All quotes and info from other sources are in Italics, all other text is my own reflection on the news. The John Carpenter News Archive :

September 21st Back at last....

Courtney
Here is another rumour, this one claims to be straight from a member of the crew

my girlfriend is ***** . Ms. Love did not hurt her ankle she was fired due to not showing up to meetings and constantly being late. but they told the press the ankle story...

Don't really have anything to add to that, let's just hope the film doesn't suffer.

The Website
Remember me wondering what happened to www.johncarpenter.com? :

johncarpenter.com - the story ebhind this is the people who maintained it for the webmaster never told them they let it go, and hours later... the wallpaper guy bought it. i think they are in court trying to get it back

On-Set Ghosts Report

Thanks to Tom Alaerts for pointing this at me "> Ghosts of Mars: 'AgentX' has more from the set of the new John Carpenter film where production is underway:
"Natasha Henstridge may have arrived in Albuquerque late last week and been seen on the set (an Indian reservation in northern New Mexico) yesterday. I'm told Joanna Cassidy also was on the set, but I have no idea of what she was doing there, other than going around and greeting the "Background Artists" (that is apparently what they call the extras). The location is in the desert, as expected. Expect lots of rocks painted red to look like Martian rocks. The movie may actually look like the Mars that NASA has revealed over the past 20 years. And they seem to have a train engine set up as a "ship". Expect lots of violence, bloodshed, gore. The bad guys are "zombies". A male "star" was spotted but not identified. I've been able unable to locate a cast list for the movie so far, but he is described as middle-aged and balding. I doubt it's Patrick Stewart. Lots of water is being made available to the Background Artists. At least one member of the crew is constantly reminding them to drink plenty of water. The filming actually began earlier in the day than previously anticipated, so the whole crew and cast were subjected to the gruelling New Mexico sun. The heat here is not as bad as in Arizona or southern California, but at this high elevation (around 1 mile or more) the air is thin and doesn't hold any moisture, so people get heat sickness and sun sickness quickly. Temperatures are not as bad as they were two weeks ago, when we were seeing temperatures of 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit (which is above normal)."

This is another one:

"Hello, I saw some of the remarks regarding the extras and them needing to carry water canteens, that information is wrong. Sand and John have ensured that not only is there plenty of drinking water but plenty of food and snacks with some of the best film catering I've had in a long time. The set is amazing, the script is a definite page turner and the cast and crew are wonderful. Sure, we've had some problems, wind storms, sudden thunder showers and major wardrobe overhauls for the extras, but we have an excellent cast and crew, awesome food, mind blowing special effects and no worries with sunscreen and working in the heat as we;ve been on nights throughout the entire shoot. Thanks for keeping us updated, Karen Harris"

Chance to see New Halloween Print (and possibly see JC as well)

"Hi there,I just picked up the latest calendar of films being screened at beautiful The Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, CA. On Friday, October 13th they will be showing a brand new print of JC's "Halloween." At this point they did not give a time or say whether or not JC would be there but it is common that director's speak after screenings at this theatre. Please see their website for updates. http://www.egyptiantheatre.com/sched.htm Thanks, Jennifer"

A message from Them

I think we could all do with adding our support to this one

"Great website BTW.. anyways, I was roaming amazon.com and saw this under the 'Big Trouble in Little China' DVD section: ->
"The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD, but to be notified when it is available, enter your e-mail address at right. *You'll also be voting for this release*; we'll let the studio know how many customers are waiting for this title."
The link is:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00003CX91/qid%3D967536172/103-3408403-4850269
and I think if we can get enough of the visitors to your page (and others) we can get this DVD made! :) whadd'ya think? :)"

I hope so.

Cool Creature from The Black Lagoon Script Review

Here is something special, a review of the script for this great unmade JC project, from a source I have decided to keep Anon for now

"Just read the script to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON by Bill Phillips. It is excellent. The story is basically the same as in the original (a group of
scientist studying in the jungle head to the lagoon to do research on an ancient find). In the original, what lured in the scientists was an ancient fossil of the gillman's webbed hand. In this version, they find an inca-like pyramid that was build underwater and may have housed a missing-link species.
Of course, there is still one creature swimming around. Other differences:

-   There are more characters to make a higher body count.
-   A great deal of violence.
-   The creature is more human in his actions -- he loves mirrors, but hates seeing himself -- and more animal in his appearance -- sharpended teeth, water sacks that drain when he comes out of water, and pores which leak ink as a defensive reaction.

There's also this luny guy running around who had a previous -- and nearly fatal -- run-in with the creature. He kills almost as many scientists as the creature does. His part seems almost written for Kurt Russell. He wants to kill the creature at any cost, while the rest of the cast is trying to keep it alive, considering it to be one of the greatest finds of the century. There's still the beauty and the beast water ballet scene involving the creature and the lead heroine. She is swimming on the surface of the water. He is mirroring her actions just a few feet below. On all accounts, I think it could be one of Carpenter's best. Why the studio dropped it is beyond me."

John Carpenter's GhostS FROM Mars

"Hi Marc, I work for a company associated with John Carpenter and thought you might like the scoop on the latest GOM news. Or you could say JCGFM news. Why JCGFM? Well there been a slight name change to his latest movie. It will now be known as "John Carpenters Ghosts From Mars"! Thats right, with the plural on "ghosts" and the "from" replacing "of". John had be pushing very nard to get his name on the title, also the studio throught "from" would be a better descriptor
than "of". The Weasel "

Thanks to The Weasel for that info. No suprise with the JC in the title, but now I have to start using GFM instead of GOM as the title. I think I'll stick with GOM as we all know what it refers to.

Cool JC Feature and INTERVIEW!

Thanks to Tom Alaerts for pointing me at this www.fandom.com feature that discusses GOM and other things

GHOST OF MARS: John Carpenter Interview The director discusses his upcoming science-fiction film, currently in production.
Author: John Thonen
Date: 9/7/00

The Internet has become an amazing source of information on past, current and upcoming films, but, the net's very nature has also made it a breeding ground for gossip and misinformation, particularly for actors and filmmakers with strong cult followings. One such director, John Carpenter, took time from the busy tasks of his upcoming film, Ghosts of Mars, which began production in August, to share some straight-from-the-source facts with Fandom denizens about his latest project.
 

One inaccuracy that recently surfaced about Carpenter's upcoming science fiction-action-horror hybrid regards the film's title. While long reportedin the plural form, some Internet postings have suggested that parent studioSony/Columbia (through their newly revived Screen Gems division) had changedthe title to a singular supernatural entity. "Nope," says the always laid-back Carpenter. "Many, many ghosts. They're pretty much all over the place."

Carpenter also shares the names of key cast members, laying rest to reports of Whoopi Goldberg's involvement. "Whoppi was approached, and she was interested," Carpenter tells us. "But it just didn't come together." The director declines to share what Goldberg's role might have been, explaining that "I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by letting them know they were the second choice for the part."

The rest of the cast is largely made up of performers on the cusp of major stardom. Rapper turned actor Ice Cube tackles Desolation Williams, whose very name conjures up such past Carpenter anti-heroes as Snake Plissken. Coming on the heels of Cube's critical success in Three Kings and commercial success in Next Friday, GOM might just be a star-making vehicle for the performer.

The film's female lead held similar breakthrough potential for another musician-turned-actor, Courtney Love, at least until late July. Love was set to play Melanie Ballard, a Martian cop in pursuit of the notorious Desolation Williams. Unfortunately, the actress injured her ankle during training for the rigorous fight scenes, and for a short time the film's start, scheduled for early August, seemed threatened by Love's sudden departure. Thankfully, Carpenter managed to sign Natasha Henstridge (Species) and the production is back on track.

Carpenter's story (co-written with Larry Sulkis) presents Melanie as something of a rebel within the matriarchal society that dominates the Martian colony. Despite her position of authority, Melanie's willingness to sleep with men, and even bear their children, makes her nearly as much of a social outsider as Williams.

The third lead character is Jericho Butler, played by British actor Jason Statham, from the sleeper hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Carpenter described Jericho as "a seasoned cop on his first escort squad assignment." He adds that the character is an expert at lock-picking and fixing machinery, skills that will likely come into use in the film's adventure tale.

Also featured are Blade Runner femme fatale Joanna Cassidy, as science officer Darlene Whitlock and Clea Duvall as Bashira Kincaid. The busy young actress (whom Fandom readers may best recall as Stokely, the morose outsider in Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty) joins GOM's cast as a rookie cop on her first Mars assignment. Carpenter says that Duvall generally plays "geek girls," but she will be opening some eyes through her character. "None of that in this film," he states. "She's a lioness in this one."

Carpenter is notably excited about his cast, admitting that Jason Statham had been his original choice for the Desolation Williams character and that he was briefly "a little unsure at first" when Screen Gem's urged him to give the part to Cube. "When he came in and we started talking about the character, he had some great ideas. He's a very interesting and smart man. Very focused on what he's doing. I'm very happy to have him."

Carpenter also feels that the change benefited the story. "Originally it was Desolation and Melanie, and we did a rewrite and expanded the Jericho character for Jason, and that really changed the dynamic. I think it's better than what it was originally." Carpenter had also been pleased by Courtney Love's involvement, describing her as "a fascinating person." Her replacement by Hentsridge, likely demanded some minimal rewrites, but longtime screenwriter Carpenter is more than up to the job.

For his crew, the director has rounded up such common Carpenter collaborators as actors Pam Grier and Peter Jason, co-producers Debra Hill and Sandy King (Mrs. Carpenter in real life), cinematographer Gary Kibbe, makeup effects house K.N.B., and stunt coordinator Jeff Imada, who will likely be kept busy considering Carpenter's description of his movie. "There 's a lot of action in this film. A lot of action. There's a siege on a jail, fights on a train, battle sequences. Lots of physical training for everyone.Jeff has them all out there right now, learning how to kick ass."

Carpenter says that no decision had yet been made on who would be handling the film's visual effects, sharing only that "There'll be effects, but the effects have to serve the story. Not the other way around." When asked how he expected to achieve the effects for the zeppelins that some web sites have talked of as a mode of transportation for the Martian colonists, Carpenter only laughs.

"There's a zeppelin in my film? No. There's a weather balloon. Joanna Cassidy's character makes an escape in a modified weather balloon and travels across the Martian landscape in it. But no zeppelins. No cheesy spaceships. None of that stuff."

With a major rapper in his cast, it was only a matter of time before the subject of Ice Cube contributing to the soundtrack came up, earning only a noncommittal response. "Who knows? At this point, things like that aren't decided. I'll be scoring it, but I certainly wouldn't be negative to [him] contributing. I'm negative to nothing really. I'm a very positive kind of guy."

One notable difference between GOM and most sci-fi offerings is a lack of emphasis on high tech, futuristic aspects. The man behind classics like Halloween, Escape From New York, and The Thing, as well as 1998's Vampires, says that "most of it takes place in this little outpost, a frontier type town on Mars that's near a mine. There's no trace on the surface that there was any past civilization on the planet, but the mines have uncovered this, well, basically a trap."
 

