digital effects, metal sessions and disputed afterlife.
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The Ward
Explore The Ward through its changing screenplay, ensemble, hospital geography, title imagery, effects, Mark Kilian’s score, divided regional criticism and later 35mm circulation.
Enter the dossier ↗FOLLOW A QUESTION
Read across the films.
When the walls close in
A station, a precinct, a church: start with the places that promise protection, then follow what happens when that promise fails.
Follow this path ↗Can you trust what you see?
Bodies, advertisements and stories become unreliable evidence. These dossiers approach the problem from different directions.
Follow this path ↗Keep the names in the frame
Follow the writing, photography, production and effects work that gives each film its particular shape.
Follow this path ↗Listen beyond the picture
Take a route from film music to new performances, independent albums and the worlds they suggest.
Follow this path ↗