John Carpenter's The Thing Quotes & Sayings

From a will: And to my communist nephew Oswald, I leave the sum of 10,000 pounds - to be shared equally with his fellow Britishers. — John Carpenter

I have two different categories of favorite films. One is the emotional favorites, which means these are generally films that I saw when I was a kid; anything you see in your formative years is more powerful, because it really stays with you forever. The second category is films that I saw while I was learning the craft of motion pictures. — John Carpenter

There are two different stories in horror: internal and external. In external horror films, the evil comes from the outside, the other tribe, this thing in the darkness that we don't understand. Internal is the human heart. — John Carpenter

If I had to pick one scary movie, I'd go with John Carpenter's 'The Thing.' That's probably number one. — Drew Goddard

I enjoyed 'The Avengers.' I couldn't do that kind of movie though. Superheroes aren't my deal. — John Carpenter

I can play just about any keyboard but I can't read or write a note. — John Carpenter

When somebody who makes movies for a living - either as an actor, writer, producer or director - lives to be a certain age, you have to admire them. It is an act of courage to make a film - a courage for which you are not prepared in the rest of life. It is very hard and very destructive. But we do it because we love it. — John Carpenter

I love everything John Carpenter's ever done. — D.J. Cotrona

As for action movies, I did Tarzan, and I'm also about to shoot Meltdown, which John Carpenter wrote. — Casper Van Dien

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail. — John Carpenter

I never got in this business, in cinema, to make horror movies. They arrived on my doorstep and I got typecast. Which was fine, I enjoy it, but I got into this business to make westerns. And the kind of westerns I used to see, they died. So that didn't work out. — John Carpenter

Way back in the '70s, I was approached to talk about the story I'd write for a Spider-Man movie. They also talked to me about Batman. I had to think about it, but that was way, way back when. — John Carpenter

Well, 'They Live' was a primal scream against Reaganism of the '80s. And the '80s never went away. They're still with us. That's what makes 'They Live' look so fresh - it's a document of greed and insanity. It's about life in the United States then and now. If anything, things have gotten worse. — John Carpenter

We all question our sanity. Everyone has had an experience of loss of control of something. — John Carpenter

I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes."

~Dr. Sam Loomis/Halloween — John Carpenter

Horror stories have always worked on film. It's where they work. That's where vampires and ghosts and UFOs are real. They're not particularly real in life, but they're real on the screen. It's the communal aspect of movie-watching. — John Carpenter

I like all of John Carpenter's movies. 'The Thing' is my favorite. — Rob Lowe

It's a very good time for horror. This business certainly has changed, but there's still room for serious horror films. Look at 28 Days Later, that's not a tongue-in-cheek picture. — John Carpenter

First of all, I was a wrestling fan when I was young. Even when I figured out what wrestling was, I was still a fan. — John Carpenter

I think there are certain subjects I don't want to tackle, that I don't think I could do a good job with. I don't think I'd be good with ... broad comedy? I don't know. Maybe I would. — John Carpenter

I have got acquainted with Lofty John. Ilse is a great friend of his and often goes there to watch him working in his carpenter shop. He says he has made enough ladders to get to heaven without the priest but that is just his joke. — L.M. Montgomery

In Halloween, I viewed the characters as simply normal teenagers. Laurie, Jamie Lee's character, was shy and somewhat repressed. And Michael Myers, the killer, is definitely repressed. They have certain similarities. — John Carpenter

I never thought I was doing the same thing as directors like John Carpenter, George Romero, and sometimes even Hitchcock, even though I've been sometimes compared to those other guys. We're after different game. — David Cronenberg

In England, I'm a horror movie director. In Germany, I'm a filmmaker. In the US, I'm a bum. — John Carpenter

I like serious films, the moneymaking blockbusters that don't make any kind of sense and John Carpenter films. — Pam Grier

My earliest memories of horror are 'Friday the 13th Part 2,' John Carpenter's 'The Thing,' 'Halloween,' 'An American Werewolf in London,' and 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' ... and 'Hatchet' is so obviously inspired by those films that I may as well have made it in 1984. — Adam Green

Horror has been a genre since the beginning of cinema, all the way back to the days of silent films. I don't think it will ever go away because it's so universal. Humor doesn't always travel to other countries, but horror does. — John Carpenter

Remakes, in general, are a result of necessity being the mother of invention. They can't open movies consistently and break through the advertising clutter that's out there. — John Carpenter

I don't watch my films. I've seen 'em enough after cutting them and putting the music on. I don't ever want to see them again. — John Carpenter

Horror is a reaction; it's not a genre. Somebody's life would have to be in danger for it [story] to be a horror story. — John Carpenter

John Carpenter created the idea of Halloween, so his vision remains the most focused and intelligently directed of the series. The directors that have followed have kept the original intent of the concept. — Donald Pleasence

There are a lot of movies that I don't care about, especially not remakes. — John Carpenter

I'm pretty happy with who I am. I like myself and what I'm doing. I don't need to be the world's greatest director or the most famous
or the richest. I don't need to make a whole lot of great films. I can do my job and I can do it pretty well. This is the realization I've come to, later in life. It's called growing up. — John Carpenter

Inspired teachers ... cannot be ordered by the gross from the factory. They must be discovered one by one, and brought home from the woods and swamps like orchids. They must be placed in a conservatory, not in a carpenter shop; and they must be honored and trusted. — John Jay Chapman

He was leading those who risked their lives over that bridge in Selma, not Janice Joplin, Columbia University, or a labor union. It wasn't John Lennon that taught people about love and peaceful resistance - that job fell on the shoulders of a Jewish carpenter. — Glenn Beck

I'm always involved with casting my movies. I have final word on it. — John Carpenter

There is a kind of classlessness in the theater. The rehearsal pianist, the head carpenter, the stage manager, the star of the show-all are family. — John Kander

You have to fight really hard for a private life, and sometimes you don't have one. It just gets to you after a while. It's tough. — John Carpenter

To make movies you just have to want it enough. You have to have the passion for telling stories. You have to get by the love-of-movies aspect. You can't just be a movie fan. — John Carpenter

Movies are pieces of film stuck together in a certain rhythm, an absolute beat, like a musical composition. The rhythm you create affects the audience. — John Carpenter

When I was a kid, I loved 'The Curse of Frankenstein,' 'The Creeping Unknown,' 'X: The Unknown.' I love 'Forbidden Planet,' 'The Thing from Another World.' They were science fiction/horror movies, generally. — John Carpenter

I made a decision back in 1978 that, in a trade off for money when I directed Halloween, I would have my name above the title in order to basically brand these movies my own. — John Carpenter