It's Carpenter's intention to present, not just The Angry Red Planet, but one that's seriously pissed-off. "It's a Land-of-the-Pharaohs [a 1956 film about the building of Egypt's Great Pyramid) kind of situation where these doors open and out comes this almost unkillable evil that sweeps across the planet. That's our dilemma. It takes us over. You're not human anymore. You become an ancient Martian warrior and you gather together and start attacking. Wiping out anything on the planet that you perceive as an invader."

Another variation in Carpenter's approach to his tale is that the long deceased Martians aren't the typical highly advanced culture found in most aliens-meet-humans tales. "They're a barbaric tribal society. Their race developed no high technology," the director explains of his long extinct antagonists. "What they developed was of the supernatural, and this trap is their sentinel. Something left behind to make sure their world is never claimed by others."

Followers of Carpenter's past work and influences have already drawn parallels to concepts in GOM, noting that the film's leads-two cops and one convict-are identical to that of Assault on Precinct 13, a film that also deals with a small band of people barricaded in a jail and battling hordes of attackers. Even the gender and racial mix is the same: two men, one of whom is black, and one woman. Carpenter himself downplays the similarities.

"Well, there's a jail, a prisoner, a barricade and an attack. So yeah. There are some superficial similarities. But that 'people barricaded somewhere' is something I've visited a lot. It's there in The Thing and Prince of Darkness. Every film has it's antecedents, but this one is really closer to Zulu [a stirring, reality-based British action film about a handful of soldiers who successfully repelled thousands of Zulu tribesmen] which was also a major influence on Assault.

"Zulu is a favorite of mine," Carpenter continues. "There's just something about a small group and overwhelming odds. I like what it brings to a story and the characters."

Another link drawn by many is that GOM's storyline bears some similarities to Quatermass and The Pit (a 1958 BBC TV serial and 1967 Hammer film, titled 5 Million Years To Earth in the U.S). Carpenter has never concealed his admiration for that film's writer, Nigel Kneale, but he doesn't see a strong link between the films. "All that stuff is always in the back of my mind from childhood, but there's a thing he [Kneale] did for British TV called The Stone Tapes, which has much more influence here. I read his script for it, and it's really creepy. It's about this cathedral, and the stones in it hold these, spirits and images, of things that happened within its walls in the past. It's a fabulous idea. So I think that probably echoed more than anything else."

When asked if the time spent in New Mexico shooting Vampires was part of the inspiration for GOM, Carpenter downplays the connection. "No, not really. I
had the idea about a year and a half ago. New Mexico certainly plays an important part in it because there's these Indian pueblos [the Zia Pueblo] we saw there, and the Indians are very cooperative about letting us use them, letting us do just about anything: stage fights, gun battles, blow stuff up, even paint everything red. This is Mars, so everything has to be red, you know."

When asked how the red planet effect will be achieved, the director is uncommonly reticent: "If I told you what we're using you'd be amazed. So I'm not going to tell you. But I was stunned when I saw the test footage. My jaw dropped. I could believe how great it looked and how it had been done."

Asked about the rehearsal process, Carpenter says, "It's very important. And there's a lot of benefits to it." Like many directors, Carpenter`s method is to do a read-through of the script first. "It lets you hear your lines and hear the ones that just thud and lie there. We do nightly rewrites during the first week of rehearsals to adjust for that and for the input the actors bring to the table. Making a film is constant adjusting. It's Darwinian. You drop what doesn't work, and something better develops out of the process."

Pressed for examples, Carpenter shares that "I told Cube this new idea I had been kicking around for the ending, and the next day he came in and he'd written the whole thing and it was just great. So we incorporated that. It also let's you individualize the lines. For example, Jason is British, has a Cockney accent. Now that wasn't the original character, so Larry and I had to do rewrites so the dialogue worked for him, and we did a lot of that with Jason's involvement. That's just being smart. But you have to get as much of that done before you are out there shooting. Because you have to hit the ground running."

Pressed as to how flexible he is with actor contributions, Carpenter tells us, "I'm always open to ideas, to changes. Nothing is precious about a screenplay or about a cut. An actor can say what they want as long as they don't change my narrative or suddenly become a different character. But in terms of individualizing who that character is-if it's better than what's on the page, I want to hear it." (That very flexibility will likely help thedirector weather the strains of adapting Hentsridge to what had been Courtney Love's role, with little preparation time.)

The action scenes in Carpenter's recent Vampires, which he credited as being influenced by western movie masters like Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone, reflected some changes in the director's standard techniques, which he says would likely continue on GOM. "Yeah. Probably more of things in that vein. A lot of that depends on the characters and how they play against each other.There's a lot of action in this movie, and that will require a different cutting style than some of my older movies. It's an evolving thing."

When asked if his GOM editing style would be closer to the rapid fire, and at times near subliminal, editing of young directors like Armageddon's Michael Bay, Carpenter is at first hesitant. "I don't know how to comment, really. I think that sometimes it's fast just for the sake of being fast. I didn't care much for The Rock [an earlier Bay film], but there were things in Armageddon that I thought were really fun and stirring. At least until the shuttles took off and started zipping and zooming around like some cheesy space opera thing. Then they lost me. The stuff at the space station? I thought a lot of it was just silly. And that asteroid? It was like something out of Planet of the Vampires [a 1965 Italian sci-fi film, often cited as one of the inspirations for Alien). I'm like, 'What the hell is this and how much did it cost?' But it worked for the audience, I guess."

Carpenter does share with us that not all the web rumors reports about his latest film are inaccurate. Such as the one about the near collapse of the GOM project a few months ago "Now that one's true. It's a hard one to tell you about, though. This is the first film for a new company, Screen Gems, which I guess is to sort of be the Dimension-type branch for Sony. Their mandate was that they were supposed to make films under 15-million. So, along comes this film, and it's twice that. So there were problems right out of the gate. There was a struggle going on over it, and I just thought, 'Eh, I don't want to do this.' So I withdrew for a while. But it got back on track, and now we're doing it. At least this week. Next week. Who knows?"

One of the more interesting results of Carpenter's GOM down time, were some comments he made at the South by Southwest Film Festival "Yeah, I had a discussion with Robert Rodriguez and Harry Knowles about my plans to revolutionize Hollywood, and how to go about doing it." Citing the incredible strides made in digital filmmaking and electronic post-production, an enthusiastic Carpenter says that "we can own the business. No middle men. No money men. It can be done, and I know how. All we have to do is go out and do it. But I don't know how many filmmakers really want to do it. How many will embrace it."

Carpenter suggested at the time of the festival that he might soon be starting a self-funded, digital project, and the idea hasn't lost its appeal to him. "I come from low-budget filmmaking and have gone back and forth throughout my career making real low ones, big ones-anything. It would be very easy for me just because I'm a brand name. If I made a genre film, it would sell."

The appeal to an independent filmmaker such as Carpenter is obvious. "You'd control the production, and you'd own the copyright. You'd own everything. That intrigues me because, there's a business side to me as well. I'm not just purely a liberal hippie. I'm a big fan of capitalism. So controlling the copyright is a very tantalizing idea. I'm still interested. It's something to think about."

Meanwhile, we`ll have to contend ourselves thinking about Ghosts of Mars.

Fantastic interview.

Vampires Sequel!

Amazing news. Now, let's not hold Halloween III against Mr Wallace.

"Hello! I just saw this on the Sci Fi Channel website:

Sony's Screen Gems is developing a modest sequel to the 1998 movie John Carpenter's Vampires, Variety reported. Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween 3) will write and direct John Carpenter Presents Vampires: Los Muertos, which will be produced by Carpenter and his longtime partner, Sandy King. "We originally wanted to continue the original story into the next day," King said. The first film ended when vampire hunter James Woods and his priest counterpart (Tim Guinee) go after their former comrade (Daniel Baldwin) when he turns into a vampire, Variety reported. But, King added, "The studio wanted to go with a younger cast and a more modest budget." Guinee will be the only original cast member to return for the sequel. Meanwhile, King has been producing Carpenter's SF epic Ghosts of Mars, which just wrapped shooting on 55 acres outside Albuquerque, N.M. That film will now come to Los Angeles for completion.
Love the site.
Call me Dr. Squid"

Also, note that GOM has now wrapped location shooting.

August 9th 1pm GMT GOM News from Dark Horizons - First filming report - good to see filming will soon kick off:

Ghosts of Mars: 'Agent X' scored some up to the minute information on John Carpenter's new project:
"Filming is supposed to start on Monday (August 14) at a location just north of Albuquerque. The extras are being told to show up at 4 PM and that they will work until 4 AM. They have hired over 100 extras for the film, of which nearly 100 will be "warriors" in leather and dark, raggy clothing (some with spikes). I've heard some say "Think of the 'Road Warrior'". There are minors, scientists, and warriors. I don't know how many miners but there are very few "scientists".
It sounds like Carpenter may produce an unusually high body count even for one of his own movies in this one. New Mexico is experiencing an unusually hot season this year and the extras have been told to bring canteens with plenty of water for themselves. It sounds like filming will be under extreme conditions."

August 9th 2000 Website - Just to let everyone know that there won't be any more updates until September as I am off on honeymoon. Keep the news coming in so that I can do a bumper update when I get back, and look out for a fantastic new JC DVD section as well.

GOM Casting - Coming Attractions reports:

August 4, 2000... A scooper named Danielle told us that actor/stuntman Richard Cetrone has been cast to play the leader of the Martian warriors. We've listed Cetrone's name in the credits, albeit unconfirmed for the time being. [Thanks Danielle.]

His IMDB listing has him down mainly as a stuntman.

JC DVD Info - This is making me drool:

As with your question regarding The Fog on dvd,It is availible in Germany in widescreen but only from the us laserdisc version that means that the dubbing mistakes(quite small for one scene) are in this version. I don't know if this version is with an english language but i heard that it is possible. The disc is also the original UNCUT version(a first for this country).But fear not fans as John Carpenter is planning to release this classic at the beginning of next year with a breand new print with a possible 5:1 channel sound and with a new commentary track!!! So folks this along with the release of Escape from New York (the original full length version including the deleted scenes IN THE MOVIE itself), you's better start saving those hard earned pennys now.  Just a quick final note,collector's of videos (do they still exist).Thorn EMI released The Thing totally uncut with the deleted scenes that were on the laserdisc and dvd versions for a short while(i beleive by mistake).The movie itself is in full screen and the quality (back then) was good.If you see it BUY IT.This version goes for big money as there were only a few copies released (50-100).So i hope that info was useful for you.

Thanks to John Scott for that great info. The Fog on DVD sounds amazing.

