published on August 10, 2024 in Celebrated Individual

John Carpenter Just Wants to Play Video Games and Watch Basketball

At the end of John Carpenter's 1982 horror film "The Thing," a badly injured MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Childs (Keith David) sit in the freezing wreckage of their Antarctic research station sharing a bottle of whiskey. They had been part of a team of researchers at the remote station, but things took a turn when a mysterious alien "Thing" began invading and then assimilating the bodies of the men at the base. MacReady and the survivors then attempted to burn down the station and any alien particles inside of it, but it's unclear if they were successful.

The film ends on an ambiguous note: Both men are still suspicious that the other is the Thing, but as Russell's character notes, they're not in much shape to do anything about it. So instead, he suggests, as they sit in the snow slowly freezing to death: "Why don't we wait here for a little bit, see what happens?"

It's a definitively nihilistic ending for a horror film, one that caused "The Thing" to be critically panned upon its release. But in the years since, Carpenter's sci-fi horror film has garnered a cult following and been critically reappraised, joining the ranks of his other hit movies like "Halloween" and "Escape from New York."

Carpenter has had a storied career in Hollywood, and is widely regarded as one of the masters of the horror genre. But during a recent interview with Insider, the director seemed as tired and world-weary as Russell's character in "The Thing." Sure, he'd made some of the greatest horror movies of our time. But to hear Carpenter tell it, that wasn't anything to write home about. Talking about his new anthology series for Peacock, "Suburban Screams," also did little to pique his interest, although he did brighten up when our conversation drifted to the WNBA.

Now, the legendary director seems more content on the sidelines, sitting in peace and watching to see what happens with other directors and films, while also focusing on the real-world horrors that keep him up at night.

Your new anthology series "Suburban Screams" focuses on the terrors of real life. How did you decide which stories you wanted to include on the show?

We have researchers that are scouring the suburbs for stories, and the stories need to focus on survivors, violence, and evil and in various places. And so we found a lot of amazing ones, and we just chose the best, the most fun, most cinematic.

Did you ever feel like exploring true events that maybe seemed to have an element of the supernatural in them as well?

Sure. That's in this series too, with the Ouija board. I don't necessarily believe in ghosts, but people do, so we need to deal with their fears.

That makes total sense. You've mentioned in some past interviews that some horror movies you really enjoyed recently were Jordan Peele's "Nope," and also "Let the Right One In." Aside from those, what was the last movie that truly scared you?

Oh, well, it isn't movies that scare me — real life scares me. I'd ask you to take a look around the world right now. A frightening place in reality. I don't need movies to scare me.

I definitely agree that the world is pretty scary. Is there a real-life moment specifically that's given you the chills recently?

Well, everything that's happening, the number of people that are dying or in pain. I mean, I don't want to get into it, start preaching, but the inhumanity, oh God, it's awful.

Anyway, let's talk about fun things.

Yeah, I agree. Switching gears a little bit — in some horror movies, the main antagonist is kept out of sight, concealed until the very last moment. For instance, in your classic film "Halloween," we only catch a glimpse of Michael Myers' face at the very end. How do you feel about this idea that a monster or a villain in a movie is almost scarier when you can't see them?

Well, here's the thing. In terms of a movie, the thing that matters, in a horror movie, most of all — forget everything else — is a great story. I don't care about final girls or jump scares or anything else. That's all secondary. That's all beside the point. Good story is what horror is all about. That's what I searched the world for, what I try to do.

What do you think goes into making a good story for a horror movie?

Well, you can know it when you see it. A good story's everywhere, but there's not necessarily a lot of good stories. You'll know it when you see it. There are no rules.

It's not like — you may be looking for a list. There's nothing like that. Good story could be as short as a poem or something, or as long as a novel. There's no rules.

Are there some horror movies that you thought had good stories recently, aside from the two I mentioned earlier?

That's exactly right. They do something more than just the typical. Jordan Peele's work is like that. Very, very good. David Gordon Green is a very good director.

Is there anyone else you feel like has a really good knack for storytelling, whether that's in horror or in other genres of films?

Oh, there are a lot of 'em. There are a lot of really fine directors out there. But Fincher, David Fincher — I'm a very big fan of him.

