John Carpenter filmography

John Carpenter is an American film director, producer, writer and composer. He has contributed to many projects as either the producer, writer, director, actor, composer or a combination of the five.

John Carpenter in 2010

Films

Feature films

Title	Year	Credited as				Notes / Ref(s)
		Director	Writer	Producer	Composer
Dark Star	1974	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	[1]
Assault on Precinct 13	1976	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Also editor[2][3]
Eyes of Laura Mars	1978	No	Yes	No	No	[4]
Zuma Beach	1978	No	Yes	No	No	Television film[5][6]
Halloween	1978	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[7]
Someone's Watching Me!	1978	Yes	Yes	No	No	Television film[8][9]
Elvis	1979	Yes	No	No	No	Television film[10][11]
Better Late Than Never	1979	No	Yes	No	No	Television film[12][13]
The Fog	1980	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[14]
Escape from New York	1981	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[15]
Halloween II	1981	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	[16]
The Thing	1982	Yes	No	No	No	[17]
Christine	1983	Yes	No	No	Yes	[18]
Starman	1984	Yes	No	No	No	[19]
Black Moon Rising	1986	No	Yes	No	No	[20]
Big Trouble in Little China	1986	Yes	No	No	Yes	[21]
Prince of Darkness	1987	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[22]
They Live	1988	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[23]
El Diablo	1990	No	Yes	No	No	Television film[24][25]
Blood River	1991	No	Yes	No	No	Television film[24][26]
Memoirs of an Invisible Man	1992	Yes	No	No	No	[27]
Body Bags	1993	Yes	No	Executive	Yes	Television film[28][29]
In the Mouth of Madness	1994	Yes	No	No	Yes	[30][31]
Village of the Damned	1995	Yes	No	No	Yes	[32]
Escape from L.A.	1996	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[33]
Vampires	1998	Yes	No	No	Yes	[34]
Silent Predators	1999	No	Yes	No	No	Television film[35][36]
Ghosts of Mars	2001	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[37]
The Ward	2010	Yes	No	No	No	[38][39]

Producer and/or composer only

Title	Year	Credited as		Notes / Ref(s)
		Producer	Composer
Halloween III: Season of the Witch	1982	Yes	Yes	[40]
The Philadelphia Experiment	1984	Executive	No	[41]
Vampires: Los Muertos	2002	Executive	No	[42][43]
The Fog	2005	Yes	No	[44]
The Terror of Hallow's Eve	2017	No	Yes	[45][46][47]
Halloween	2018	Executive	Yes	[48]
Halloween Kills	2021	Executive	Yes	[49]
Studio 666	2022	No	Yes	Opening credits theme only[50]
Firestarter	2022	No	Yes	[51]
Halloween Ends	2022	Executive	Yes	[52]
Untitled Bong Joon Ho film	TBA	No	Yes	[53]

Editor only

• Last Foxtrot in Burbank (1973)^[54][55]

Short films

Title	Year	Director	Writer	Composer	Notes / Ref(s)
Captain Voyeur	1969	Yes	Yes	No	Also producer[56]
The Resurrection of Broncho Billy	1970	No	Yes	Yes	Also editor[57]
The Puppet Man	2016	No	No	Yes	[58]

Acting roles

Title	Year	Role	Notes / Ref(s)
Dark Star	1974	Talby voice
Assault on Precinct 13	1976	Gang Member	Uncredited
Halloween	1978	Paul (Annie's boyfriend)	Uncredited voice role
The Fog	1980	Bennett	Uncredited
Escape from New York	1981	Secret Service #2, helicopter pilot, and a violin player
The Thing	1982	Norwegian in video footage
Starman	1984	Man in helicopter
Big Trouble in Little China	1986	Worker in Chinatown
The Boy Who Could Fly		Coupe de Villes band member
They Live	1988	Voice that says 'sleep'	Uncredited voice role
Memoirs of an Invisible Man	1992	Helicopter pilot
Body Bags	1993	The Coroner
The Silence of the Hams	1994	Trenchcoat man and Gimp
Village of the Damned	1995	Man at gas station phone
The Puppet Man	2016	The Taxi Driver	[58]
The Rise of the Synths	2019	Narrator and Synth Rider's guide
Studio 666	2022	Engineer	Credited as "Rip Haight"

Reception

This is a list of films directed by John Carpenter that grossed more than $10 million at the US box office according to Box Office Mojo. Carpenter's films have grossed domestically a total of more than $282 million, with an average of $18 million per film.

Rank	Title	Lifetime gross (US$)	Rating
			Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
1	Halloween	47.0 million	96% (84 reviews)[59]	87 (21 reviews)[60]
2	Starman	28.7 million	86% (36 reviews)[61]	70 (8 reviews)[62]
3	Escape from L.A.	25.4 million	54% (59 reviews)[63]	54 (21 reviews)[64]
4	Escape from New York	25.2 million	88% (72 reviews)[65]	76 (12 reviews)[66]
5	The Fog	21.3 million	75% (69 reviews)[67]	55 (11 reviews)[68]
6	Christine	21.0 million	70% (37 reviews)[69]	57 (10 reviews)[70]
7	Vampires	20.3 million	43% (53 reviews)[71]	42 (19 reviews)[72]
8	The Thing	19.6 million	84% (83 reviews)[73]	57 (13 reviews)[74]
9	Memoirs of an Invisible Man	14.3 million	26% (35 reviews)[75]	48 (19 reviews)[76]
10	Prince of Darkness	14.1 million	62% (39 reviews)[77]	50 (10 reviews)[78]
11	Ghosts of Mars	14.0 million	23% (111 reviews)[79]	35 (26 reviews)[80]
12	They Live	13.0 million	86% (74 reviews)[81]	55 (22 reviews)[82]
13	The Ward	12.8 million	33% (72 reviews)[83]	38 (18 reviews)[84]
14	Big Trouble in Little China	11.1 million	76% (66 reviews)[85]	53 (14 reviews)[86]

Television series

Title	Year	Director	Producer	Composer	Notes / Ref(s)
Masters of Horror	2005–2006	Yes	No	No	Episodes "Cigarette Burns" and "Pro-Life"
Zoo	2015–2017	No	No	Yes	Theme music only
Suburban Screams	2023	Yes	Executive	Yes	Theme music only, Episode "Phone Stalker"[87][88][89][90]

Video games

Title	Year	Role	Notes / Ref(s)
Sentinel Returns	1998	—	Composer[91]
The Thing	2002	Dr. Faraday	Uncredited
F.E.A.R. 3	2011	Narrator	Also storyline consultant
Toxic Commando	TBA	—	Creator[92]
Halloween: The Game	TBA	—	Creative consultant[93]

See also

• John Carpenter's unrealized projects