JC Signed Goodies

Hi there, I just wanted to share my pride and joy of a signed copy of H1 DVD by John Carpenter. I live in Rio Rancho nm, where JC and crew spent time filming the "Ghost of Mars" movie. He was staying at a local hotel , so I decided to wait him out on evening as he made his way to his nightly film gig at the Indian pueblo just a few miles north of Rio Rancho. I was thrilled to death to see him in person, a very nice guys to take time out to sign my copy of H1. Anyway I'm enclosing a scanned copy of the cover. Enjoy. Todd B.

Dec 28th Cool Prop Photo's Mohammad is on the case as usual, and his Carpenticized Side Of The Web has some cool photo's of the helmets the miners of Mars will be wearing:

(courtesy of Mohammad and the Makeup and FX Laboratory)

Also, kudos to Mohammad for realising that this picture

is probably Big Daddy Mars, the main baddie in the pic, played by Richard Cetrone.

More Reminiscences of a Zombie

the first day i was there we signed in and were chosen either to were a mask or have make up they chose me to wear make up cause they thought id
look more menacing with it on. the make up consisted of a knife blade on each cheek to make it look like i had jammed it through my cheeks and also had piercings on my throat and lower cheek. the woredrobe they had was like something out of road warrior, spiked vests worn raggedy pants old boots.
            the weapons we cool, they were like motor cycle sprockets with a handle and spikes stickin' out of the sprocket. home made spears. wooden clubs etc......... the scenery was very interesting evert thing was painted red, there was some dead bodies (miners) hangin' from a mining crane, unfortunatly the only scene i was in was the one where we (all the warriors ) were chanting to big daddy mars.  and the other times all i did was wait to be called, waiting under the tent.

That cool set report was provided by Blade Runner

Dec 22nd Fantastic Christmas Presents Cool timing this, gives us something cool to look at over Christmas. Cheers to Tom Alaerts for this fantastic stuff. I'll let him explain it all

In addition to the picture you received (I attached a higher resolution version), there was also a cdrom with the mag (same magazine as where I  got
the vampires fragment and trailer from -remember?). This cd feature a short interview with JC. You know everything of what he said except perhaps that Mars in 2176 is a terraformed planet - you can breathe on the surface. Now the cool elements were a few little pictures that popped up in this mini-interview: the 2176 number on top of the red planet, a production drawing of a posessed human, the title logo. I attached grabs of these pictures. Then, best of all, throughout the interview you could hear JC's new GOM score (well, that's what I assume it was), and it seems to become one of his grrreat soundtracks. So I mp3d the start of the interview where you can hear the music too (I had to amplify that part to make it stand out), and then you hear JC introducing himself in his best French! Because it's a short fragment and in mono the filesize is still feasible: 198K.
Tom

I think I speak for all JC fans when I say thank you very much Tom and Merry Christmas.

Dec 16th First GOM Picture - I don't know if this is a zombie or a gghost, but this is a very cool pic that was posted on Dark Horizons, the first shot we have seen of Ghosts of Mars and the wonderful work KNB effects are doing. Thanks to Bill Myers and Arthur Dewitz for pointing it out to me.

Ghosts Speak Again - Cool snippet, just tantalising enough tto make us excited, from a ghostly extra:

I was an extra in john carpenters ghost of mars. i was wondering if he had kept  the scene where the warriors were chanting to big daddy mars. some people had knife blades and piercing on their faces, weraring black vests and spikes, weilding bloody sprockets and other weapons

PlayStation 2 on our shopping list - if this game turns out to be anything tto do with the movie then we will all have to buy one. Anyone able to give us any more info on this?