I think people, including me, tend to ask you about the same few movies in your career, whether that's —

No, you ask the best questions ever.

Well, thank you. But is there a movie from your career that you wish more people asked about, or a project that you really want to discuss that you feel doesn't come up in conversations?

No, I don't care. I'd rather talk about basketball.

Well, if we're going to talk about basketball, I saw that you're a big WNBA fan. How did you feel about Las Vegas' win over New York?

Fantastic. Las Vegas, they were my team, although I really loved New York, I loved the players on New York. But Las Vegas, they're just a great, great basketball team. And Becky Hammon is their coach, and she's brilliant. So they got it all. They won it all. Isn't that great?

Do you care? No, no, you don't. It's okay though.

I mean, I have a lot of friends who go to the New York Liberty games, and I think some people were pretty upset that they just barely lost.

Yeah, I know. They were great. They only lost by one point.

That's a bummer. Going back to films, I feel like horror films have only recently kind of started to garner really serious consideration as an art form. Why do you feel like people are finally starting to take horror movies seriously?

I have no idea. Look, horror movies have been around since the beginning of cinema, a hundred years ago. The origins of cinema are in horror and mainly because it is very cinematic, and audiences love to be scared. And it's always been with us.

Every generation, a director will come along, a producer will come along, and reinvent the horror film. Look back at the Depression era — out came "Dracula." It was a huge sensation followed by "Frankenstein," also a huge sensation.

Why were these movies a sensation? Because they spoke to the people of the generation who were going through a tough, tough, tough time.

Then later, horror changed again. It evolved, the generation changes. And I think a turning point for horror was "Psycho," in 1960. Alfred Hitchcock, he really changed it. And then later there were other turns. I remember seeing "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968. It was a huge turn for horror. Later was "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" — massive turn for horror.

So these things happen, and they're generational. Our generation is doing it, and the next generation will come along and pick up the pieces of horror, the tropes, the stories, and remake it. And I love that. That's something that keeps renewing it.

But I've preached long enough.

You mentioned Alfred Hitchcock, and I've seen some people compare you to Hitchcock in terms of the pacing of your films, the kind of tension you build. How do you feel about that comparison?

It's not apt because I'm nowhere near Hitchcock. I'm much more like "The Blob."

I don't know if everyone would agree with that.

I'm "The Fly." I'm the "Attack of the Crab Monsters." I'm a whole different breed.

On that note, there are still some horror movies, like "Malignant," that just really unabashedly contain humor as well as horror. Where do you think humor fits in a scary story?

I don't know— if it fits in a story, it's fine. Humor's always welcome and we love humor. We love to laugh, love to be scared, put 'em together and you got a hit.

I think that's a winning combo. And in your opinion, why do you think viewers like to be scared so much?

Well, I don't know. It's the most powerful emotion there is. We're all born afraid. We're all afraid of things. We're all essentially afraid of the same things. I'm afraid of what you're afraid of. Vice versa. The way it is. We're humans.

That's a sad commentary, isn't it? On human beings. But look what we're doing as human beings.

I mean, humans can be pretty scary and real life is often very scary. So I don't disagree with that.

In the past, you've been outspoken about critical responses to your work. How did you feel about the reviews for "Suburban Screams?"

I don't know what the reviews have been. They've been any good?

I think some of them have not been so positive. I think one article said that this was a ruinous moment, a bad moment for your career.

[Laughs] Well, there you go. There you go. Oh yeah, somebody's spreading sunshine somewhere.

So I take it you're not too hung up about your legacy then?

What legacy?

I mean, some people would view you as one of the master directors of horror films.

That's nice. Sorry, I'm eating a Popsicle.

So you don't consider yourself to be —

Look, I'm not a master of anything. I just want to play video games and watch basketball. That's all I care about doing. I don't want to bother anybody.

I made a little series. If you don't like it, fuck off. If you do like it, I like you. So there you go.

Got it. So if someone asked, why did you make this series at this point in your career, what would your response be?

It was fun. It didn't require too much of my time. It was a light commitment and I enjoyed telling the story. That's why.

I mean, I guess it all really comes back to the story.

Yeah. Not very complex, really.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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