Many of John Carpenter's best horror movies are counted as some of the best horror movies ever made. From Halloween to They Live, the director's heyday saw him innovate one of filmmaking's most important genres only for his career to decline.
Looking at every John Carpenter horror movie and its score on IMDb shows the ups and downs of one of the most widely revered film directors of the 20th century and how even masters of a genre can have a few duds to their name.
11 Ghost Of Mars (2001) – 4.9
Available to stream on Tubi
Ghosts of Mars is both John Carpenter's worst horror movie and his worst film overall according to voters on IMDb. While the bottom end of Carpenter's filmography can be ranked in various ways by fans, it should come as no surprise that this ended up taking last place on IMDb.
The plot and production design in the movie are quintessentially low-budget sci-fi fare, but Ghosts of Mars sadly lacks enough of the ingenuity and charm that made movies like Carpenter's Escape from New York so beloved. The story is confusingly framed, the world it's set in is underdeveloped, and, despite a great cast, the characters fail to leave an impression. Ice Cube has plenty of charisma as an actor, but he fails to transform into a Snake Plissken type for this movie. Similarly, Carpenter was known for his skills with genre filmmaking but couldn't quite reconcile the blend of noir, action, horror, sci-fi, and Western tropes required for this story about cops and outlaws fighting possessed colonists on Mars.
10 The Ward (2010) – 5.5
Available to rent on Google Play
John Carpenter's final film to date, and the only one he directed after the critical and box office failure of Ghosts of Mars, was not as badly-received as the director's previous movie but was still not the return to form that had always been hoped for by his fans.
Set almost entirely within one female ward of a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s, the film is an interesting parallel to Carpenter's The Thing as it's the only movie in his filmography to feature a predominantly female cast. Still, with a lack of the kind of weird and grotesque ideas that made his earlier films famous and a fairly conventional twist, the psychological horror of the haunted ward failed to compel even longtime fans of the director's movies.
9 Village Of The Damned (1995) – 5.6
Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video
While the original 1960 adaptation of John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos is very highly-rated on IMDb, John Carpenter's remake is not, which is unfortunate given the film's strong roots, the fact that it was the last theatrically-released film of Christopher Reeve's career, and that Carpenter's movie from only the previous year is ranked as one of his best ever.
The classic story sees a town fall under the control of a group of eerie children, born under mysterious circumstances and possessing psychic powers. Sadly, like The Ward, it contained too few of Carpenter's hallmarks to feel like one of his best movies.
8 Vampires (1998) – 6.1
Available to stream on Netflix
A rare hit of Carpenter's later directing career, Vampires stars James Woods as the leader of a group of vampire hunters who must hunt down and take on a powerful antagonist who killed most of his team.
Though the characters lack the kind of originality seen in John Carpenter's best movies, there's plenty of gore keeping the audience entertained throughout, and the film was well-received enough to spawn two direct-to-video sequels.
7 Christine (1983) – 6.7
Available to stream on Pluto TV and Hulu
Adapted from Stephen King's novel of the same name, Christine isn't one of the most famous works of either horror icon, but it is considered one of the better movies based on King's work.
The titular cursed car captures the eye of a bullied young man itching to mature into his own confidant kind of persona. Its dark influence on his development makes for an interesting character arc, but the true source of horror comes when Christine literally comes to life and kills for herself. Making a car scary is no easy feat and Carpenter's skill with atmosphere didn't go to waste here.
6 Prince Of Darkness (1987) – 6.7
Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video
John Carpenter blended scientific and supernatural themes together with this wholly unique siege movie that sees a group of researchers studying what they believe to be the physical manifestation of the devil as they are beset by an army of people that the entity has possessed.
Many of these same themes and ideas would go into Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars years later and with much less success, but they have endured as genuinely creepy concepts in Prince of Darkness thanks to the limited scope that Carpenter was still applying to his films in this point in his career. The film was the spiritual successor to The Thing and the second entry in what would become known as the director's Apocalypse Trilogy, so while it may be the lowest-ranking of the 3, it should still be considered essential viewing to a John Carpenter fan.
5 The Fog (1980) – 6.8
Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video
Though John Carpenter did not return to direct Halloween II, he did re-team with Jamie Lee Curtis to make one of his standout films of the 80s. The Fog tells an original ghost story set in a sleepy coastal town in California, revolving around a vengeful group of spirits who only appear in a strange and supernatural fog.
Still using the low-budget approach that made the original Halloween such a success, The Fog was a rare hit in Carpenter's career that was appreciated by audiences on release as well as by later generations who improved its status and turned it into a cult movie. A remake of the film was released in 2005 but was not as warmly received, though it was still also financially successful.
4 In The Mouth Of Madness (1994) – 7.1
Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video
Ranked by voters on IMDb as the last truly great movie of John Carpenter's career as a director thus far, In the Mouth of Madness was the final film of the Apocalypse Trilogy and lives up to the wild ideas and designs shown in the other entries.
The plot follows an insurance investigator as he searches for a missing horror author and their final manuscript. The mind-bending journey shows clear allusions to the work of H.P. Lovecraft as well as the style of horror popularized by Stephen King, though it doesn't satirize or really comment on those styles, and has rather become considered to be one of John Carpenter's best horror movies for its progressively surreal atmosphere.
3 They Live (1988) – 7.2
Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video
A biting satire of 80s consumerism that feels very ahead of its time even today, They Live revolves around an alien conspiracy in Los Angeles that can only be seen when wearing special sunglasses.
The film is funny and insightful, and it contains one of the best fight scenes in movie history. The fact that the story's message about the relationship between capitalism and the media has only grown more relevant to everyday life since its release demonstrates Carpenter's skills as a writer as well as a director.
2 Halloween (1978) – 7.7
Available to stream on Redbox
One of the most influential horror films of all time and one of the most important in the development of the slasher genre, Halloween not only started a franchise but a host of copycats with long-lasting franchises of their own.
The simple story about an escaped criminal, Michael Myers, and his murder spree through his old hometown has fascinated audiences since its release thanks to its haunting ambiance and its enigmatic killer. Sequels and remakes have been consistent since the early 80s, with a new trilogy of sequels starring the original film's lead, Jamie Lee Curtis, finishing in 2022 with Halloween Ends. As is often the case with horror franchises though, none are as highly ranked as the first movie.
1 The Thing (1982) – 8.2
Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video
Critically panned upon release, John Carpenter's The Thing has since been extensively reappraised and is now widely considered to be one of the best horror movies of all time.
The story follows a group of men in a research station in Antarctica as they are slowly picked off by an alien capable of transforming itself into any living creature. Grotesque effects and a tone as cold as the weather contributed to the film's initial failure but are now considered characteristics of a genre masterpiece.