A quick question for you...or possibly something for you to look into.  I went online trying to confirm this, but found nothing.  And that led me here:  When reading a video game magazine, they listed upcoming games for 2001.  One was called "The Thing", and it's for Playstation 2.  They gave no other
information at all.  Just the name and 2001. Now, knowing the average video gamer, there's no way they'd call a game that without having it somehow associated with the movie.  They'd have blood on their hands afterwards if they got people's hopes up like that.  Yet I haven't seen any news. Do you know anything? - Many thanks, - BRETT

More GOM - Ned gives us an interesting look at some of his experiences of the filming

 I live in New Mexico and was very happy that GOM was filmed here. I'm a fan of John's and was determined to get his autograph(because I'm an autograph collector). I knew they would be filming at a warehouse in rio rancho and went there with my friend to seek out autographs of the cast. We got there about 8:00pm and stayed until 3:00am. The crew didn't mind us staying on the set. A lady walked up to us and asked us many questions regarding John and the cast. Well it turns out she was his assitant and she gave us autographed pictures of John. Wow! After thanking her a lot, we waited to see if we could get any of the cast. A man told us that Ice Cube wasn't needed on set that day, so we shouldn't get our hopes for his autograph. They would come out of the trailers fast and most of the time we didn't have time to ask them for autographs. We even saw John come out from filming to go to his trailer, but we didn't want to disturb him because he looked very busy and we didn't want to distract him from making a good movie.... at about 3 am they seemed to be wrapping up and this would be our last chance. I looked over to see Natasha coming out of the building. She was smoking a cigarette and was just standing there. As soon as I got the nerve, I went over and asked her if I could have her autograph. She said,"Oh my god its 3 am," and then laughed and said sure she would sign. I've met many celebrities but she is the nicest person in the world. She was so nice that, she made Jason Statham and Clea Duvall come over to sign. It was so cool because they actually stood in line basically to sign autographs and take pictures with us. Pam just walked by even though the cast was signing. Everyone was so nice and joked around with us a bit. Clea seemed new to the whole autograph thing and couldn't believe we wanted her autograph. Jason even gave us an autographed page of the script's title page. They were all wearing light blue long sleeve shirts with some kind of patch on the arm. It was cool getting pictures with
them in costume. I thought this story might be interesting to readers of your website or interesting to you.
-NED

Great, you lucky b*****d Ned! :-) Nice little snippet of the uniforms the cast will be wearing as well.

The Fog DVD is Coming

Cool information from DF

Hi Mark, Just a quick email to say I ran the other day in a secret high-def transfer movie facility into the original interpositive of FOG. The technician said they are in the process of doing a NEW, HIGH DEFINITION MASTER STRAIGHT FROM THE INTERPOSITIVE, for possible reissue on DVD. I took a quick look at the opening. YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN FOG before having seen this print. Stay tuned for more - DF

My mouth is watering now. Still no word on any DVD extra's, but to get a fantastic remastered version of the film will be amazing.

Tom Atkins PA - Star of The Fog and Halloween III

I hear Tom Atkins might be in New York City in January at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors Convention, January 27-28th. I presume to do press about his new film, the Romero directed Bruiser, but I'll still be there to ask him Fog questions. - Matt G

Nov 27th 2000 Site Has Moved - If you are reading this then you are noow on Geocities (yep, that annoying advert in the corner is here to stay, sorry). As I am changing jobs I had to find a new server - Geocities is free and easy to use so this is it for the forseeable future. Remember to update all your links and/or bookmarks as the redirector that probably brought you here won't be up for ever. Here's looking forward to another five years of this website. - Marc

Nov 22nd 2000
DVD News Update - Let's just say that those waiting for the Pork Chop Express to ride into town on a shiny new disc may like to check out the JC DVD Page News Section. As well as an update on The Fog DVD.

Ghosts of Mars Get In Touch - A bit quiet for a while, so here is somme insider info straight from a spooky crew member

How is filming going?

