Tag Archives: John Carpenter

Starman + Visitor Q

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Alice Thirteen

Visitors from afar come to John Carpenter’s Starman and Takashi Miike’s Visitor Q. Observing humanity from a non-human perspective. John Carpenter’s Starman fits right in with his other early films. The original Jeff Bridges uncanny valley. Movies where aliens just try to get back to their spaceships and leave mankind alone. Everyone still remembers Run Fatboy Run. The significance and impact of Carpenter’s career and films. Takashi Miike is the best, even after over 100 films. Visitor Q forces the audience to accept everything it presents to them. Making as many films as Miike forces him to be an experimental filmmaker. Shooting film on early digital cameras to look like a home movie. Has necrophilia been on the show before? Making something as fucked up as possible to get people talking about it.

Leave it to Beavers + Village of the Damned

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Alice Thirteen

One species manipulates another to do its bidding! The most important information presented in the PBS documentary Leave it To Beavers. Thinking about engineering. Complex questions at the end of evolution. Understanding animal lovers. Stop fucking eating fucking cows, you’re all killing the planet. John Carpenter unplugged in Village of the Damned. An alternate debatably cooler name for Village of the Damned. Imagining a world where this is a franchise – maybe even an AMC television series! John Carpenters interest in stories with great premises. Continue reading →

Vertigo + In the Mouth of Madness

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Alice Thirteen

Gargantuan directors examine head problems. Untouchable darkness. Hitchcock and Vertigo. I’m demon speeding.Not talking about the shot by talking about the shot. It’s been a while, so just what are these Hitchcock things? A dirty black river to get you through this. A run down on Vertigo. An argument for madness. Hey, do you love me I’m a devil machine? Get into my world, all-american dream. John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness. Down in the darkness there is no more tomorrow. Sam Neil gets locked in the hallow. Steven King shows up somehow. What really makes authors go crazy in the woods. Hey, do you love it when the kids are screaming? Wrecking on the road violate their dreaming. Hey, do you love to see the filth in the clean? Get into the gone, all american. Dream. Continue reading →

Resolution + They Live

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Alice Thirteen

Conspiratorial yarns with cause for much introspection. Hot seventies grind house burns. Finding your ending. Jumping from plot to plot and checking in with the audience. Hate the crack, love the addict. Don’t fear the audience. Explain the ending of Resolution. Who or what is the monster? A string of viral mysteries. The revelation of John Carpenter’s They Live. Being predisposed to a cult film’s legacy legacy. Impact vs Futura Oblique Condensed. Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger. Andrew the Giant has a posse. OBEY. Roddy Piper, Keith David, and a totally bizarre Meg Foster. The infamous long fight scene in They Live. David Ike and the reptilian agenda. Also, David Ike is a fuckwad. Continue reading →

Ghosts of Mars + Giallo

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Alice Thirteen

Blacksheep comebacks from horror giants. Continuing to find insight on two directors Double Feature knows front to back. John Carpenter’s enemies that can not be reasoned with. Loving a film the director himself can’t stand. Secret things you can do to get more fun out of a film. Pretending there’s a hidden scene where Jason Statham was put in a timeout. The space frigate genre. Pretending there’s an unreliable narrator. A flashback within a flashback. Audiences cheering on protagonists without thinking. Applauding for martian genocide. The real secret reason Ghosts of Mars is notable – Ghosts of Mars is the most accurate adaptation of the gaming franchise Doom. Revisiting Dario Argento’s influence on the giallo genre. Skeptics approach the elements of giallo, including the paranormal. Is Dario Argento’s film Giallo self-referential? A conversation about the sexual theme (or lack of) in the film. Where this killer falls in the pantheon of movie killers. The purpose Linda serves. Continue reading →

Class of 1984 + Prince of Darkness

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Alice Thirteen

Students discover the hidden truths of future and past. Alex Pardee, EL-P and Killer Mike. When things happened in 1984. Guns in the school! Why 1984 won’t be like 1984. A nation of criminals. Forgetting the growing left to do. Pacifists who don’t like spanking. Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. Where does a modern audience find the shock? The great twenty-first century bully awakening. Everyone was bullied, no one was the bully. Why kids are such little fucking assholes. Who is bad, and what kind of bad they are. Slipping into violence. Corruption via environment. How the ethical meet the unjustifiable. Marilyn Manson samples Prince of Darkness for his cover of Down in the Park. Alice Cooper gets more air time than Marilyn Manson. The old rock and roll. Classic carpenter? What you thought and what you get. Technology and religion. Donald Pleasence brings the gravity. Theoretical science for scams. Michael talks about quantum mechanics at a level he’s not supposed to comprehend. The quantum check. Counter-intuitive religious coverups. What’s the end game? Another bonus episode coming your way! Continue reading →

