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David Cronenberg vs John Carpenter. Film by film.

posted 4 years ago by TMC-4 (19498)
9 replies | jump to latest

Pretty simple premise. Both have directed almost exactly the same amount of feature films. Both are staples of '70s/'80s genre. Chronologically film by film. Which film do you prefer?

Stereo or Dark Star

Crimes of the Future or Assault on Precinct 13

Shivers or Halloween

Rabid or Someone's Watching Me

Fast Company or Elvis

The Brood or The Fog

Scanners or Escape From New York

Videodrome or The Thing

The Dead Zone or Christine

The Fly or Starman

Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China

Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness

M. Butterfly or They Live

Crash or Memoirs of an Invisible Man

eXistenZ or Bodybags

Spider or In the Mouth of Madness

A History of Violence or Village of the Damned

Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A

A Dangerous Method or Vampires

Cosmopolis or Ghosts of Mars

Maps to the Stars or The Ward

[–] seagal72 (1850) 3 years ago

Slightly skewered timeline there (but other than Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape From New York and The Thing, Carpenter is pretty much a 'meh' director)

Cronenberg is on a completely different level

[–] MichaelJPollock (654) 3 years ago

>"Cronenberg is on a completely different level"
...and became the most boring director in the world, the minute he started thinking of himself as such (i.e. circa 'Spider', and definitely after 'Eastern Promises'...).

[–] seagal72 (1850) 3 years ago

True, I care little for Cronenbergs stuff *after* (the excellent) 'Eastern Promises', but Carpenter (other than 'The Thing') has been dining out on former glories ever since 1982. He just became so workmanlike with (otherwise) interesting projects (plus, the insistence of having his name above the titles of his movies, reeks of 'Remember-me-ism') It's a shame he never added his name to his earlier (worthier) stuff?
To be fair, I (nor the OP) shouldn't have compared them in the first place (other than being successful directors of horror movies during the late 70's/early 80's, they're pretty much chalk-and-cheese)
Cronenberg is more about ideas, whereas Carpenter is more about execution.

Dark Star
Assault On Precinct 13
Shivers
Rabid
Elvis
The Brood
Escape From New York
The Thing
The Dead Zone
The Fly
Dead Ringers
Naked Lunch
They Live
Crash
Existenz
Spider
A History Of Violence
Eastern Promises
A Dangerous Method
Cosmopolis
Maps to the Stars

[–] MichaelJPollock (654) 3 years ago

>"To be fair, I (nor the OP) shouldn't have compared them in the first place (other than being successful directors of horror movies during the late 70's/early 80's, they're pretty much chalk-and-cheese)"

Not necessarily. I thought it was an interesting idea to compare both.

>"...but Carpenter (other than 'The Thing') has been dining out on former glories ever since 1982. He just became so workmanlike with (otherwise) interesting projects (plus, the insistence of having his name above the titles of his movies, reeks of 'Remember-me-ism') It's a shame he never added his name to his earlier (worthier) stuff?"
"Cronenberg is more about ideas, whereas Carpenter is more about execution."

I disagree. Cronenberg is most definitely an intellectual (and was a student of Marshal McLuhan, on whom Dr. Brian O'Blivion is based, in 'Videodrome'), but I think Carpenter is more subtle about the actually deep ideas and philosophical stances built into his films (his strong belief in "absolute, metaphysical evil" -Myers, The Thing, Christine, etc.- and how one's "humanity" is something that can only be claimed by being confronted to evil. The power of ideology and the diffculty of changing other people's worldview, as explained by Slavoj Zizek in his analysis of the infamous They Live! fight sequence, etc.).

Also , technically speaking, I think Carpenter is every bit as masterful as Cronenberg (if not better: as you said, Cronenberg is more about ideas than actual mise-en-sene, and Carpenter is the more cinematic director I think). Frame composition in Carpenter's films (namely how empty his frames are, from 'Assault on Precinct 13' on) is quite remarkable. He never "overcrowds" his frames (unlike many less apt directors) and only retains the absolute essential. His style is instantly recognisable.

[–] peter_t_2k3 (990) 7 months ago

I've not seen all of Cronenbergs work and nothing after eastern promises and a history of violence but I enjoyed them both.

What I find interesting is that Cronenberg moved away from pure horror and this appears to have helped. He broaden his style.

A lot of the classic horror directors seem to have tried to revisit their classic glories e.g. carpenter and argento and failed. I just wonder if they should take a leaf out of Cronenberg's book?

[–] MichaelJPollock (654) 3 years ago

Good post!

Here goes (only when I've seen both films):

Assault on Precinct 13 (OK, I cheated: haven't seen 'Crimes of the Future', but it's hard to imagine it can top Assault...).

Escape From New York

Videodrome or The Thing (this is a really bloody hard decision to make.... Can't. Won't!).

Christine (but love Dead Zone as well)

The Fly

Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China (You can't ask me to decide! 'Dead Ringer' is undoubtedly the more cerebral "deeper" film, but "Big Trouble" is clearly the most influential and ahead-of-its-time film, and it's got so much heart...).

Prince of Darkness (no contest)

They Live (no contest)

Crash (but then again, Carpenter way ahead of his time, special effects wise, with 'Memoirs of an Invisible Man', before 'Jurassic park' or 'Terminator 2'...)

eXistenZ

In the Mouth of Madness

A History of Violence

Eastern Promises (but Escape From L.A is so misunderstood and underrated, plus it's got one of the greatest ending in the history of great endings https://youtu.be/45W5JyNN-80?t=528)

Vampires

Neither 'Cosmopolis' nor 'Ghosts of Mars'. They both suck. Maybe 'Ghosts' got a little bit more heart...

The Ward (surprisingly).

[–] [deleted] 7 months ago

I skipped the face offs where I haven't seen one or both movies.

Shivers or Halloween

Rabid or Someone's Watching Me

The Brood or The Fog

Scanners or Escape From New York

Videodrome or The Thing

The Dead Zone or Christine

Dead Ringers or Big Trouble in Little China

Naked Lunch or Prince of Darkness

eXistenZ or Bodybags

A History of Violence or Village of the Damned

Eastern Promises or Escape From L.A

A Dangerous Method or Vampires

FINAL TALLY:
Cronenberg 9 - 3 Carpenter

[–] e3e34ifj (1373) a month ago

This comparison is really dumb because a lot of these films are not like their competition at all. Like why is Crimes against Assault? One is a psychological body horror film from 2023 and the other is a gritty action exploitation cop movie from 1976. And Dead Ringers vs Big Trouble in Little China? Wtf

[–] johnmiller (3487) a month ago

Carpenter is the answer. Cronenberg has made some excellent movies. But, I think Carpenter has had a much bigger impact in horror and in movies.