All John Carpenter’s movies Ranked (According to IMDb, RT, & Letterboxd)

John Carpenter has left a lasting impression on film fans and film makers alike, due to his ground breaking movies, from the likes of Halloween, Escape From New York and The Thing. We have collected all the scores from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Letterboxd to get an aggregate score of his entire Filmography…

20 – Ghosts of Mars (2001)
Terror is the same on any planet.
Action | Horror | Science Fiction

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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4.00 /10

Melanie Ballard is a hard nosed police chief in the year 2025. She and a police snatch squad are sent to Mars to apprehend dangerous criminal James Williams. Mars has been occupied by humans for some time and they have set up mining facilities. The mining activities on Mars have unleashed the spirits of alien beings who gradually possess the bodies of the workers. It soon turns out that catching the dangerous fugitive takes a back seat as the alien spirits begin to rid their planet of the ‘invaders’.

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Critics response: Very Negative

109 Critic reviews: 25 positive (22.9%); 84 negative (77.1%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

19 – The Ward (2010)
Only Sanity Can Keep You Alive!
Thriller | Horror | Science Fiction

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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4.33 /10

Kristen, a troubled young woman, is captured by the police after burning down a farmhouse and is locked in the North Bend Psychiatric Hospital. Soon, she begins to suspect that the place has a dark secret at its core and she’s determined to find out what it is.

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Critics response: Very Negative

72 Critic reviews: 24 positive (33.3%); 48 negative 66.7%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

18 – Village of the Damned (1995)
Beware the children.
Thriller | Horror | Science Fiction

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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4.58 /10

An American village is visited by some unknown life form which leaves the women of the village pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born, and they all look normal, but it doesn’t take the “parents” long to realize that the kids are not human or humane.

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Critics response: Mostly Negative

37 Critic reviews: 11 positive (29.7%); 26 negative 70.3%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

17 – Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
An adventure like you’ve never seen.
Science Fiction | Comedy | Fantasy

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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4.88 /10

Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) is an average businessman who undergoes an extraordinary change when an experiment gone awry turns him invisible. Government operative David Jenkins (Sam Neill) discovers Nick in his see-through condition at the scene of the accident and arranges for him to be taken into custody, but he escapes. As Nick tries to find out more about his strange situation, he receives aid from Alice Monroe (Daryl Hannah), a pretty acquaintance who helps him avoid capture.

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Critics response: Mostly Negative

35 Critic reviews: 9 positive (25.7%); 26 negative 74.3%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

16 – Escape from L.A. (1996)
Snake is back.
Action | Adventure | Science Fiction | Thriller

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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5.09 /10

This time, a cataclysmic temblor hits Los Angeles, turning it into an island. The president views the quake as a sign from above, expels Los Angeles from the country and makes it a penal colony for those found guilty of moral crimes. When his daughter, part of a resistance movement, steals the control unit for a doomsday weapon, Snake again gets tapped to save the day.

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Critics response: Mixed Reviews

58 Critic reviews: 31 positive (53.4%); 26 negative (46.6%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

15 – John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)
From the master of terror comes a new breed of evil.
Action | Fantasy | Horror

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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5.52 /10

The church enlists a team of vampire-hunters to hunt down and destroy a group of vampires searching for an ancient relic that will allow them to exist in sunlight.

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Critics response: Mostly Negative 

52 Critic reviews: 22 positive (42.3%); 20 negative (57.7%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

14 – Someone’s Watching Me! (1978)
All those windows… and he’s behind one of them!
Horror | Mystery | TV Movie | Thriller

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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5.77 /10

A young woman moves to a high-rise apartment building and soon begins to be tormented by an unknown stalker who seems to know her every move.

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Critics response: Very Positive

4 Critic reviews: 3 positive (75%); 1 negative (25%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

13 – Dark Star (1974)
What Do You Say To A Talking Bomb? All Systems Snafu!!!
Comedy | Science Fiction

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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6.25 /10

A low-budget, sci-fi satire that focuses on a group of scientists whose mission is to destroy unstable planets. 20 years into their mission, they have battle their alien mascot, that resembles a beach ball, as well as a “sensitive” and intelligent bombing device that starts to question the meaning of its existence.

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Critics response: Very Positive

28 Critic reviews: 22 positive (78.6%); 6 negative (21.4%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

12 – Elvis (1979)
The King lives on!
Drama | Music | TV Movie

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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6.62 /10

This biopic traces Elvis Presley’s life from his impoverished childhood to his meteoric rise to stardom to his triumphant conquering of Las Vegas.

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Critics response: NOT ENOUGH DATA

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

11 – Prince of Darkness (1987)
Before man walked the earth… it slept for centuries. It is evil. It is real. It is awakening.