Suspiria + John Carpenter’s Vampires

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Alice Thirteen

Double spook-show. Living in a pitch black vacuum. Another satisfied cinematic customer. Dario Argento’s leading ladies. Reexamination of female empowerment? Associations between space and horror. Not that kind of space. Colored light and Dario Argento’s stage love. Camera work with a sense of humor. Using camera pans for laughs. The most notable Goblin score yet. Some insight into Argento and skepticism. James Woods in John Carpenter’s Vampires! A new era of Carpenter. Ongoing musical developments. The Baldwin role. Action, action, cross-dissolve. Vampires that shoot fireworks. What brand of unique vampire mythology? Favorite vampire death. The mother-fucker of all climaxes. Sure-fire ending. Continue reading →

The Ward + Darkon

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Alice Thirteen

A day in fantasy to help Alice think he’s not crazy. A modern John Carpenter film in The Ward. A familiar director and a band new writer. Seeing the style and technique again. Immediately identifiable as modern and 70s. The pulsing heartbeat of John Carpenter. One prolific director’s influence on films of today’s. Where’d the Casio keyboard go? Quick, pretend you were already a fan of Rob Zombie’s latest inspiration. Unnerving commentary. Another visual movie watching experiment you can try at home! Michael overcomes a pet peeve. Sweet Amber Heard. The Id, the Artist, the Seductress, the Aggressor, the Infant and the Protector. Another way to approach the twist. Every horror movie should have one good joke. Break your own rules to create scares. The kill room. Modern violence. A professional crew surrounding amateurs. Filming a documentary as a gift to your subject. The wench from Medieval Times. Humanizing the subject you thought was strange enough to film. A universe where your choices effect everything. Is being born in the wrong time nonsense? Being boring (and other qualities of world leaders). The actual skills Darkon sharpens. In character and out of character. Is it ok to check out from the real world? Continue reading →

Dark Star + Sunshine

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Alice Thirteen

Celestial bodies that aren’t Jane Fonda. Double Feature in space! John Carpenter’s first film, Dark Star. Who knows Dark Star is supposed to be funny? Carpenter and comedy. Making a film out of your trash can. Remembering the flower children. What if we sent spaced-out hippies into space? What Star Trek took from Dark Star. The director’s cut. Methodological skepticism. Skepticism vs paradoxes. Journeyman filmmaking. How Sunshine makes space feel massive. Giving life back to space. The living components of dying space. Overwhelming, inspiring awe. Democracy isn’t always the right answer. A breakdown of decisions and consequences. In defense of Trey. Suicide or murder? Sunshine’s Bear or No Bear moment that transition in to all anyone remembers about the film. Pinback and Pinbacker. Let’s talk about the core problems of a religious mindset! Is God really the problem? Why things are blurry. What created Pinbacker and what he represents. Continue reading →

Assault on Precinct 13 + The Wrong Man

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Alice Thirteen

John Carpenter and Alfred Hitchcock are two directors with something to say about the police. Assault on Precinct 13 blah blah Rio Bravo blah blah. Things AoP13 has inspired. Defining action as its own genre. Vanilla twist. The innocent years of John Carpenter. Deborah Hill. Super wide composition. Whatever device lights. An anonymous, faceless enemy. How to play Potatoes. John Carpenter’s take on the police. Silent violence. Alfred Hitchcock knows how good he is. The wrongly accused in Hitchcock movies. That Wrong Man as not a film noir! Finally covering the hard boiled detective on a movie with no hard boiled detective. Who’s actually to blame? Your ultimate fears, realized. Continue reading →

Misery + Christine

Posted on November 25, 2010 by Alice Thirteen

Stephen King. Also, this is Double Feature, so Ayn Rand too. Alice’s homework. Misery! Barry Sonnenfeld. Marc Shaiman. Writing what you know. The romanticization of the author. The real world mess that is writing an story. Rituals for both romance and storytelling mechanics. What does Paul Sheldon tell us about Stephen King. Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes. Sheldon disappoints! Fuck honor, give me desperation. Just how crazy is Annie? Killing the Ahab. The Chicago suburbs. Get naked and get in that car. A taste of things to come. High school as seen by Stephen King. Buying cursed items. Explaining your own metaphor. The moment John Carpenter first appears. Radiohead’s Karma Police. Obscured by light. The car’s motivation. Spider-Man 3 is a bad remake of Christine. Continue reading →

