Monotype Brief - John Carpenter (Responsive)

John Carpenter

Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction films from the 1970s and 1980s.

Most films in Carpenter's career were critical and commercial failures, with the notable exceptions of Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981) and Prince of Darkness (1987). However, many of Carpenter's films from the 1970s and the 1980s such as Dark Star (1974), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Starman (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and They Live (1988) have since been seen as cult classics, and Carpenter has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker (Wikipedia).

My aim for this project is to revive some of these cult classic horrors by rejuvenating them and introduce wider audiences who wouldn't have experienced them the first time. One of the thing that make these films distinctive is the era they were made in (1980s). This is a decade I am particularly interested in as it was the start of commercial digital advertising and computer generated design.     

All the images above the films original advertisements from the 80s.

The films I have chosen to include in my retrospective screening are: 

- The Fog (1980)

- The Thing (1982)

- They Live (1988) 

Images/Inspiration from the original films  

The Thing and The Fog have both had fairly bland and unimaginative remakes since and by doing so have hidden the original films even further. Most of the younger generation would most likely choose the newer versions because of the updated effects, cast and current advertising. 

Remake posters: 

The new posters look bland using typical colours and composition and aren't as interesting when compared to the originals.