Horror

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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6.64 /10

Poking around in a church cellar, a priest (Donald Pleasence) finds an otherworldly vial filled with slime. Frightened, he brings his discovery to a circle of top scholars and scientists, who eventually learn that the strange liquid is the essence of Satan. The slime then begins to seep out, turning some of the academics into zombified killers. As the possessed battle the survivors, student Kelly (Susan Blanchard) is infected by a large quantity of the liquid and becomes Satan personified.

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Critics response: Slightly Positive

36 Critic reviews: 21 positive (58.3%); 15 negative (41.7%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

10 – Christine (1983)
How do you kill something that can’t possibly be alive?

Horror

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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6.67 /10

Geeky student Arnie Cunningham falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie’s girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other.

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Critics response: Mostly Positive

29 Critic reviews: 20 positive (70%); 9 negative (30%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

9 – The Fog (1980)
Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. There’s something in THE FOG!

Horror

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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6.72 /10

Strange things begin to occurs as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone stumbles upon a dark secret about the town’s founding; radio announcer Stevie witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.

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Critics response: Mostly Positive

69 Critic reviews: 52 positive (75.4%); 17 negative (24.6%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

8 – Starman (1984)
In 1977 Voyager II was launched into space, inviting all lifeforms in the universe to visit our planet. Get ready. Company’s coming.
Science Fiction | Romance

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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7.03 /10

Answering a NASA message intended for aliens, a space being tries to contact mankind, but an American missile grounds his ship. Scrambling, the so-called Starman (Jeff Bridges) inhabits the body of a late Wisconsinite and kidnaps the dead man’s widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). Determined to reunite with a vessel from his home planet at a predetermined site, Starman and Jenny travel to Arizona. Pursued by military officials trying to kill him, Starman forges a lasting bond with Jenny.

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Critics response: Highly Positive

34 Critic reviews: 29 positive (85.3%); 5 negative (14.7%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

7 – In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
Lived Any Good Books Lately?
Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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7.31 /10

An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer’s books have on his fans is more than inspirational.

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Critics response: Mixed Reviews

45 Critic reviews: 26 positive (57.8%); 19 negative (42.2%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

6 – Escape from New York (1981)
1997. New York city is now a maximum security prison. Breaking out is impossible. Breaking in is insane.
Science Fiction | Action

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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7.36 /10

In the future, crime is out of control and New York City’s Manhattan is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President’s plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed lone warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables.

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Critics response: Highly Positive 

69 Critic reviews: 59 positive (85.5%); 10 negative (14.5%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

5 – They Live (1988)
You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they’re people just like you. You’re wrong. Dead wrong.
Science Fiction | Action

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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7.53 /10

Nada, a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens.

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Critics response: Highly Positive 

65 Critic reviews: 55 positive (84.6%); 10 negative (15.4%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

4 – Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
L.A.’s deadliest street gang just declared war on the cops.
Thriller | Action | Crime

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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7.61 /10

When the LAPD kills several members of the South Central gang Street Thunder, the remaining members avenge themselves by way of a bloody war waged against cops and citizens alike. Caught in the crossfire is Lt. Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), who’s managing a skeleton crew at the local and soon-to-be-closed police precinct. As the gang members close in, Bishop forms an unlikely alliance with a group of prisoners in order to defend the station and the lives of everyone in it.

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Critics response: Universal Praise 

44 Critic reviews: 42 positive (95.5%); 12 negative (4.5%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

3 – Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Adventure doesn’t come any bigger!
Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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7.61 /10

When trucker Jack Burton agreed to take his friend, Wang Chi, to pick up his fiancee at the airport, he never expected to get involved in a supernatural battle between good and evil. Wang’s fiancee has emerald green eyes, which make her a perfect target for immortal sorcerer Lo Pan and his three invincible cronies. Lo Pan must marry a girl with green eyes so he can regain his physical form.

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Critics response: Mostly Positive

63 Critic reviews: 47 positive (74.6%); 16 negative (25.4%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

2 – Halloween (1978)
The Night He Came Home!

Horror | Thriller

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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8.13 /10

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

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Critics response: Universal Praise

80 Critic reviews: 77 positive (96.3%); 3 negative (3.7%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

1 – The Thing (1982)
Man is The Warmest Place to Hide.
Horror | Mystery | Science Fiction

Directed by: John Carpenter

Top Billed Cast:

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8.68 /10

Members of an American scientific research outpost in Antarctica find themselves battling a parasitic alien organism capable of perfectly imitating its victims. They soon discover that this task will be harder than they thought, as they don’t know which members of the team have already been assimilated and their paranoia threatens to tear them apart.

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Critics response: Mostly Positive

77 Critic reviews: 64 positive (83.1%); 13 negative (16.9%)

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)