August 3rd 2000 The Fog - not much news, but so many people find it hard to get hold of this film that I think it's worth mentioning it. I just got a new alert from Amazon about a re-release of The Fog on VHS/NTSC videotape. You can get full details and also order it here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0792846303/ref%3Ds%5Fe8/102-0220845-9676140

Sort of good news I guess, but what we are all really waiting for is a DVD release. Anyone have any info on a DVD release? - in fact:

WANTED - Individual to write and maintain a JC DVD section to be hosted here at the JC web page. Keeping up with DVD information and providing reviews on new JC discs is too much effort for me at the moment so I would love someone to volunteer to write and maintain the page. The pay is non-existent, the perks arguable, but you do get the satisfaction of seeing your page read on a regular basis. Any takers please e-mail me brightms1@cf.ac.uk

August 2nd 2000 JC Websites - As I mentioned before, www.johncarpenter.com is no longer associated with our favourite director, probably due to the makers realising the considerable effort required to keep a website up to date. I hope GOM gets a decent site pretty soon. Anyway, on a similar tack:

But get this...the escapefromearth.com domain name has been bought by someone...if I knew how, I'd do a check to see who owns it... - Kenneth Hitt

So, is this site anything to do with the film? I do know how to check who has registered a domain, and a check on escapefromearth.com gives:

Here is the raw output for domain
escapefromearth.com
as obtained by
whois.register.com (REGISTER.COM, INC.).

Organization:
Delvin Hanson
Del Hanson
10551 Ironwood Ave
Santee, CA 92071
US
Phone: (619)2**-****
Email: *****del@hotmail.com

Domain Name: ESCAPEFROMEARTH.COM

Created on..............: Sun, May 21, 2000
Expires on..............: Tue, May 21, 2002
Record last updated on..: Sun, Jun 04, 2000

So it was created towards the end of May, along with escapefromearth.org. I don't have a clue who this Del Hanson is and whether this site has anything to do with the rumoured third film in the EF franchise, but I thought it was interesting stuff. Also, there is another interesting website registered, www.ghostsofmars.com - a strange one as this is believed to be the incorrect title for the film. The current working title is ghost (singular) of Mars. Boring news? Well, it beats abusing the recent GOM casting decision. Anyway, the website registration details are:

Here is the raw output for domain
ghostsofmars.com
as obtained by
whois.networksolutions.com (NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.).

Registrant:
DE SOUZA, CHAD (GHOSTSOFMARS-DOM)
9/28 Wells Street
SOUTH MELBOURNE, VICTORIA 3205
AU

Domain Name: GHOSTSOFMARS.COM

Record last updated on 20-Oct-1999.
Record expires on 20-Oct-2001.
Record created on 20-Oct-1999.
Database last updated on 31-Jul-2000 21:44:55 EDT.

Again, no idea who this Chad guy is and whether he has anything to do with the movie.

August 1st 2000 Oh No! It seems that both of last weeks reports on Courtney Love's replacement were wrong, Matt G sent me this info

Natasha Henstridge (Species) lands the lead role in John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS
Natasha will be playing a non-lesbian 'breeder' cop that ends up in a pretty fucked up situation involving the ghosts of Mars. With the lead role now filled, the production will begin steaming ahead with BROM tattoos, KNB monstrous practical effects and the inevitable badass Carpenter theme. You should see this confirmed in the trades probably this Monday or Tuesday.

Shit, I tell you what, I'm worried now. Species and Species II are two of the lamest films ever made, with a fair chunk of the blame falling on Henstridge's mahogany shoulders. I seriously hope that JC has picked up on a quality in her (apart from the obvious....) that we havn't seen before. Or maybe 'Melanie' is now a non-speaking, hardly seen role. Mind you, on the bright side, Jameson Parker was a wet slop in Prince of Darkness and that was still a very cool film.

Bodybags DVD - This seems a real shame. I recently got a DVD player and was blown away with the special eds. of The Thing and Halloween. Anyway, Don M. gives us a nice and thorough review of the disc

Hey Marc,
I't's your old friend Don from the U.S. and just wanted to let you know that I'm still around and don't worry about the delay in updates. I totally understand how work can consume one's life.  I'll always remain loyal to this, the best J.C. page on the web.  Anyway, I picked up the recent DVD release of Body Bags and I have to say that it's very disappointing.  First off, I have seen the movie on Video tape, own it on Laserdisc and Now DVD and all 3 versions are different.  By this, I mean with each subsuquent release, the movie has been chopped down severely.  The Video release of Body Bags is the most complete with all the scenes in tact including the scene where Robert Carradine is crushed beneath the hydrolic lift (pretty gory).  The Laserdisc version is only slightly different with the Carradine crush scene edited down possibly due to the gore.  And now for the DVD.  First of all, there are many scenes missing from this version.  In The Gas Station, the cameo scene with Wes Craven has been completely removed. Also, several clips have been cut during John Carpenter's scenes as the Coroner. Most notably, close ups of  the corpses, the silicon chick in the freezer and other such clips.  I don't know what the deal is if any.  Artisan who markets the DVD may just have this particular version.  The movie is rated R isn't it.  Anyway, all you get is the movie and nothing more. No trailer due to it was a cable movie for Showtime, no bio's of any actors or the directors, just the movie and a menu with a scene index (pretty standard fare). Just like Prince of Darkness and They Live.  I didn't expect much more than this, however, surprising that the movie if it was shot in Carpenter's 2:33:1 was not presented this way.  The transfer on the disc I have isn't that great with artifacts visibly present throughout and with the intentional edits, some scenes jump, shake, and the continuity is off.  The only bright spot is the sound.  It doesn't have Dolby Digital 5.1, but the Digital Pro-Logic is very adequate and clear.  All in all, I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't still want this title on DVD. I've been a big advocate of DVD since its inception, however, in this case, I'd have to say that the Laserdisc version is better only due to the more consistent content.  Anyway, I look forward to Escape >From New York, The Fog, or Big Trouble in Little China whenever they come out.  Well, keep up the good work and take care.
Don

Ghosts Locations This request seems decent enough, would love to know myself

You don't happen to know the locations in Arizona they're using for the shoot on Ghosts of Mars, do you? I ask because I'm a writer doing a book on Mars and the way its though to look, and it struck me that the choice might be interesting. best wishes - Oliver Morton

July 27th 2000 Love Replacements - Two conflicting reports have popped up on Coming Attractions regarding Courtney Love's replacement :

July 26, 2000... OK, two different scoopers with two totally different claims to make. First up is the fellow who swears to us that Famke Janssen (X-Men, GoldenEye) has offically signed on to play the character of Melanie in Ghosts of Mars. Janssen is supposed to be taking over the role Courtney Love was supposed to play but had to give up due to injury. Filming will be delayed two days because of another film Famke is finishing, then the actress will leap into her Martian boots...or at least that's what they tell us. [Anonymous.]

Our second scooper tells us it's not Janssen but Michelle Yeoh who'lll be taking over the part. They kept their scoop short and to the point but promised more juicy stuff later. Let's see which one, if any, pans out. [Second delivery by 'TheBigOnonymous'.]

Interesting rumours - would love to see Yeoh in the part myself.

July 25th 2000 First off, I want to apologise for the very extended break between updates and also to thank those of you who stuck with the site. I shall endeavour to keep the updates regular but with all the work I have at the moment it can be difficult. A lot of things have happened since the last update - thanks to all those of you who keep sending me news via e-mail. You know who you are, cheers. On with the news...

johncarpenter.com - what has happened to this? what used to be a cool site dedicated to Vampires, and promised to expand to take in other movies, now seems to
be perhaps indicating a new direction for JC? Has he got a bit tired of the Hollywood merry-go-round and decided to try some manual work? Anyone know what's up with his official site?

GOM Round Up The biggest news I guess has got be Courtney Love leaving the movie. The official word is that a sprained ankle has put her out, and there are unofficial rumours (as there always are) of a rift or just creative differences. GOM will still be on course without her and no confirmed word of a replacement yet. Here are some of the e-mails I recieved over the last few months (sorry if I don't quote/thank everyone for this, please keep news coming in):

Looks like the trades are about to start reporting that Courtney Love has left the production of John Carpenter's upcoming sf/action/horror film
GHOSTS OF MARS, and the excuse given is going to involve injury of some sort. I've spoken with several sources close to camps for Love and the
studio on this picture, though, and that's not the case. I know that John Carpenter and his producer, Sandy King, both fought very hard to get Courtney on the film, but observers say the rehearsal and pre-production period has been wrought with tension as it became clear the casting wasn't going to work. Every effort seems to have been made by the director, but the official word has finally been handed down, and Love is gone. Pam Grier has just joined the cast in a major supporting role, and right now, offers for the lead are out to actresses with strong international appeal, and an announcement about a replacement for Love is expected immediately.
Also, JC's Body Bags DVD is now available for $13.99 at kencranes.com
Sincerely,
Matthew Giaquinto

Injury forces Love from Carpenter's "Mars"
By Claude Brodesser
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Rock crooner-turned-thesp Courtney Love has lost her role in the futuristic frightener "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars," after injuring her ankle earlier this week while getting into shape for the film. Love would have played a police lieutenant opposite Ice Cube ("Three Kings," "Next Friday") and Jason Staham ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels").  Carpenter and Larry Sulkis wrote the script. According to a production insider, a tight $30 million budget and an even tighter Aug. 8 start means producers will not be able to wait for the star to mend. No word yet on who may fill her athletic shoes. The film is set up at Screen Gems, the specialty arm of Sony Pictures. Love, who has appeared in pictures "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "Man on the Moon" will next appear be in theaters with the indie film "Julie Johnson," which she wrapped last spring. Love's publicist, Pat Kingsley, confirmed her injury, but could not speak to whether Love would depart from "Ghosts."
Reuters/Variety
Sent in by Bill Myers

The Mouth of Madness Mailing List was treated to a recent script review of GOM:

Script Asylum: Ghosts of Mars
Get all the details on this upcoming horror/sci-fi flick from director John
Carpenter.
July 17, 2000

Stick to the creepy thing you do so well, and stop it with the action already. Why does John Carpenter's The Thing kick so much ass? Well, for one, the set up is near perfect when you're talking 'bout the suspense/sci-fi genres. MacReady and his gang are stationed at the North Pole, doing their thing in
desolation, when a dog comes out of nowhere being chased by a chopper full of gun-toting strangers. So the protagonists kill the perceived aggressors,
preserving the life of the stray mutt that's now become part of their compound. It's hard to know what kind of threat this puppy holds, and watching the animal's terrifying progression is what really gets the suspense cooking. Unfortunately, with his latest script Ghosts of Mars, Carpenter seems to be sacrificing the slow and focused build-up that has marked his stronger films (The Thing, The Fog, Christine, Halloween) for quick build-up action a la Vampires. Which is a shame, cuz the concept behind this one has the potential to be off the hook in a creepy-Carpenter kind of way.
A little over a year ago, the studios were in a race to put out some Mars flicks. Well, Mission to Mars plain stank. We're hoping Red Planet produces, and the trailer looks pretty ill (Carrie Ann Moss, baby!). Carpenter (as expected) is taking more of the horror/sci-fi approach to his Mars project. Which is probably a good thing. Who really fricking cares about a by-the-books Mars flick at this point? We'd much rather see The Martian Chronicles than any of the above, but that ain't gonna happen. If it happens the Hollywood way we have a feeling that it'll be lame. Any solid directors out there who are bigtime Bradbury heads?