PRINCIPAL FILMING WAS COMPLETED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2000, IN CULVER
CITY, CA. DURING FILMING, WE SHOT AT:
1. A GYPSUM MINE OUTSIDE OF ALBUQUERQUE, NM FOR 6 WEEKS. (MARS MINING TOWN
EXTERIORS)
2. AN OLD WAREHOUSE IN RIO RANCHO, NM FOR A FEW DAYS. (MARS TRAIN INTERIORS)
3. AN ARMY GUARD ARMORY FOR ONE DAY ( EXTERIOR TRAIN GREEN SCREEN)
4. AN OLD POWER PLANT IN EAGLE ROCK, CALIFORNIA FOR 6 WEEKS. (MARS MINING
TOWN INTERIORS)
5. A SMALL SOUND STAGE IN CULVER CITY, FOR THE FINAL DAY. ( GREEN SCREEN
MISC.)
WE NOW HAVE 4 MONTHS OF POST PRODUCTION WORK, WHICH INCLUDES MUSIC SCORING,
EDITING, AND OF COURSE, ALOT OF SPECIAL AFFECTS/CGI WORK.

What does JC seem like?

JOHN IS EASY GOING AND RUNS A RATHER RELAXED SET. HE IS FRIENDLY AND
APPROACHABLE BY MEMBERS OF HIS CREW. HE SMOKES ALOT OF WINSTONS. HIS
FAVORITE CAR IS A CADILLAC, HIS IS FOREST GREEN. HIS FAVORITE BEER IS
ANCHOR STEAM.

Have you got a full cast list?

YES, I DO.  I ALSO HAVE  THE ORIGINAL AS WELL AS SHOOTING SCRIPTS.
HERE IS A PARTIAL LIST OF PRINCIPALS:
1.NATASHA HENSTRIDGE AS MELANIE BALLARD
2. ICE CUBE AS DESOLATION WILLIAMS
3. JASON STATHAM AS JERICHO BUTLER (BACON FROM LOCK STOCK AND 2 SMOKING
BARRELLS.)
4. CLEA DUVALL AS BASHIRA KINCAID
5. PAM GRIER AS HELENA
6. JOANNA CASSIDY AS DR. WHITLOCK
7. RICHARD CETRONE AS BIG DADDY MARS (NOT THE CHARACTERS NAME, JUST HIS
DESCRIPTION)
9. LIAM WAITE AS DESCANSO (IN REAL LIFE, HE IS NATASHA'S FIANCEE, THEY HAVE
A SON, TRISTAN)

What is the vibe of the film? Gory, suspense, etc?

THE VIBE OF THE FILM IS GORE AND MILD SUSPENSE. LIKE MOST OF JOHNS MOVIES,
IT HAS TO DO WITH ESCAPING A PLACE/SITUATION/BAD GUY(S). THE MAIN PLOT
COULD BE DESCRIBED AS ESCAPE FROM THE GHOSTS OF MARS.

Our spooky crew member will be in touch again in the future.

Film Essentials

Yes, we all know JC is a film essential and he is soon to be immortalised in the pocket-book series of the same name

It's part of the Pocket Essentials Film series ( www.pocketessentials.com ) which aims to provide almost everything you need to know about a particular subject in one guide. They're small, sweet and cheap (about £3-4) and hopefully will introduce the uninitiated to Carpenter, but still have enough info and unusual titbits for the Carpenter-buff. The idea with this one is to give an intro to Carpenter and his ouevre, discussing common themes and his inimitable style, then give a brief biography with an in-depth analysis and review of each of his films. This will be our 5th Pocket Essential but one of the first we asked to write as we're such big fans (as we are of film in general) -we've written guides on David Lynch, Jackie Chan, Vampire Films, which are already out, and have just completed Horror Films. The book will have a section on John Carpenter resources including websites, and we will mention your site in that section. It's due for release in March 2001 and we'll let you know any news about it as and when.  If there's anything else you'd like to know, do let us know. Thanks again and keep up the good work with the website.Michelle and Colin