Tremors + The Fog

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Alice Thirteen

Environmental Disasters, Double Feature style. The return of lazy Sunday movies. Graboids, goddamnit! The elevator pitch for Tremors. The people of Pleasant Valley. Why the protagonists stick together. Southwestern Rock. A town full of stereotypes. The least informed weapon treatment to date. The rules of the game. The smartest moron. No Killapalooza. Tremors: The Series. Jamie Lee Curtis continues her reign of awesomeness. John Carpenter tricks you into remember liking his movies days after you’ve seen them. The Fog as a villain. Michael commits to The Happening. Those greedy people who didn’t want leprosy! Changing your movie after you finish filming. Finally: the new donation idea! Continue reading →

Escape from LA + Expelled

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Alice Thirteen

One of these films invokes Hitler, and you’ll never guess which! Where are they now: Snake Pliskin edition. Why people hate Escape from LA. Sequels made a decade later. The difference between New York and LA’s antagonists. Hampster style. 90s and soundtracks. The three most ridiculous things in Escape from Los Angeles. Intelligent Design is as much Creationism as Ben Stein’s film Expelled is full of shit. Atheism – a pretty solid guess! Dispelling the idea of Why Not Teach Both Sides? ExpelledExposed.com. Disagreeing with tactics rather than message. What’s wrong with the interviews. Did the documentary succeed? Eugenics. ONCE YOU HITLER, YOU LOSE. The worst final showdown of all time. Continue reading →

Escape from NY + Religulous

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Alice Thirteen

A return to crazy movies and documentaries about irrationality…sorta. Post-apocalyptic dystopia. Potential connections to watergate. Countdown. Steampunk. Where do all these littered newspapers come from? The components of an anti-action movie. The Escape from New York score. Wide shots. Where the personality appears. Play along. Snake Pliskin doesn’t give a fuck. Why continue the war? Seeing Religulous with a packed theatre of atheists. Larry Charles. The founding fathers were not christian. Returning to: Does satanism really exist? The two atheist hosts of Double Feature have a ton of problems with Religious. Big problems. Trying to get laughs anywhere you can. Bill Maher’s solution to religion. Deception and the thin lines of documentary filmmaking. The enemy of your enemy is not Double Feature’s friend. Continue reading →

Killapalooza 4: Halloween

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Alice Thirteen

Halloween films 1-9. Michael Myers. What is a John Carpenter? The origins of slasher films. Why Michael Myers kills. What makes him unique. Jamie Lee Curtis. The zombie advantage. Dr. Samuel J. Loomis. Things you expect. Things Halloween doesn’t do. The Hospital as a setting. Big man tiny weapon. How Halloween 3 happened. A change of opinion – is recasting acceptable? False Michael Myers. Terror at 35 mph. Does Halloween have to go supernatural? Going off the deep end. Druids and conspiracy. Potential, original intention, and how it ended up. Pulling a series back on track. Writeoff or Retcon? Believable levels of retroactive continuity. Redefining icons. Why the H2O ending is justified. The single most insulting piece of film. Rob Zombie is the man for the job. Learning from the past. The work print? A Rob Zombie lovefest. Endings. Continue reading →

Big Trouble in Little China + The Enemies of Reason

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Alice Thirteen

Alice does Michael a favor. WTF is Big Trouble in Little China? The exploitation formula. Why Kurt Russell wasn’t high on the set. Brilliant or an accident? The creatures on display. John Carpenter’s effects over the years. The lost dimension of packed theater reactions in the 70s and 80s. Dawkins playing Russell. The look of a Dawkins documentary. Astrology. The Barnum Effect. Cold reading. James Randi. Darren Brown. Sylvia Brown (not related). Michael gives Alice a live psychic reading. Deepak Chopra. How Spiritual leaders beat scientists. It’s hard to hate the gleefully ignorant. Debunking Homeopathy simply by explanation. THE SAND BEETLE. The mystery of therapeutic touch, solved! Continue reading →

The Thing + Michael Moore Hates America

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Alice Thirteen

INTERVIEW w/ Mike Wilson. A bit about A Scanner Darkly. Book adaptations. Michael’s John Carpenter crash course. The Thing as a milestone. Space horror. Influence. Keith David. Psychological horror. Desolation. Weapons. How to butcher a family. The greatest scare shot. The bold title. The six degrees of conspiracy. Alice gets nostalgic about Canada. Approaching an interview. An argument for bias. Business owners. Moore’s popularity. Mike Wilson and Mallrats. Ethical boundaries. Alice and Michael get to the bottom of the title! Coverage: old media vs new. Isn’t MSNBC cute? Everything you ever wanted to know about MMHA. Solving the age old producer question. Continue reading →