Not as creepy as The Thing. Ghosts of Mars is a cross between Alien, The Thing, and Pitch Black. The flick takes place on Mars (duh) in a future where a large population of humans inhabit scattered colonies on the red planet. Conveniently, the colonies don't keep up much contact between each other. But when a distress signal goes out, it's the over-zealous, underestimating military team to the rescue (haven't seen that before). In the opening, the lead character Melanie (Courtney Love) is pulled off a runaway train, having been beaten and chained in a room. The rest of the flick takes place as Melanie recounts her experiences at the mining colony Shining Canyon. And the worst part is that the ghosts don't manifest themselves as ghosts. They possess people who turn into psycho-loonies, so for all intensive purposes they could just as well be taken over by aliens. Not much of a ghost story. If this one is
starting to sound like a run-of-the-mill alien movie, that's because it is in the screenplay.

Carpenter and writing partner Larry Sulkis have nailed some of the characters really well. Courtney Love is a perfect fit for the lead, Melanie: Rebellious, brash, at times violent, and super-annoying. If you dug Riddick in Pitch Black, you're sure to love Desolation Williams. While this convict badass has some brutal moments and sharp dialogue, he's basically yet another bad guy who's really the good guy that's been misunderstood by the system (a sympathetic character who's killed a couple dozen people). The visual elements of the script are fairly solid with sweet colony description, hot air balloons whipping through sandstorms, and the baddie thugs vividly depicted as pierced and self-mutilated primal warriors. The look of the flick will be great, but the story is more of the same old, feebly attempting to incorporate elements of infighting amongst the protagonists. While that technique added layers of goodness to The Thing, in Ghosts the interpersonal conflict seems too put-on.

Not even as creepy as The Fog.The mystery revelation comes too soon (about page 50). And rather than build the whole ghost element, Carpenter has chosen to dive headlong into rambunctious, over-the-top action. Which is a crying shame, cuz the man has really tweaked the suspense factor brilliantly in certain films of his career. Don't expect a slow creeper or an original take, this one's a by-the-numbers sci-fi/action flick with some interesting characters and locales. Ghosts of Mars will probably line up right inbetween Vampires and Escape from LA in the JC archive.

Get a peek at an actress stranded on the red planet when Clea Duvall talks Ghosts of Mars. Want more script reviews? Wander further inside the Script Asylum. -- Chris Bernier wishes this one could have just been a ghost flick

Not exactly favourable, but I can seem some glimmers of hope in there. Where the reviewer sees cliche (the band of protagonists, in fighting) I see JC exercising his love of Hawks movies again. As for too much action? One of JCs greatest skills is his fantastic portrayal of action on the screen. Even the detractors of EFLA recognised the superb direction of the attack on the magic kingdom. The main thing to keep in mind though is that JC is not an on-paper director (have you ever read the script to Halloween?). His strength is in the visuals and I think GOM has the potential to really be something great.

Snake is Back! That's right, the long term rumour of an Escape... TV series has finally gained a bit of speed with the following info -

Hi, Just thought you'd be interested to know that on CNN the other night during a slot for hollywood entertainment, they said that Kurt Russell, John Carpenter and Debra Hill are in the works to do a tv series about Snake.  It's supposed to start next year....sorry, that's all I know. btw, great page! Best, John aka. "Frets"

Tom Alaerts - 'ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK' GETS SYNDICATED According to The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, and Debra Hill will executive produce an ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK syndicated series for TRIBUNE Entertainment.Additionally, Hill told the trade a third ESCAPE film, ESCAPE FROM EARTH, may follow the planned 2001 launch of the series.

Sounds like it could be cool to me. Escape from Earth? I'll believe it when I see it.

For more info, Mohammad Khan and his Carpenticized Side of the Web has some great info on this, copied here, but be sure to keep an eye on his page for updates.

Kurt Russell is giving his B-movie, eye-patched mercenary hero, Snake Plissken, just what he deserves--his own television series. Russell is reteaming with the filmmakers who made the original Escape from New York--writer-director John Carpenter and producer Debra Hill--to executive produce a new hourlong syndicated TV version, according to the Hollwood Reporter.  In the 1981 sci-fi cult classic, Snake--condemned criminal and former war hero--wins his freedom by rescuing the President from a group of convicts after his plane is shot down over New York, which has been turned into a giant penal colony. Russell and company want the new series to introduce a new generation of fans to the character he made famous in the original and its 1996 sequel, Escape from L.A.

"It's exciting to reinvent a movie for a whole new generation of people," Hill tells the Reporter. "It's exciting to try to figure out a way to keep that story line going for 100 episodes."  Russell will not be acting in the series, however. Producers are already searching for a new Snake in hopes to have the show to debut sometime in the 2001 television season. The small-screen version of Escape will still be set in a 21st century decimated by man-made catastrophes and surrounded by hardened criminals. This time around, though, Snake won't be running around saving politicans or their daughters from metropolitans-turned-prisons.

Instead, he'll have a more permanent job working for the President as a roving agent for the U.N., visiting surviving cities around the world and helping to bring normalcy to the devastated populace. But ultimately he must stay alive to defeat his nemesis, Police Commissioner Bob Hauk (played by Lee Van Cleef in the original). And if the new Snake catches on, Hill says she and Carpenter would consider shooting another feature with Russell in the lead. With New York and L.A. already proving escapable, the third installment would be a bit more challenging. The next time out, the long-in-the-tooth Snake and his charges would be pulling an Escape from Earth.

Patrick Kerr Found Alive! I think I missed the boat on this one so I am not sure if I am still doing Patrick a favour by posting this, but I guess I'll put it up anyway

Howdy, stranger! It's the infamous (and infamously absent) Patrick of 'Films of John Carpenter'!

As you may or may not have known, back in January I had a major computer crash wherein my computer basically died, and I couldn't
update the site for a loooooong time.  Well, I have a new computer now (a Mac G4!), and I am gradually getting back into the swing of things - very gradually, since I am currently in Graphic Design school, and have many, many very big projects to work on (argh!), not to mention the new band I'm in and working on a CD project with (not a bad thing, but time-consuming).  Unfortunately, this immense workload means I can't get started on getting FOJC back into working order for a little while yet, but I will return very soon!  I promise!  Keep your eyes upon http://welcome.to/johncarpenter/ and
keep your fingers crossed, cuz Kirk, Ken, and I will be back with tons o' new stuff to look at and enjoy.

Thanks a bunch for the coninuing great work, Marc (say, did you like Mould's latest, 'Last Dog and Pony Show'? - fantastic, if you ask me), and thanks to everyone who's stopped by FOJC in the past few months (or ever!), wondering where the hell I was... Your patience will soon be rewarded.

Patrick Kerr,
Head Curator, The Films of John Carpenter
http://welcome.to/johncarpenter/

April 18th 2000 GOM is a GO! Thanks to everyone for keeping up the flow of news to this mailbox over the last few weeks. All of the news is appreciated, keep it coming. Today's update is a condensed version of all this news to let the core information flow - as always the Ginger Jabba has the main scoop (www.aint-it-cool-news.com)

This news just flew across my desk from Harry Knowles...
John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS greenlit and moving forward! For quite some time there was some doubt whether or not this project would
be moving forward because of weirdo studio head bumping mating rituals, but it seems that all of that is behind us now. When John Carpenter was down here in Austin, he seemed to be real iffy about the project and was looking to possibly make an independently produced (by him) shot on Digital movie that he would control 100%. While I'm still hoping that he'll do that, I'm very excited about GHOSTS OF MARS. Now, I know the casting on this sounds weird as hell, but folks... Once you have read the script, the casting makes sense. No... really it does.
Ice Cube is in as Desolation, he's the Plisskin/Mad Max/John Voight from RUNAWAY TRAIN type of character. One of those... too mean to live types. Then there is Jason Statham as Jericho... Once again, you'll just have to see him in the role. You might remember Jason as Bacon in LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. He has a ton of really cool lines in the latest draft of the script.
Then there is Courtney Love. Now I know there is this really vocal anti-Courtney Love thing in the world, but she really is right for this
character, in that same sort of odd way that Roddy Piper was balls on perfect for THEY LIVE. Courtney's character is a no-nonsense cop, not the
head screw, just one of the grunts... She's been on the job for a while, but keeps being passed over for promotion because... well, she isn't a
lesbian. In this future, Women Rule and men are lowly dogs. She's a breeder, which means... she'll bare children and sleep with man. But as a
result she's treated as a lessor.
To me with all the intense situations and scary Ghost stuff... it's this aspect that really makes me smile. This is a hardcore John Carpenter
written scifi-action-horror film set in a female dominated society. (ahem... now do you understand why there were political problems?) As usual
John is exploring alot more than... just action. Pre-Production on GHOSTS OF MARS started today. Shooting will begin on August 1st... at least that's what some folks doing some work on it tell me. So, hang on... this is the first 100% John Carpenter film we've seen in a while.

Sincerely,
Matthew Giaquinto

Thanks to Matt for letting me know about that story. I'm really excited about this one - cool cast, cool premise and chance for JC to really flex those action-set-piece muscles again.

from dark horizons:
Ghosts of Mars: Actor/rapper Ice Cube had a short interview with MTV recently and briefly touched upon his next work - the new John Carpenter
sci-fi film. Cube says his role is that of an outlaw, one being transferred between prisons when en route the police vehicle carrying him is attacked by
creatures unearthed on the red planet. Courteney Love fits in somewhere (no she's not one of the creatures, rather a federal marshal stationed on Mars), but anyway the pair will star in the flick which begins filming soon. Thanks to 'Kirk' & 'Shade'.

Thanks to Tom Alaerts for pointing out that bit of info

You may have already heard, but the Hollywood Reporter confirmed today that Courtney Love is in final negotiations to appear in "Ghosts of Mars" along with Ice Cube.  It looks like the film is gonna be released through Sony's subdivision "Screen Gems" (who previously released "Arlington Road" and Toback's "Black & White" here in the states). Best regards, Jared

JC on TNT

Ok, so last night on TNT they showed a documentary called Faces of Evil.  The 90 minute documentary had about a ten minute segment devoted
to John Carpenter and his films with what looked like a very recent interview with the man.  The documentary itself was about the different faces of evil in our society today,  from school killings all the way to Marilyn Manson.  The documentary was really bad.  It was somewhat entertaining but done in a flashy MTV style with really no real substance whatsoever.  However, the part with Carpenter was good.  They showed clips of Halloween and The Thing as Carpenter gave his view on evil.  He basically said there are two kinds of evil.  This is how he put it:  Picture yourself as part of a tribe around a campfire, someone in the tribe tells you that there is evil out there and the tribe must band together to fight it.  The other type is:  You are part of a tribe around a campfire and someone says that there is evil right here, within us all, and that is the evil we must fight.  Carpenter stated that this second kind of evil is more dangerous and many people do not want to deal with that type of evil. I know this doesn't sound like much but like I said, the documentary was pretty bad.  JC also went on the discuss scenes from The Thing, namely the Norris transformation scene
and the earlier kennel scene, stating that people ran out of the latter scene because they could not take it but they did not run out of the Norris scene because of the humor mixed in with it, ie. the head that sprouts legs and eyes adds a tension relieving laugh.  That's about it. - Nootch

Tribute to JC Re-opened

As I hoped, Jesper has managed to get his media-packed JC shrine reopened

 I just wanted to let you know, that A Tribute to John Carpenter has opened once again. Last week I managed to get a sponsor to host my site, and therefore I can announce that the site has re-opened at http://www.johncarpenter.dk regards, Jesper Bjerg

More H2K Rumours

I dunno about this one, it makes interesting reading but if JC does make another Halloween movie then I'll write this site in the nude for a week!

