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Movies & TV

04th Jun 2023

One of the greatest directors has come out of retirement to make a TV show

Stephen Porzio

suburban screams

He has been behind some of the most iconic movies of all time.

Very few directors have had as good of a run of great movies as John Carpenter between 1976 and 1988.

After all, during this period, the filmmaker cemented his reputation as one of the masters of the horror genre, releasing Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Christine, Starman, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live – the majority of which were incredibly influential and are still often referenced to this day.

In fact, Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog inspired remakes, The Thing got a prequel and there were 12 more Halloween movies in that franchise. However, in all cases, no follow-ups could top the originals by Carpenter.

That said, despite his legendary filmography – which also includes the 1994 cult classic In the Mouth of Madness – the 75-year-old has not helmed anything outside of music videos since 2010’s The Ward, which starred Amber Heard.

As for why, in an interview with Collider in 2019, Carpenter cited burnout from directing films and his frustration with the budgets handed out by studios to make movies as factors for his hiatus. Plus, in recent years, he has become more focused on composing music.

suburban screams

John Carpenter has directed a TV series titled Suburban Screams

It looks like this has changed recently though as while attending a Q&A at the Texas Frightmare Weekend between 26 – 28 May, he confirmed he has a new project in the works.

Carpenter told the crowd that he just finished directing a TV series titled John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams. The filmmaker’s comments are the first official announcement about the show.

And while details regarding the cast, plot or distributor for Suburban Screams have not been unveiled as of yet, Carpenter did reveal that though the series was filmed in Prague, he directed it remotely from his home in Los Angeles.

“It was filmed in Prague, and I sat on my couch and directed it. It was awesome,” he explained, receiving cheers from the audience.

Also at the Q&A, Carpenter teased a sequel to his 1982 horror movie The Thing. The original starred Kurt Russell as one of the members of a mysterious American base in Antarctica that is plagued by a shape-shifting alien lifeform.

“I’ve been sworn to secrecy, okay, because there may be – I don’t know if there will be – there may be a Thing 2,” he told audiences.

You can see a clip of that interaction right here:

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