Paul Thomas Anderson

Hmm, PT Anderson is no doubt a talented filmaker (Boogie Nights was ok) but at the moment I am annoyed with him for wasting 3 hours of my life on the sub-shortcuts rubbish that was Magnolia. The film was just a mess, would have been better to do one film on the Tom Cruise character. This whole interlinking plot idea can be cool, but Magnolia is just a few seperate filmes edited together without a single common thread. Rubbish film - and when they all started singing that rubbish Aimee Mann song! That was it for me. Anyway, it is still cool to print this great info from Brian:

Here is something you may find interesting... I don't know if you are a fan of PT Anderson (director of Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia) but I think he's one of the best younger directors out there.  Anyways, there is a site devoted to him at www.ptanderson.com and the guy running it did an interview with him and they do a regular feature of PTA's DVD pick of the month.  Lo and behold this  month PTA picked DARK STAR!!  And it turns out he's a huge Carpenter fan.
Here's what he had to say about it...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PTA--Oh yeah! I know what I’ wanted to tell you! I was checking out the site & you know your DVD Pick of the Month? I’ve got one for you! I would love to recommend Dark Star by John Carpenter. I just think it’s so fun. It’s such a great movie & I don’t think enough people have seen it. I was watching it & thinking whoever is trying to make a movie right now with no money & or shooting on digital video really needs to pay attention to this movie &
watch how you can take advantage of having no money. They really made it work & its truly amazing to see.

Q--Do you like any of Carpenter’s other films?

PTA--I love them. I love John Carpenter’s movies! He’s the best! The Thing & Halloween are just fucking classics!
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Fog, Widescreen PAL, UK

Cool news, and here is the man to tell us, the ultimate authority on The Fog (this man has EVERYTHING ever related to the film):

just a note to say 4 FRONT/UNIVERSAL (uk)  have just brought out THE FOG  on WIDESCREEN(2.35.1) on VHS pal for only £6.49  WHATTA BARGAIN!!!!!!!!. i was looking through the vid section (as u do ) in HMV, and noticed the case , looked at it, thought "HMMMMM   theyve brought it out out AGAIN"   just happened to look at the back of the case, and right down the bottom, in tiny print it says"widescreen version, 2.35.1".

you think they would have advertised this MONUMENTAL event on the FRONT in BIG letters!!!!!!!, this is the first time ever in widescreen on VHS!!!!!.
 the packaging is very unexciting,  but the transfer is excellent, great sound too.  i could not believe it was so cheap .

i know MGM have the VHS rights in the US,  but i reckon it'll come out on DVD  in  the UK first (region 2 ) .  when i bought WHEN A STRANGER CALLS  on VHS last year, it came out on DVD  a week later.  so THE FOG is bound to appear pretty soon on region 2, fingers crossed.

Cool news, and hopefully The Fog will be out soon as predicted by Dave.

Tom Atkins PA

This from Matt G : I hear Tom Atkins might be in New York City in January at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors Convention, January 27-28th. I presume to do press about his new film, the Romero directed Bruiser, but I'll still be there to ask him Fog questions.

Nov 13th 2000

The Fog - New Media Section: Not much in the way of news this morning so finally got some time to put up a stack of Fog pics that can be accessed from The Fog movie page. I think there are some cool pictures and location info in that lot and makes my mouthwater for the rumoured DVD release.

Nov 9th 2000

Various GOM Spoiler Reviews

This first one is from Chud and is from Aint It Cool News

By Larry Sulkis & John Carpenter (no draft or date supplied)

2150.

Chryse. First Earth city on Mars.

Melanie Ballard (to be played by Natasha Henstridge) is an attractive but hardened woman who's the only known survivor of what was supposed to
be a routine prisoner transfer.

As she stands before a "Big Brother-esque" group of inquisitors (not interrogators... INQUISITORS, which gives you an idea how our future has been
imagined), she begins to recount her side of the experience that resulted in the total nuclear devastation of the area it occurred.

Not a friendly occurrence.

Flash back...

