5 Ways John Carpenter Revolutionized Horror Filmmaking (& 5 Things He Owes To Others) – Screen Rant

John Carpenter is a great filmmaker who changed the way horror movies were made in many significant ways, but he also took inspiration from others.

John Carpenter is a legendary filmmaker, and he helped change the way horror movies were made in many significant and important ways. He has a legendary filmography behind him, his filmmaking craft proved enormously influential for future filmmakers, he crafted numerous legendary characters, and many of his stories were quite unique.

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However, just as Carpenter influenced generations of future filmmakers, so too was Carpenter influenced by the generations that preceded him. He owes his success to many filmmakers and movies that came before him, and many of these works hold up to this day owing to their exceptional filmmaking.

Steve Smith's documentary Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest is a wonderful source for Halloween knowledge. In the documentary, it's explained that Carpenter's use of Steadicam proved revolutionary at the time, as it allowed for smooth movement during movement-extensive scenes. For example, the opening sequence in which the camera travels through the entire Myers house in one fluid take. Steadicam was a fairly new invention at the time, having been introduced in 1975. Carpenter's brilliant use of the new technology inspired dozens of future filmmakers, many of whom employed Steadicam in their own movies.

Carpenter was born in 1948, and he grew up watching a lot of low budget horror and science fiction. Cheap B-movies were quite prevalent at the time, and they had a strong influence on the budding filmmaker. Of particular importance was the filmmaking itself, as Carpenter would go on to direct quite a few low budget movies that became enormous successes. For example, Assault on Precinct 13 was made for just $100,000, and Halloween - perhaps Carpenter's most famous work - for $300,000.

Michael Myers is perhaps the most influential slasher villain in movie history. While he certainly wasn't the first slasher (more on that in a bit), he was perhaps the most revolutionary owing to his superhuman and unkillable nature. Before, slashers were mainly rooted in reality and featured human - however grotesque they may be - characters. Halloween changed all that, and the success of Michael Myers as a villain gave rise to future slasher icons like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

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5 Ways John Carpenter Revolutionized Horror Filmmaking (& 5 Things He Owes To Others) - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero