We all go a little mad sometimes.

I was talking to an old friend the other night, and it really got me thinking. Isn’t it great how you can be apart from someone for years, yet when you sit down to catch up an reminisce about the ‘good old days’, it’s like no time has passed. Sure, everyone’s older; I’m bigger (and balder), but that interim span of time is washed away and it’s like we never skipped a beat. As cliché as it sounds, I get misty-eyed for the time lost. We kept talking about old jobs and friends, misspent youth and such and how great our lives are now. But there’s always that small part of everyone, deep in the back of your brain, that thinks those younger days were far better than they actually  were. You’ll never have that much fun again, yada yada yada. Not true, but even the best of us fall prey to the illusion of the greener grass that existed in the past.

Which brings me to my topic of the day:  John Carpenter. The consensus online seems to be that he has passed his prime and hasn’t made anything of quality in a while. Sure, his output has decreased, but good god, let the guy enjoy his later years! In the last decade, he has only directed 2 movies and 2 anthology shorts, but I enjoyed the heck out of both. Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life are great little horror nuggets from the Masters of Horror TV show. He has a new full length out next week called The Ward and it’s a great little insane asylum ghost story. It has great scares and is a bit creepy as well. I recommend it if you’re a Carpenter fan. Also having Amber Heard in the lead doesn’t hurt the movie in the least.

Now let’s talk a little about Ghosts of Mars. It’s got silly dialogue, over the top situations and OK effects. This movie was grindhouse homage before they were de rigeur for edgy filmmakers. Come on, Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube (before he became all kid friendly on us), Jason Statham and Pam Grier? A casting coup! I enjoyed the heck out of it. I’m not going to try and convince you that this is high art. It’s not. It’s a fun movie that’s meant to be enjoyed, in my humble opinion.

I don’t need to convince anybody of the quality of John Carpenter’s earlier work. Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, and The Thing are genre classics. The wackiness of Dark Star, Stephen King’s Christine, Starman and even the TV movie Elvis are great, too. This period of publicly accepted ‘quality output’ ends with Big Trouble in Little China for a lot of people. I have to disagree. Moving from the late 80s to the 90s, Carpenter had a few missteps, but there are some gems that I pride myself in showing naysayers. Prince of Darkness is a creepy horror/sci-fi apocalyptic movie that I absolutely love. They Live has more testosterone in it than an MMA title bout. Just crazy fun. In the Mouth of Madness is as close to HP Lovecraft as anyone else has gotten, with the exception of Guillermo del Toro (I’m still hoping for his literal take on Lovecraft, but we’ll see…). I’m not a huge fan on Memoirs of an Invisible Man, but I blame Chevy Chase (sorry Chevy). Village of the Damned is better than most give it credit for as well. I understand the hyperbolic Escape from L.A. is waaaaaay goofy and shake your head crazy. Just enjoy your popcorn and stop over thinking it. Fun movie. I’ll finish this post with Vampire$. Enjoyed this one without reservation. I don’t even have to stumble over excuses, beating you over the head with the entertainment value this beauty has. James Woods as the leader of a band of Catholic Church sponsored vampire hunters. Say no more.

I watched the original Halloween the other day, and despite the love I feel for this film, I can’t help but feel pity for the films that followed. The bar is set so high that the others seem to pale in comparison. Give these others a chance and I think you won’t be disappointed. Don’t let the bête noir of popular opinion sour the possibility that you may love a film. The same goes for music or people. Enjoy what you want and who cares what anyone else thinks?