A group of cops, Melanie included, are en route to pick up a prisoner for transfer. As we meet these people, we realize we're in familiar territory.
We've got a rogue's gallery of protagonists. Jericho, a bald and gruff soldier (to be played by "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" thug Jason
Statham). Bashira, a slightly masculine gal in her early 20's ("The Faculty's" Clea DuVall), their leader Helena, and a couple more. The crew is mostly
women, which adds a nice dynamic to the proceedings and helps distance it from work like "Pitch Black" and "Alien". They come off less like a group
of warriors looking for a fight, and more like people doing a job. Nothing fancy. Not braggadocio. Just business, and from the looks of them, they're
a bit weary. Nobody sticks out, which is good and bad.

You need a character the audience (or in this case, reader) can latch onto. Whether it's a Ripley, Riddick, Hicks, Hudson, or Snake Plissken, you
need a strong lead. So far we haven't found one.

The laid back crew snaps to attention a bit when they realize the man they've come to apprehend is none other than the notorious James
"Desolation" Williams. Known throughout the land as a holy terror, they then realize they are not on a simple milk run (or "bug hunt" as it were).

Here's where a warning light goes off for me. I know that this notorious antihero is to be portrayed by Ice Cube. While his work in "Three Kings" was
solid, and he's proven he can handle himself in comedy and cheese like "Anaconda", the thought of him as a rogue like this jeopardizes the impact of
the film. If he can't pull off the role, the seams begin to show in the movie. That's something no script can reveal, and we'll have to see...

They arrive at their destination, Shining Canyon, and we immediately know we're in familiar Carpenter territory. It's a ghost town. Like Hobb's End of
"In the Mouth of Madness", the Antarctic base of "The Thing", or even THE WORLD through Roddy Piper's eyes in "They Live", our protagonists are
already out of their element. Off guard. Isolation and claustrophobia are themes the great horror director knows all too well. Kind of echoes his
career in Hollywood, eh?

So there's a few bits of tension as they familiarize themselves with these bizarre new surroundings, and there's a cheap scare or two thrown in to
get the viewer off guard. Then they start finding things...

Bodies. Bizarre sculptures made up of household items. Bad stuff. Grisly stuff.

(If you're worried I'm giving away spoilers, we're not even 20 pages into the script at this point).

The town is gone, except for the prisoners and our protagonists. Once again, the prisoners are your run of the mill characters, save two.

"Desolation" Williams, menacing and mysterious.

Whitlock. The only person who has an idea what they're up against.

Whitlock has seen the path of destruction. The death. Only she isn't telling the whole truth.

Things are starting to get interesting and then the GHOSTS are introduced.

As far as plot goes, that's all I'll say. Here's what I thought about the script:

Carpenter has a way of working his magic with limited resources. Here he seems to have a lot at his disposal: An otherworldly setting. An ensemble
of contrasting character (and acting) types, and momentum. Even though "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars" have beaten him to the punch, this a
far different tale. One that could have easily been told in the Old West, a spaceship, or a sleepy little town near you. It's that kind of story. Strip
away the chassis and it's another claustrophobic and SMALL story.

That said, it doesn't "feel" like Carpenter in some ways.

It does "feel" like "Pitch Black". "Desolation" feels like a Riddick-Lite, and the empty town stalked by an unknown menace seems awfully familiar,
though "Pitch" was far from wholly original. Will comparisons be made? Yes, especially with the abundance of P.O.V. Shots that made the Twohy
film effective.

Also, the main character is obviously Melanie who changes character like clothes. Is she tough? Is she hiding something? Some of it doesn't ring
true, and it'll require Natasha Henstridge to pull off more than she has previously onscreen to make it work. It seems a lot more like a role for
original lead Courtney Love, but I'm certainly glad she's out of the picture (literally!).

So the story escalates and as we realize what's what I ran into the three things about the story which irked me.