According to "The Site of Michael Myers", Mustapha Akkad is interested in making a last chapter in the series, wich will unite Halloween H20 with all the previous ones. According to the same site, sequelbuzz.com and "Welcome to Haddonfield", John Carpenter is interested in returning to make the final one, since he considers that his original "Halloween" has been ripped off one too many times.
Jammie Lee Curtis, Josh Harnett, Michelle Williams and Paul Rudd's names have been associated with the project, but only the two first have been
confirmed. The movie will come out in October 2002, but Carpenter will do it AFTER "Ghosts from Mars".
The draft written by Robert Zappia is considered extremly suspenceful and more scary than previous "Halloween H20", but if John Carpenter and Debra Hill get on board, it will not be used. - Hugo

EFNY DVD

Just keeping the clock ticking over with news on this new disc

Hey there, Just talked to the MGM folks who are head of the dvd division and they said they are going full speed ahead with an ESCAPE FROM NY special edition for later this year.  When asked if Carpenter was going to supply a commentary (or if they were going to use the laserdisc commentary) they said they didn't know yet, but the disc will have plenty of cool extras.
--Ryan Turek

JC Books

... mentioned the forthcoming book on John Carpenter and wanted to fill you in.
The book is titled THE FILMS OF JOHN CARPENTER and the author is John Kenneth Muir, who previously published a great book on Wes Craven with the same publisher, McFarland (no affiliation with the comic book/action figure guru). The latest word is it is slated to street the first week
of April. Sounds like a promising venture. You can get all the details here ---->

http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/action.lasso?-db=Promodat.fp3&-lay=Viewing%20Layout&-format=record%5fdetail.htm&-recid=33767&-find

You can preorder the book directly from their website, and I think it is also listed on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

The book is listed in Amazon with a precis of some of the sections - a listing of people he works with often, a listing of projects uncompleted, a look at his 'TV movies' such as El Diablo, etc. Sounds cool, also sounds a little bit like a JC website I know....

JC fans should also know that Robert C. Cumbow's coveted ORDER IN THE UNIVERSE: THE FILMS OF JOHN CARPENTER is being updated and re-released later this year, so those who didn't get the hard-to-find first edition can now get the newer version. I'm assuming Cumbow will include JC's later films (his 1990 book only went through THEY LIVE).

Kenneth J. Souza

JC and Chickenhawk

This unfinished project has some extra info

Hi Marc, I've just stumbled across your John Carpenter page while looking for Robert Mason related stuff on the net, and noticed the mention of
Chickenhawk, in which you guess that it was only an idea that JC would've liked to have done, but I found this page last night, reviewing a crap movie version of Mason's book, Weapon (the film's called (confusingly) Solo, the name of the book's sequel). Anyway, the fourth page (solo4.html) quotes Robert Mason on the original plan with Carpenter, so thought you might be interested:

http://www.sonic.net/~media3/eclipse/g-spot/mason/solo1.html

March 31st 2000 Tom Atkins Info I've had a few responses to my request for info on this JC regular:

The Tom Atkins issue was answered in www.halloweenmovies.com a few weeks ago.He is alive. He was very sick but he is now ok.
According to imdb.com he is starring GEORGE A. ROMERO's THE BRUISER coming out this fall. I hope this help you. - Zinemania

March 30th 2000 Info Required on Tom Atkins This could be sad news if it turns out to be true:

Hello. I have a question and I don't really know who to ask, so I tried
looking on the John Carpenter homepages to see if anyone can help. I recently
heard a rumour that actor Tom Atkins (main star of The Fog + others) recently
passed away, but I can't find any information regarding it. Do you know if
this is true and if so could you tell me when and how he died. Thanks!

New THEY LIVE Web Site

Let me know what you think, scorching reviews as well,
http://voiceofjoenada.homestead.com/theylivelinks.html

I Know I'm Human

That line should stir something in all JC fans, and Kim August has devoted a whole new website to the chess-loving RJ MacReady -

just wanted to let you know that Russell Muscle has been completely
revamped into I KNOW I'M HUMAN...
http://www.oocities.org/Hollywood/Theater/1633/
while the site isn't complete, it's been started. Another face lift will
be coming in the next few months. Thanks so much for all the help...and
support, please replace your Russell Muscle banners with this one and
let me know what you think okay.
Dan, the Snake Pages are removed from my site...I can't wait to see what
you do!
Stefan, I've put credits all over the place, if I missed any please let
me know.
Marc, thanks again for everything.
best
Kim web mistress over at I Know I'm Human...

More Unfinished Info

I love this sort of news, where else would you get it but the web? Jared adds a whole stack of stuff -

An issue of "Fangoria" or "Starlog" from the early 90's had an article on the demise of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" project JC had been
working on.  After explaining why the project went bust, he went on to mention several other projects he was developing, one of which was some kind of t.v. series based on "The Fog".  I don't know if this eventually developed into "Body Bags" or not.
Another clear memory I have is of a failed Fox t.v. pilot for a "Big Trouble in Little China" show, which aired here in the states as a t.v. movie
"sequel" to "Big Trouble". The program was not called "Big Trouble in Little China" but a phrase in a similar vein.  When aired (again, I believe it was the early 90's also) the t.v. movie was clearly advertised as the further adventures of Jack Burton and related situations found in "Big Trouble".  It did not appear to include any of the original cast or JC's involvement at all.  I'm sure there has to be a reference to this project somewhere, hopefully you can obtain this info and relay it to your loyal Carpenter fans.

Doh!

Remember the discussion about JC doing a DV movie a few days ago? I thought it meant direct to video? Well, here is Mats Larson to clarify the situation while I remove my foot from my mouth

Anyway the following can be read on your site right now...
------------------------
The 'Robert' referred to is Robert Rodriguez by the way. I think DV might
mean 'direct to video'? Not sure, but sounds cool anyway and shoots down
those rumours of a few months ago i.e. JC retiring very soon. With GOM on
the go and this new bit of info sounds like we'll have cool films to watch
for quite a while.
------------------------
What Carpenter means by DV most certainly means Digital Video. In other
terms Carpenter is making a movie in style of Blair Wich Project or
something like that with extremely low budget. Like if you and I had grabbed
a regular videocamera and made a movie.

Sounds cool to me. It has its detractors but I loved Blair Witch - the execution and the idea. Great film that left me scared witless at the end.

March 29th 2000GOM finished? JC to direct Halloween 8? World gone mad?

John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars has been cancelled financing, and the whole thing has gone to hell. But Carpenter and Debra Hill have been talking with Mustapha Akkad...and you should guess the rest. There is the possibilitty of John Carpenter return to one final Halloween movie, which will finish everything. His conditions to make it include Jamie Lee Curtis and Josh Harnett's return.

It can be read at www.sequelbuzz.com :

Carpenter and Halloween 8
A rumor floating around says that director John Carpenter (the original
Halloween) is interested in working on Halloween 8. Apparently Carpenter is
tired of all the Michael Meyers knock offs (Jason) that are still popular.
Two scripts are said to be written for Halloween 8, both require the H20
cast to return.

Cinescape has also confirmed that negotiations for a 2002 release of this
last Halloween are true.

That was all from Antonio Lopes. I don't know what to make of it - GOM has been in a bit of trouble but so have most of JCs films in the last few years and we eventually get something. As for the H8 rumour, I'll believe that one when I see it. I seem to remember JC saying he would only do a Halloween sequel if the price was right, about 20 million or some huge figure, I guess just to stop people asking him. I can't imagine Akkad coming up with that lot.

As an aside, and this might not be news, Coming Attractions GOM site lists the film as in 'development hell' which usually means financing troubles.

March 24th 2000 Courtney Love and Ice Cube The official Hole site (www.holemusic.com) has this to say

Courtney To Attack Ghosts of Mars
Love confirmed with us that she will indeed be starring in John Carpenter's highly-anticipated Ghosts of Mars as Melanie, an interplanetary police sqad officer 175 years in the future. Courtney also mentioned that fellow musician/actor Ice Cube (Three Kings, Next Friday) will co-star in what she calls "the only girl western I've seen... ever." The film is slated for a 2001 release.

Not necessarily an official statement but it does seem pretty conclusive and Courtney's statement definitely seems in line with the script info we know about. The Ice Cube info is news, I personally thought he was great in Boyz N The Hood so that sounds great to me.

EFNY New CD

Heard the rumours before, now is the full info from Kim August:

here is the news that I sent to Mohammad Khan that is as up-to-date as I could get a hold of...also you'll probably notice that the beginning part of
this is what I sent to you a few days ago...

I've contacted Silva Screen Records who are releasingthe remastered Escape From New York cd.

The official release date is April 25, 2000. Folks can order the cd directly from Silva Screen Records in New York starting ON April 25th by calling

212-757-1616.

Naturally this is by credit card only (Visa, Master Card and Amex) And I don't know about international orders with the label directly BUT I found that you can preorder it through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com for $13.00

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004SC09/102-9521002-9600011

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=2OQQJRQYKR&mscssid=K8X47CSPXWS12GJ8001PQU6AVWPW6PD2&srefer=&ean=738572111021

Now here's the information I got from Silva again today confirming that there IS unreleased music on this score.

This is from Paul at Silva "I don't have the actual cd yet, as it isn't available for a few weeks. I do have the one sheet copy which states, "special collector's edition" & "includes 20 minutes of previously unreleased music, plus music from scenes deleted from the final print".

Personally, I'm 99 % positive that some of this music is from the deleted opening reel, and I bet Carpenter got itching to release it because there is a bootleg cd that has at least 1 unreleased track from the missing opening 10 minute reel. So, I'm sure he'd be game to get it out there officially. Now I can't believe that opening reel just vanished. It HAS to be somewhere in Hollywood (let's hope Cuervo doesn't have IT :))
 

In addition, Kim would like everyone to know that the Russel Muscle site (dedicated to Kurt Russel) is temporarily down for a major overhaul. It will be back up, watch this space for the info.

March 23rd 2000 Hold onto those knives, a late update again, I know. Apologies to those people sending e-mail and not getting replies - they are being read and you will get replies but at the moment things are so busy. Also the server is being updgraded so the entire site is running at risk. Please hold with me and keep all the news coming in. Loads of Vampires casting rumours, together with a hint from JC that the film may no longer be at Sony and might be a bit delayed.

First off, a really cool treat from the SXSW Film Festival, a video interview with JC

Thanks to Matt Giaquinto for that one

Stop Press - An update on the SXSW panel that you can see clips from above. It seems the great ginger one was also on the panel and is suggesting he might get the full vid of the panel up on his site. Anyway, for now he drops this very tantalising titbit:

I'll try to cover the whole panel as I receive the video and audio to review. I have to say that watching ol Robert geek out and do a fanboy question about "In the last scene of THE THING, was either of them... THE THING?" Just about caused me to cough up the lung. I'll answer that question with either video footage or reporting later on, the most important thing not captured on this video stream is that John Carpenter is looking at making a completely independent from studios, DV film that he doesn't have to submit to the MPAA... that he doesn't have to have rewritten to fit the financier's wishes... and that he can cast as he sees fit. But more on that project later.

The 'Robert' referred to is Robert Rodriguez by the way. I think DV might mean 'direct to video'? Not sure, but sounds cool anyway and shoots down those rumours of a few months ago i.e. JC retiring very soon. With GOM on the go and this new bit of info sounds like we'll have cool films to watch for quite a while.

Ghost of Mars News - A veritable truckload
Just a quick note; The Boston Herald today reported that Courtney Love was in
the running to play the lead in John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars. Hopefully
this means that the movie is still a go and on schedule. Thanks, Dr. Loomis

The Daily Variety reports that after the opening weekend success of
"MISSION TO MARS"  that "GHOSTS OF MARS" has been greenlit.
The article talked about Courtney Love as a possible star. - Derek Wilkins

From cinescape online - 'Ghost of Mars' Info
Information regarding the casting and the story of the upcoming John
Carpenter's Ghost of Mars project are coming to light. According to Variety
columnist Michael Fleming, there's rumblings that the director is looking to
fill the film's lead role of a "butt kicking leader of an expedition to
Mars" with Courtney Love. In addition, there's talk of Whoopi Goldberg
taking on the part of the ship's science officer. Beyond that, Carpenter is
said to be hoping to cast the film's male lead role with Jason Statham
(Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). The film will tell the story of a
ship sent to Mars to hunt down a man who they believe to be a serial killer
among the red planet's colonists. They soon learn that the carnage is
actually being caused by an ancient evil ghost from the world possessing
different humans to commit the crimes. The wanted man and his hunters then
team up to stop the evil entity. - Tom Alaerts

Courtney Goes To Mars?
Tuesday's Variety reports that Courtney "looks likely" for the role of "a
butt-kicking leader of an expedition to Mars" in John Carpenter's Ghosts of
Mars. Whoopi Goldberg is a casting possibility for "a science officer [on the
mission]." Here is the premise direct from the daily: "They go to the planet
planning to hunt down a guy alleged to have killed his fellow colonists in
atrocities actually committed by an army of colonists possessed by a
homicidal ghost of an ancient Mars civilization. The framed guy helps the
team kick Martian tail." Variety reports that director John Carpenter (Escape
>From New York, Halloween) wants Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels) for the male lead. While this should all be taken with a grain of
salt (it's still very tentative), Courtney seems ideal for the role of sci-fi
hero in a post-modern martriarchal society...
i found this on holemusic.com (owned by courtney love!!!!!!!) i guess this
means she might be doin it after all.... I CANT WAIT!!!!! i love your site by
the way
gretchen

'MARS' CASTINGS
VARIETY columnist Michael Fleming reports Courtney Love and Whoopi Goldberg
may star in the sci-fi thriller JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOST OF MARS, and
Carpenter is hoping to sign Jason Statham (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking
Barrels) to the male lead.
Sincerely,
Matthew Giaquinto

Seems like Mohammed at the way cool Carpenticised Side of the Web has some interesing JC info as well. Pop over and check out his site - here is the gist of the info:

Spence D. tries to pry some Ghosts of Mars info from horrormeister John Carpenter.

March 15, 2000
The scene is the SxSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It's Sunday afternoon, March 12, and legendary genre director John Carpenter is sitting on the stage in room 10A of the Austin Convention Center. To his left is Internet movie guru Harry Knowles, and to his right is Robert Rodriguez. Not surprisingly, the three of them have been discussing film, everything from the impending digital revolution to the state of the genre film. At one point in the course of the discussion a member of the audience inquired about the current status of Carpenter's upcoming Ghost of Mars project.
"Ghost of Mars right now, Sony Pictures thinks it's set up with them, but it's not," was all Carpenter had to say.
Not satisfied with this mere kernel of info, we threw the following question out to Carpenter:
"It's well known that you have a long standing love of the Western genre, and the bulk of your films follow the basic elements inherent to that genre without actually being a Western. So given this aspect of your filmmaking style, will Ghost of Mars be a veiled Western?"
Carpenter's reply to our question was just as short and sweet as his answer to the previous Ghost of Mars question, albeit delivered with considerably more deadpan aplomb: "I'm sorry but I cannot give that information away now." As a sly grin adorned Carpenter's face, the crowd showed its approval via a bout of laughter and applause.
Check out all the further adventures of Spence D. at SxSW Film Festival right here.
-- Spence D. is looking forward to seeing these Ghosts

That's the GOM round up - and oh yeah, the title is definitiely Ghost of Mars and NOT Ghosts.... as most of us have been calling it. So to summarise, Jason Steatham, Courtney Love and Whoopi Goldberg up for parts and the movie still not nailed down.

Film Four - I Am Sorry!
I don't believe I missed this one. The coolest film channel in the uk (www.filmfour.com) is showing a season of JC films introduced by JC himself! The bad news is it started last Friday. The way cool news is they are ALL IN WIDESCREEN and Film Four have a policy of showing a movie a few times. Any UK JC fan must subscribe to get hold of this - you can tape widescreen versions of AOP13, POD, They Live, Starman, Dark Star and Escape From New York! Widescreen, 2.35:1, the format JC insists his movies must be viewed in. Sorry for letting you know so late.

Update!! - On that last bit of into, check out the Film Four website and look at the JC section. If you look at the film info it lists dates e.g. AOP13 is due to be repeated on April 7th! Yes! So what are you waiting for?

March 2nd 2000 C'mon Henry's Heroes and Stuff the Saes!! Hmmm, dropped into rugby mode there. Anyway, on with the real deal, the JC update:

German JC Tobias Kessler, our man in Europe, keeps us up to date with what's happening JC-wise in Germany:

short and rather trivial news from Germany: Vampires is out on rental video and will be out on DVD soon - including a "Making Of"-feature, propably the one that was shown on german TV. I stumbled across a new CD called ,,I Know Electrikboy" by Thee Maddkatt Courtship - in the sleeve notes there is a thanks to John Carpenter. And on the track cinematic you can hear some elements of the "Escape From New York"-Theme - very well done.

Vampires has done a majestic jump in the german rental video charts - from 11 to 1.

JC Music This one brings back some memories, Bomb The Bass, what a band!

... southern England in 88 or 89 ... and was in an arcade and playing on the radio in there was some BeBop song with the "assault on Precinct 13 "Bass Line" sampled over and over again. I've wondered over the last 10 or so years if JC knew his song was sampled? Erin Howe states that the 'Latest Song" from "Tricky" was a "For Real" b-Side called "Bombing Bastards"  -  Mark Willette

I'll add to that one - Bomb The Bass were a UK house band in the 80s who released a single 'Beat Dis' heavily based on the AOP13 theme. I guess the title of Tricky's track is a nod to that. Worth tracking down the album and the track if you see it.

Mouth of Madness DVD - New JC Book? - Someone's Watching Me

i just picked up the in the mouth of madness dvd.  its pretty much the same
as the laserdisc.  the commentary by carpenter and kibbe, although not as
good as some of the other commentaries jc's done, is pretty interesting and
covers lots of technical aspects of the making of the film.  a good purchase
i would say to those who dont have the laserdisc.

a question for you or anyone else.  i was looking at borders.com recently
and they have a book titled--The Films of John Carpenter by John Kenneth
Muir as coming out in Jan 2000?  Have you heard anything about this?  it has
an ISBN number that i can get if you want it.  its listed under a "special
order" section too whatever that means.  if you know anything keep me posted
please.

do you know where to find a copy of Someone's Watching Me?  ive never seen
it and would really like to get a copy.  maybe someone should petition a
company like Anchor Bay to put out that and maybe Elvis.  They seem to
specialize in out of print things.

Brian

Expanded EFNY Soundtrack CD

Just got word that an expanded CD of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK will be released in April on the Silva Screen Records Label!
Mark H. - http://www.oocities.org/Hollywood/Highrise/3756/jc/jccd.htm

Soul Survivors

Wierd one this one, I'm sure JC isn't the director of this one?

I'm just writing to see if you have an information about the movie Soul
Survivors.  I believe that John Carpenter is the Director of this movie.  Any
and all information will be great.    I know they finished filming in Chicago in
late November just wondering if they are still filming in a different location
or if they have completed.   When will it be out? Thanks - BENNY   :)

UPDATED 30th March 2000 - A simple IMDB check shows that JC is not the director of this one. Sorry I didn't check it myself before posting the story.

Halloween Sequels the JC Way

This adds some info on how JC would have handled the JC sequels, interesting

ardeth bey - .... Tarantino who came up with the Myers in Space idea. After Reservoir Dogs, and during the production of Pulp Fiction, he had gone on record saying he would like to take the Halloween franchise over, since JC was one of his favorites. JC seemed interested in being involved with it once again due to Quentin, who pitched his idea Space Station idea to Akaad. Akaad hated it, so both walked away.

Where is GOM Filming? Anyone out there with an eye have any info on this; here's one possibility:

I was wondering if you knew where the movie was filming?? I know it's vaguely pathetic (shades of Elvis siting here..), but I could've sworn I saw John Carpenter at a video store in the mall yesterday.  The mall is in Utica (upstate), New York.  Ahhh..in my dreams I know. Thanks, Mary

Sad News for JC Web Fans:

Hi! I just wanted to inform you, that [A Tribute To John Carpenter] has closed. Due to lack of time and a lack of sponsorship / banner clicks, I have had no other alternative but to close down the site. Thanks a lot for your support. - Jesper

That's a real bummer - Jesper's was THE page to go for cool JC media, shame that it had to go. Here's hoping it manages a rebirth sometime.

Unfinished Things - This gives me a chance to finally update the Unfinished Symphonies section of this website

While reading thru some ancient old magazines recently, I discovered that
Carpenter was offered STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE back in the day...but
then, I don't think there was a director in Hollywood at the time that
wasn't.