1. THE VILLAINS ARE NOT INTERESTING.

A sad truth. The "ghosts" of the title underwhelm in every way. A film like this relies on the opposition to distinguish it from the pack. The
Xenomorph Ripley battles was as classic a villain as they get. The T-100 Sarah Conner battled was a classic. The predator. The Graboids of
"Tremors". They all have their niche. Hell, Carpenter's "The Thing" featured the most amazing villain of all. The villains here have something in
common with The Thing which I will not spoil. Let's just say it makes people susceptible to change...

However, these villains are not classic. They're good fodder for action heroics, but not the kind of antagonist that gets an audience's investment.

2. THERE'S NOT ENOUGH SCIENCE FICTION. OR HORROR.

Once things get started, it's an action film. Hell, Peckinpah is even referenced to in the script! There's no real meat as to what the future holds,
what conditions brought about the "ghosts", and no really cool tie-ins to our own theories on extraterrestrial life. (Even Mission to Mars had that
great shot of the "face" being revealed.

This film needs clever flourishes to set it apart. It has none.

3. WE'VE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE.

The last half of this film is the stuff we've seen many times before. Expendable characters appear just in time to die, there's action heroics, and
explosions galore. Thrills? Maybe. The trademark horror and sci-fi we expect from Carpenter? No. Also, there's quite a bit of Lesbian references. Not
really positive stuff. What's that about?

Now, as a script, it leaves a lot to be desired. However, Carpenter has a knack for making what's on the page work onscreen. Forget "Village of the
Damned", think about the stuff of greatness...

The blood testing scene in "The Thing" was fairly static on paper. On screen, it seethed of energy and tension.

The chilliest moments in "Prince of Darkness" were achieved through the music and atmosphere, not the words on a page.

Hell, even Jack Burton was nowhere near the icon he turned out to be on the page.

It's a backbone, and in this case it's just a series of things we've seen already.

A few cool things: The last scene is a throwback to another time. Kind of cheesy, kind of a cheat, but if execute right will leave an audience
cheering. Also, there are a lot of things that will be effective if the FX artists do a good and ORIGINAL job. Also, a HUGE amount rests on the
effectiveness of Ice Cube and Henstridge. If they do solid work, we could have two leads worth spending 2 hours with.

We shall see, but in my opinion Carpenter has rough work to do behind the lens.

FYI: There's a scene in the film where we'll see a familiar severed head, and I think you know who.

This second one is from Dark Horizons

Ghosts of Mars: You've heard about rock stars and locations for John Carpenter's new project, but what in the hell is it about? 'Desmondo' has a
written up a minor spoiler-level synopsis based what one of the crewman on the project knows:

"The basic plot premise is that there are these miners on Mars who accidentally dig up the remains of some ancient Mars warriors. The spirits of
these warriors then posses the bodies of the miners and cause them to mutilate themselves. Now, at the same time this is happening, Ice Cube's
character is being transported either somewhere else on the planet, or off the planet (not sure yet). He is a really bad criminal named Desolation (I
know for sure) Jones (I think). The police officer that is coming to take him wherever he is going is Natasha Henstridge. Another little twist is that
Desolation's friends, three guys named Uno, Dos, and Trace are planning on busting him out.

So as you can probably put together while transporting the prisoner, they run into the trio somewhere near the mine and violence insues. Now, here is
where it gets pretty cool, the zombie warriors that have come from the remains are trying to kill everyone around them, there's a reason why but I
won't spoil it...but if someone kills a Zombie warrior, the spirit that possessed the zombie then posses whoever killed it. So there is some fun things
going on with these guys running from an army of zombies that they cannot kill. Another thing is that the army of zombies likes to use razor discs and
spears to attack the characters "

Harry Knowles in GOM

Yep, the ginger Jabba has a part in GOM as it seems him and JC are now decent friends owing to Harry's understandable admiration for the man

Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby? Also: GHOST OF MARS news

Hey folks, Harry here.... Some months back you might remember that I had my head cast for the upcoming John Carpenter movie, GHOSTS OF
MARS.