Also, from a 1985 issue of HEAVY METAL magazine, it was reported that J.C.
was slated to direct Dan Ackryod and John Candy in ARMED & DANGEROUS. Oddly
enough, I believe I heard rumors of him being briefly attatched to DEAL OF
THE CENTURY which was ultimately helmed by Billy Friedkin. Who knows?? CHRIS

Feb 21st 2000 Website Problems Sorry about the access problems this weekend, our wonderful building superintendent decided to turn off the power without informing us, fantastic. Anyway, on with show ....  good to see the Welsh victory on the weekend, roll-on Twickenham!! (note: to non Rugby fans that probably makes no sense at all).

Journey to HADDONFIELD!! Yes, you were all correct, it was a *deliberate* mistake to label the "Micheal Myers Today" piece "journey to Smiths Grove" and not just a stupid mistake on my part! Anyway, David Winning has come through with the final piece of the jigsaw, a handy map showing the layout of modern day Haddonfield.

Feb 18th 2000 Problems with Ghosts? Coming Atrractions has a page following GOM developments (as does this site here) and have reported an interesting rumour:

February 18, 2000... A scooper just told us that plans for Carpenter's next film, Ghosts of Mars, may have taken a significant turn for the worst. This story allegedly came from editor Ed Warschilka, who's worked on such Carpenter films as Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From L.A. and Vampires. According to our scooper, Warschilka told them he was planning on working again with Carpenter on Ghosts of Mars but the financing for the movie has disappeared. However, the scooper surmises it won't be long before Carpenter can find new backers for the film. [Name withheld.]

Not very good news, hopefully all sources will help out and get some solid info on this.

Feb 17th 2000 Complete JC/McFarlane Action Figure Rundown. It might seem a tad strange to focus on these things so much but I think JC memorabilia is great stuff and there is very little of it of this quality. PS, the latest rumour is to expect these things to hit the shelves sometime about October. These pictures were all grabbed from Raving Toy Maniac.

Journey to Smith's Grove - In a follow up to yesterdays story on the current pictures of Myer's favourite party place, David Winning (of www.davidwinning.com) has sent a detailed look at current images juxtaposed with images from the movie. Very cool, especially if you fancy hanging out there. You can download the entire doc here in .pdf format by clicking on the thumbnail below (you might need Acrobat from www.adobe.com to view .pdf docs).

David also adds -

In addition, here's two pictures of the current Myers House.  It was moved from its original location across the street, repainted and is now the offices of a chiropractor in Pasadena, California!  Photo was taken at the intersection of Mission Street and Meridian Avenue in Pasadena, February 2000.

"Photo's by www.davidwinning.com"

Feb 16th 2000 The Norris Action Figure Michael Roddy here from Sunny orlando - i have attached a photo of the McFarlane THing:

Wow, that looks pretty impressive. I would love any more info on these things, such as price, size, release date etc.

Micheal Myers House David Winning (of www.davidwinning.com) let me lnow about the definitive site for those wishing to make a pilgramage to where it all began, the good old Myers House. Pictures and directions at:

http://www.halloweenmovies.com/new/locationspage1.htm

Feb 16th 2000 Cool Action figures Rumours about JC inspired McFarlane figures have been cropping up all over the net, here is a very cool looking Snake Plissken from their new (bbut not yet available) product line. This image is courtesy of the great www.snake-plissken.com

Here is a quote from the site

                        Since its inception, the Movie Maniacs series has
                         been one of McFarlane Toys' best-selling lines. The
                        mixture of figures - from avenging angel to
                         subhuman slayer to demonic doll to run-of-the-mill
                         madman - runs the ghoulish gamut. The third line
                         of Movie Maniacs figures features such film legends
                         as Edward Scissorhands (from the Tim Burton film),
                         Ash (from the Sam Raimi film "Army of Darkness"),
                         Snake Plissken (the protagonist of the classic
                         "Escape from L.A."), the Fly (from the David
                         Cronenberg) and The Thing (the vicious beast from
                         the John Carpenter film).

That last one sounds amazing - no pictures yet but from what I hear there will be two Thing's - one Blair-monster from the end of the film and another classic scene... lemme just say 'you gotta be fucking kidding' and you will hopefully know what I mean.

New POD Site At long last one of my fave JC films gets its own website. Not much there yet but let's encourage things along by increasing this guy's hit rate.

January 31, 2000 Happy New Year! Where have I been? The usual… job, meetings, work, etc. It all adds up and really made it difficult to update these pages for a while. Here is what finally got me off my butt to do some updating, sorry I've been slack for so long…

What is the deal? October 17? I have been counting on you for my up to date Carpenter news. Are you slacking, or what? I was hoping to hear at least something in the last THREE MONTHS. Maybe you can point me in the right direction to a more "up to date" web site for my new Carpenter news. ps If this message seemed very harsh, GOOD!!! Get on the ball you son-of-a-bitch!! John would not be pleased. Chris Ress

Ghosts of Mars - Interview with Larry Sulkis! Ask who that is and it's obvious you havn't been paying attention to the GOM (which seems to be its official web acronym) info. Sulkis is credited as the co-writer of the screenplay. He has worked with JC on various things (just check out the IMDB to see what), most memorably responsible for directing the 'we are transmitting…' scenes of They Live. I hope this makes up a little for the lack of recent updates.

When did you and JC develop this script?

John contacted me in early June of 1999. We met at the Cat'n'Fiddle on Sunset and as I sipped a pint of Fuller's ESB I read a treatment he'd written outlining the premise of Ghosts of Mars and a brief description of the main characters. He asked if I would be interested in co-writing it with him. It looked to be an entertaining project and I agreed on the spot. I then went home and pondered it for a few days when --to all of our amazement-- inspiration struck and I wrote an entire 1st draft in one week. We then spent the next three months rewriting and carefully recrafting the work into something we felt completely happy with.

Can you give me a very brief (no spoilers) outline of the plot?

The story takes place some 175 years in the future in a dusty frontier mining town on Mars. A small squad of police have been sent to transfer an extremely dangerous criminal, Desolation Williams, back to the main administrative Martian city, Chryse. Our heroine, Melanie, is second in command of this squad. What no one realizes is that mining operations have uncovered --and disturbed-- the ruins of an ancient Martian civilization and unleashed a kind of spiritual doomsday defense system that will relentlessly destroy any alien presence (in this case, Earthlings) inhabiting Mars. When the cops arrive at this remote outpost, no one but the criminals locked away in the local jail have survived... And the "Martian Ghosts" are determined not to let them get away.

I see you have worked with JC before (on They Live and Bodybags), how did you get into this working relationship with him?

I met John on They Live. I had been friends with Sandy since the mid-70s and while discussing another script of mine, she asked me if I could help them out with certain aspects of the They Live production. I had been writing screenplays and directing/producing documentaries for Showtime, MTV, etc. I first directed the little video clips that appear on the television sets during They Live that are interrupted by the pirate broadcasts. I then produced the "Electronic Press Kit" (Behind the scenes, making of... whatever you want to call them) videos for the feature's promotion and then made the theatrical trailer and all the TV & radio advertising for They Live. (& am proud to say we opened the film at #1.) It was nice to add John's friendship to Sandy's. We worked together again on other occasions, sometimes with me writing scripts for them: Captain Blood (at Universal), Dark Flame (at Spelling), Village of the Damned (at Universal again --though uncredited, I wrote the last three drafts, including the shooting script) and now, in our first collaborative effort, Ghosts... I directed John in Body Bags and did the theatrical trailer. And I produced EPKs for Memoirs of an Invisible Man, and Vampires. So it's been a long and varied working relationship with John and Sandy and one that I thoroughly enjoy.

What is it like to work with JC?

John is a master of his craft, --extremely knowledgable about film history and technique. Yet writing with him, I felt no master/apprentice barrier or hierarchy. He is gracious in hearing criticism and open to others' ideas. My first draft was a very linear action story. The plot began at A and roared headlong toward Z. John took that structure and shattered it, then began piecing all its elements back together in a puzzle that withheld secrets and created mysteries... slowly unraveling events kept hidden from Melanie and the audience. He opened up the dialog and let it breathe, allowing time for suspense and emotion to build... and of course, it was a privilege to get to write a script from the director's perspective right from the start; to be able to hear how John would block a scene or how he felt an actor would react to a certain line... But most of all. it was just plain fun. We would meet most afternoons for several coffee fueled hours and discuss sticking points or things we felt weren't working and solve those problems together. Then we would retreat to our writing dens -- he to his typewriter, me to my computer -- and write our assigned scenes, then exchange them and go over it all again. Sandy would read it over and chime in with suggestions when she felt we were off the mark with our female protagonists' dialog. We kept recrafting it, trying to get inside our characters' skulls, imagining the desperate, desolate life of that remote frontier outpost in the future as the unthinkable becomes too real.

yours, Larry Sulkis

Thank you Larry for the interview.

Harry's Take on GOM As always, that Harry of AICN is right in there with the coolest people and as such has had some amazing inside info on GOM

Hey folks, Harry here. First off, let me show ya this letter I got from Uncapie today. I think, this is something I'm going to do from time to time. And that's to feature a question, and then answer it for you fans. I don't have time to answer every question... Only the ones that make me feel like answering. So here we go... Harry, I was talking to a reliable source today about John Carpenter's "Ghost Of Mars". The basic story is "Assault On Precinct 13" on the red planet. KNB ill be doing the effects on it with filming to being a few months down the road. Can't Carpenter come up with a better idea than this? Chief Uncapie has spoken. Alright... So what question am I answering? "CAN'T CARPENTER COME UP WITH A BETTER IDEA THAN THIS?" The answer is YES. While I haven't read the script, I have been lucky enough in life to have spent some time with John Carpenter and his lovely wife and producer, Sandy King in their home in Los Angeles. And, I have had conversations about GHOSTS OF MARS. Comparing ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 with GHOSTS OF MARS is a bit like comparing... oh... let's say TANGO AND CASH and BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. Assault took place in a single location, specifically a closed down Precinct Headquarters and dealt with the transferring of the a particularly dangerous criminal. A bunch of gang members attack the jail and the little group... well... if you haven't seen it, I don't want to spoil it for ya. BUT... it really is a great little siege film. Kinda like an urban Alamo type of thing. From what I gather about GHOSTS OF MARS is that... there is weird ass shit happening all over the place. There is a 'precinct-type' place where the characters are supposed to be holed up for a while and there is a dangerous criminal type. But that's about where the comparisons will end. From what I heard and saw... there's multiple cities, trains, hot-air balloon things, decapitations out the kazoo, ghosts and many other creepy thingees. The point is, this film doesn't stay in the jail. It's not just a siege movie. Now believe me, I've been begging for a script from John and Sandy... as well as working all my connections over at SONY, as well as the many agencies where the go out for actors. So far... They've done a damn good job of keeping it quiet.I do know that it looks like my head will be chopped off and put upon a pike in the film. I'm going to be headed out to KNB to have them use up all the plaster in the world to make a cast of my ENORMOUS head, so they can then use all the latex and rubber in the world to cast my head. John refers to this film as his ZULU movie. Somewhere down the line, someone made a vocal comparison of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 with GHOSTS OF MARS, but that's really not very accurate. There are some aspects that look kinda the same.... but this film will be far more violent, far more visually exciting... from the character descriptions I've heard... the make up of the group is very different... almost completely opposite from in ASSAULT. And then there's the bit about how it's not just set in a jail.The last thing I heard on the project was that they were looking at their female actresses at this point... but that nothing has really been locked in. And I do know that the scoop that Patrick at Coming Attractions posted about Courtney Love being approached was true, but it is not known if she accepted. Also, the MATRIX fight choreographer is not going to be doing the fights in GHOSTS OF MARS, Sandy told me that it'll be the guy that choreographed the fights in FIGHT CLUB, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and so on. I forget the gentleman's name right now. And... there ya go

Really cool, sounding better all the time! Now onto the roundup of all the things that have accumulated since last year!