At the time, I said that we would be putting together a full length video presentation on the site that over the course of a few weeks, you'd get to see
how to take a perfect full head cast of someone.... using me as the example.

Due to editing equipment issues, that is still being worked on, what we have here is a brief.... over-view of the entire process including WAY TOO
DARK final frames of the finished head. Soon, I'll have perfectly lit images of the KNB created HARRY HEAD for John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF
MARS.....

Along side those clips will be full info on who at KNB was doing this to me... as well as what all the different gunk was they were using. This will
probably be one of the only times you will ever see me looking like Dynamo from RUNNING MAN.... or like the beginnings of the Kingpin.... Harry
sans hairy is scary.

Some people have a bad trip with this sort of thing... me... hell, I'd do it again in a drop of the hat.... reminded me of a cool sensory deprivation tank
they have over at the University of Texas.... Tiny scrapings sounding like a dental pic in my ear canal scraping flesh away with that chromey prong
thing.

Soon there will be more cool stuff regarding this experience.... For now...

CLICK HERE FOR A 15 MEG QUICKTIME MAKING OF A HARRY HEAD!!!

Yes, I am in GHOSTS OF MARS.... and there was a need for my head to be cast and then made. Do the addition and division and I think you have
an idea of basically what it is I do in GHOSTS OF MARS.

Meanwhile.... I would like to know how they teach counting in Florida.

Nov 6th - Update at last. It has been a while - combination of things being really quiet and me being really busy.

Official GOM Update

Got this inside report on Sep 21st, sorry for putting it up so late:

By now you probably already know that JC and his crew have left New Mexico and will be wrapping up the last few weeks of shooting
in LA.  Things are still going very well but I can't say for sure when the film will be ready for release. There has been lots of speculation but the
amount of CGI necessary in post is huge, that on top of the basic editing process could mean a release as late as early fall. Nothing would surprise
me.

Also, I know there has been a lot of discussion about this, but, at least for the moment, the title of the film is "Ghosts of Mars," it's printed on my
script so that's as official as we can hope for right now.

Thanks again for keeping all the JC fans happy and informed.

Halloween Screening

From: JOHN LONGENECKER - http://www.IndieFilmsOnline.com/Directors/JohnCarpenter.html : JOHN CARPENTER will be joined by Jamie Lee Curtiss, Debra Hill, and other cast and crew members for a special pre-screening discussion -- followed by a screening of HALLOWEEN with a new 35mm print of the film struck off the original negative and re-mastered Dolby Stereo Surround sound track. Friday, October 13, 2000 | 8:00 PM American Cinemateque at the Egyptian
       6712 Hollywood Boulevard
       Hollywood, California USA
       323 466-3456

       http://www.egyptiantheatre.com
       http://www.egyptiantheatre.com/amcinebiz/AMCINinfo.htm
       http://www.egyptiantheatre.com/sched.htm
       Halloween: http://www.egyptiantheatre.com/archive1999/2000/halloween2000.htm

As you can see, I missed that one! Hope everyone had a great Halloween by the way; I watched the new Halloween Ltd. Ed. DVD and enjoyed the film for the millionth time. Anyway, I might have missed the screening but David Winning has kindly sent me a review of the evening (together with some corrections to his excellent Halloween location guide that is in the news archive):

Address correction from my maps:  The Myers house (now that i've seen such a good print) is not 707 -- but 709 is the original correct address for the old house.

Here's my Cast & Crew Halloween screening report from the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood earlier this evening.  The newly restored Anchor Bay 35mm print was run for a sold-out crowd of 600+.  Carpenter was unfortunately a no-show to both screenings.  He was unavailable due to filming the new Ghosts of Mars.  The following, however, were in attendance and sat in director's chairs lining the front of the theatre for a 60 minute question and answer session before screening the print (which looks amazing!!)  Right to left at the front were:  Tommy Lee Wallace, Debra Hill, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J.
Soles, Nancy (Loomis) Kyes, Irwin Yablans, Dean Cundey, Charles Bornstein and Nick Castle.  Some other cast/crew members were filtered through the
audience: Brian Andrews, Nancy Stephens, and Mark Walthour (gaffer), etc. Debra Hill stayed to briefly introduce the second late show.

Finally check out some great new updated Halloween location photos at: http://seeing-stars.com/Locations/Halloween/

www.davidwinning.com

John Carpenter Documentary: Hey, did anyone watch the sci-fi channel in the UK last night? Before They Live was a shortish intro and I was on it! I was interviewed to shed some light on They Live. Anyway, if you want a laugh and see who the owner of this website is I am on the sci-fi channel again on Wed night, before Escape From New York. Even if you don't want to see me, check out the documentary shorts anyway as they are interesting.

Also from John Longenecker:

One Hour Documentary 2000 | CreaTVty Production: http://www.creatvty.com

       John Carpenter | New 1 x 60'
       A concise profile of Maverick director John Carpenter, responsible for modern cinema classics such as "Halloween", "Escape for New York",
       cult-film "Dark Star" and the brand new film "Vampires" starring James Woods. Carpenter, a true 'renaissance-man', often scripts, produces, and
       composes the music as well as directing his movies. Now, having directed over 35 films for cinema and television, Carpenter recounts in interview his
       incredible career within Hollywood big-budget movie making to low-budget cult horror sci-fi.
       CreaTVty Production in association with Westbrook Ltd and NBD Television Ltd
       NBD TV: http://www.nbdtv.com/currentframes/curmainframe.html#currrealjohn

       Distributor | NBD Television Ltd: http://www.nbdtv.com/nbdhome.html
       I am pleased to present our brand new website of programming for the coming year - 2000/01. During this current year we are proud to be offering
       the best in live global event programming such as Net Aid and Glastonbury alongside our premium quality music concerts and award-winning
       documentaries. NBD TV continues to strengthen its documentary output for this year, forging partnerships with producers and film-makers to
       offer the very best in quality programming. We wish to thank all our broadcast partners and producers across the world and look forward to
       continued success for the future.

       NBD Television
       Unit 2, Royalty Studios, 105 Lancaster Rd, London, W11 1QF England
       Tel: +44 171 243 3656 | Fax: +44 171 243 3656 | mailto:101366.1021@compuserve.com

       Related Documentaries: http://www.pipedreamdesign.co.uk/catalogueframes/catdocmain.html

Looks cool to me. I think it is going to be shown on BBC sometime soon.

The Thing - Alternate Music

CARPENTR33@aol.com wrote:
>
> Hey Marc,
> How are things going.  Just wanted to e-mail some useless, but interesting
> information.  Has anyone ever noticed that in the Thing, dependant on which
> version you watch, there's a scene where the music is different.  This
> happens in the scene where Bennings comes out of his quarters and slams on
> the intercom yelling at Nauls to turn the music down,  "I was shot today!!".
> The song on the Video and DVD version is Stevie Wonder's Superstitious
> Writing on the Wall (Unsure of Title). I don't know which song is on the
> Laserdisc version, but I wonder what the reason for the difference was.
> Anyway, welcome back and take care.
>
> Don M. in the STATES

Hi Don, this bugged me for years so I am glad someone else has noticed it!

The first time I saw it on TV it had Stevie Wonder in it but my original video (VHS) didn't. A little note on my tape said 'some music may have been rescored' which I think meant the Stevie Wonder song. Anyway, a little bit of digging and basically when the film was released in the 80s (on tape) they couldn't get clearance rights for the song so had to change it but have been able to get rights since and now it is on the DVD.

Interesting.

DVD Site Updated - Follow the link to read the DVD site

Check out Mohammad Khan's site for more news, including:

John Carpenter Speaking about GOM - a short interview with JC about his new project.
Bon Jovi in Vampires - Ye Gods no! The permed wailer is in the direct to video sequel to Vampires as the master vampire!