Christine and German Vampires

no big news again, at least "Christine" is out on DVD. It seems to be the same version as the english DVD which is released late October - there is not even a trailer on the disc, unfortunately. Vampires is still in the theatres, but fading out at last with a gross of almost 6 million dollars. I recently heard that the german distribution company almost released the film on video only. Oh dear. Tobias Kessler.

BodyBags DVD Strange idea this pack, the other films are very average:

From: Hammon - Don't know how many of you have heard that the upcoming Scarefest Collector's Pack from Artisan (Due Dec. 14th) will have BODY BAGS in it. Artisan will not be releasing it separately! :( The box set's 'list price' is: $44.95

Halloween DVD

From: Hammon - Just to let every one know. The new HALLOWEEN H20 Special Collector's Edition (List Priced at $39.99) is not in DTS and does not include the commentary. The DVD came from the factory with a sticker on the front claiming to be in DTS. There is nothing on the packaging of the disc itself that says it is. It isn't. Some stores are removing the sticker to keep from confusing people. The sad part is that the disc packaging claims to have a commentary by Jamie Lee Curtis and Steve Minor. Disney admits that the commentary is not there and the disc is not going to be redone. They are just going to change the packaging! I did watch the making of which is probably around 15 minutes long and does include John Carpenter interviewed.So be warned! $40.00 for a Special Edition and all it has extra is a short "making of" and "music video".

Hmm, to be fair I love the disc as it has the best print and musical quality of any version I have seen and I wasn't expecting the commentary anyway. It's still the definitive version for those of us without LD.

Vampires House Location?

My wife and I are great fans of all of JC work and are very interested in finding the location of the nest shack at the start of the movie. If you can be of any help please reply asap. Thanks

Please e-mail me with any info, at the usual address at the top of the site.

Toys! This sounds very cool -

Just saw McFarlane toys at a big Chiller Show this past Halloween weekend. They have a mega-cool 18 inch MICHAEL MYERS figure in the works to compliment the one currently available in their Movie Maniacs line. And even better, they informed me that the next assortment will include the long-awaited Bruce Campbell as ASH from the EVIL DEAD flicks and none other than SNAKE PLISSKEN from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK!!!!! Snake 's appearance as an action figure is long over due, and the folks at Mcfarlane are sure to do 'em right!! Chris

EFNY DVD

A request from me this time, anyone know the up to date state of this release? Thanks.

New (Old) JC CD

Hello Marc, the news on your site are extremely good. I have some very trivial news from Germany. A 2CD-Set was released called ,,Angst - Die besten Tracks aus den gruseligsten Filmen." (Fear - the best tracks of the scariest films). There is a lot of Carpenter on the album: Themes of The Thing, The Fog, They Live, Halloween and Dark Star - unfortunately not the original versions but new ones. Some good, some slightly cheesy - a purchase for the completist only, I think.(Released by Edel Records, www.edel.com)

JC In Turin

This was one of the major things I missed with the slack updates. It sounds like an awesome event, with JC and Argento getting together for a chinwag!

Hi I'm Andrea Micelli, an italian fan of the Master. I've discovered that during the Turin Film Festival (19-26 November) will take place not only a retrospective about John's Movies but also an interview with Carpenter himself (wow!) conducted by Dario Argento. At the url of the Festival (http://www.torinofilmfest.org/) you can find the program of the screenings&events and here (http://www.torinofilmfest.org/e1999/personalie.htm) a biography about our favorite director. (english)

MOTM DVD

New Line : Some cool new New Line dates have arrived for a trio of very anticipated titles. First, due on 2/8 is In The Mouth Of Madness and The Hidden, and then on 3/2 comes a Platinum Edition of Se7en. All three are $24.95, and feature new anamorphic transfers in their original aspect ratios. The Hidden and In The Mouth Of Madness also feature pan & scan versions as well. All three feature 5.1 soundtracks, too. In the features department, In The Mouth Of Madness features a commentary with Director John Carpenter and Director Of Photography Gary Kibbe, and a making of featurette. The Hidden features commentary with Director Jack Sholder and Writer Tim Hunter. Se7en has no features yet available, aside from a commentary track (participants not known). All have the usual cast bios, trailers, etc. Look for more details on Se7en to arrive in the coming weeks...

Thanks to Stefan for that news report.

JC on the TV

Encore has a one hour special called The Directors. Their latest show profiles John Carpenter. Extensive interview with Carpenter along smaller interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Harry Dean Stanton, and surprisingly Adrienne Barbeou (excuse spelling). All new interviews that went up through Escape from L.A. First time it aired was Wednesday evening. (that was 1^st Dec). Jeff Carney

more info on this from Jim -

I don't have the Encore but I had a friend record it for me. The guests that appeared on the documentary were Adrianne Barbeau, Michael McKean, Kurt Russell, Harry Dean Stanton and Jamie Lee Curtis. The documentary was great even if they left a few things out. It starts with Dark Star and goes through Village of the Damned; Vampires and They Live were not mentioned at all. Someone's Watching Me and Christine were only briefly talked about. This was only one hour so I'm sure it was difficult to get everything in. I hope that this will go to DVD and be expanded to include the films that were just mentioned or not mentioned at all. The Director's DVDs announced so far are Ron Howard and John McTiernan. I hope this doesn't sound like I didn't like this. I thought the documentary was great. Carpenter discussed how he will cut a film if he's asked but will fight tooth and nail if you TELL him to cut it. I think I learned something new about every film discussed. I'm going to watch it again and I will post more specifics about the program. Jim

I watched the John Carpenter installment of The Directors again and took notes on specific items about the program that may be of interest to those of you who read this. The program started with Kurt Russell talking about John Carpenter's vision. He said that directors have a vision in mind of what they want a film to be but only certain directors have such a unique vision that the film they create could only be their own, and John Carpenter is that kind of director. The documentary then goes in chronological order through the films and TV films. I'm going to list the movies one by one and give a few points brought out about each one: DARK STAR- The RESSURECTION OF BRONCO BILLY, was owned by USC because they had paid for it. When DS was made John Carpenter funded this film himself to maintain ownership and have control of his work. When Dark Star was released John Carpenter saw his first bad review and was in horror because his perception of the movies business was not this way. After DS was released he couldn't get work so he started selling scripts and made connections and found someone who wanted to fund a feature.

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13-When Assault was released in America it got bad reviews but when it was released in England he was considered an up and coming great director. The reputation followed him back to the US and got enough recognition to get him his part in making HALLOWEEN. At this point in the program John Carpenter made a comment that he doesn't know now what films he creates will do well and which ones won't and he. "A film is like a child, you raise it and when it's 18 you say okay you're on your own. Some become drug addicts and some become millionaires."

SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME- Adrienne Barbeau and John Carpenter briefly mention this movie. The only thing that is really talked about is that they met because of the making of the movie.

HALLOWEEN-Jamie Lee Curtis says that John Carpenter wanted her to be a vulnerable character but not weak. He wanted the audience to talk to the screen. When she went to see the film a lady was yelling at her character to not go in the Wallace house. John Carpenter says in this part that horror films are the most fun to make and the more blood the more fun the film is to make.

German JC Book

Hi, I just heard, that there is a new book out. It is written in German, but in case you are interested, here are some details: Author: Gerhard Hroß, Title: Escape to Fear - Der Horror des John Carpenter, Publishing house: Edition Belleville; Munich/Germany), the book desrcribes the movies of JC, contains 24 Videoprints and has 300 pages.

JC Film Lecture

John Carpenter is teaching at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The class is titled Film and Social Reality: Violence and Sexuality in Film. The class is every monday and ends march 13. I went to the first class and he is very interested in what we think about sex and violence in films and what, if anything, should be done about it. Since the Columbine shootings in Colorado, the government and some of the public have come down hard on the film industry, blaming them for violence in today's society. So, I think JC is here to see what we think should be done before the goverment comes in and takes over. Michael McClellan

GOM Release

Ok, too early to plan the release party but here is some good info

From: Matt Macy Giaquinto - According to the latest issue of Premier Magazine, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars will be distributed in the year 2000 by Screen Gems - a division of Sony. The good thing about this is that Carpenter can finish the picture without having to worry about distribution. If you remember, part of the problem that plagued Vampires was that it was completed in the end of 1997, but we all had to wait almost a full year to see it as the film had to find a distributor.

The Fog Laserdisc Sound Error Public service announcement:

Marc, what's up? Hey I am a loyal Carpenter fan with a laserdisc player and a DVD player. I own most all of his movies. I am glad to hear "Escape from New York" is being released on DVD in December, do you know if it will be identical to the laserdisc which I own? Also, what about one of my favorite J.C. movies, THE FOG? I bought the laserdisc of THE FOG 3 times, and took each one back thinking it was defective. During the coolest moment in the movie, when the fog is chasing Adrieane on the top of the lighthouse, the soundtrack screws up and plays the boy in the church saying "Father Malone!" - only to cut back to the church, so we can hear him say "Father Malone!" once again. I was so pissed off after reading a review of the disc on the net that says there is indeed, a sound screwup on the laserdisc. How could they release it like that? They should have done a recall! The disc was awesome otherwise, with big color photos on the cover of the cast + director, and a cool commentary by Debra Hill and John Carpenter, plus other goodies. It saddened me to have to return the disc. I have been waiting for a DVD release ever since. Please post this someplace Sandy King or John Carpenter can see it, I am very interested in hearing their view on what happened with the sound screwup on the laserdisc of THE FOG, and when and if there will be a DVD release of THE FOG. - dkiefer

Tribute to JC Closing? This is a difficult one, I can't imagine trying the make this site self-sufficient. You know what to do to keep Jesper's excellent site up and running:

The site will be closed... Hi! I must that the effort to keep this site alive has failed! There has been only 30 clicks ('bout 3 dollars) on the banner within the last 14 days, which clearly indicates that the 150 daily visitors doesn't care whether or not this site will remain online. I hate to say this, but if the clickrate doesn't start to improve dramatically within the next couple of days, this site will be closed at the end of February. kind regards, Jesper

http://www.johncarpenter.dk