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John Carpenter's top-rated movies, according to IMDb
A look at the iconic director's work, from horror (Halloween) to sci-fi (Starman) to action-adventure (Escape From New York)
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![Image for article titled John Carpenter's top-rated movies, according to IMDb](jpg/38f23d4d86ea85bc30e76dc2153b3b24.jpg)
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A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Rating: 8.2/10
Stars: Kurt Russell (MacReady), Wilford Brimley (Dr. Blair), Keith David (Childs), Richard Masur (Clark)
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Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Rating: 7.7/10
Stars: Donald Pleasence (Loomis), Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie), Tony Moran (Michael Myers (Age 23)), Nancy Kyes (Annie)
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A Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Rating: 7.3/10
Stars: Austin Stoker (Ethan Bishop), Darwin Joston (Napoleon Wilson), Laurie Zimmer (Leigh), Martin West (Lawson)
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They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Rating: 7.2/10
Stars: Roddy Piper (Nada), Keith David (Frank), Meg Foster (Holly), George ‘Buck’ Flower (Drifter)
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A rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.
Rating: 7.2/10
Stars: Kurt Russell (Jack Burton), Kim Cattrall (Gracie Law), Dennis Dun (Wang Chi), James Hong (David Lo Pan)
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An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer’s books have on his fans is more than inspirational.
Rating: 7.1/10
Stars: Sam Neill (John Trent), Jürgen Prochnow (Sutter Cane), Julie Carmen (Linda Styles), David Warner (Dr. Wrenn)
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In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.
Rating: 7.1/10
Stars: Kurt Russell (Snake Plissken), Lee Van Cleef (Hauk), Ernest Borgnine (Cabbie), Donald Pleasence (President)
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An alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow’s husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.
Rating: 7/10
Stars: Jeff Bridges (Starman), Karen Allen (Jenny Hayden), Charles Martin Smith (Mark Shermin), Richard Jaeckel (George Fox)
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![Image for article titled John Carpenter's top-rated movies, according to IMDb](jpg/74a452d98a231be4a04392ab0d385fa6.jpg)
Biographical movie about the famous rock singer Elvis Presley.
Rating: 6.9/10
Stars: Kurt Russell (Elvis Presley), Shelley Winters (Gladys Presley), Bing Russell (Vernon Presley), Robert Gray (Red West)
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An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Rating: 6.8/10
Stars: Adrienne Barbeau (Stevie Wayne), Jamie Lee Curtis (Elizabeth Solley), Janet Leigh (Kathy Williams), John Houseman (Mr. Machen)
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A group of graduate students and scientists uncover an ancient canister in an abandoned church, but when they open the container, they inadvertently unleash a strange liquid and an evil force on all humanity.
Rating: 6.7/10
Stars: Donald Pleasence (Priest), Lisa Blount (Catherine Danforth), Jameson Parker (Brian Marsh), Victor Wong (Prof. Howard Birack)
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A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.
Rating: 6.7/10
Stars: Keith Gordon (Arnie), John Stockwell (Dennis), Alexandra Paul (Leigh), Robert Prosky (Darnell)
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A woman is being watched in her apartment by a stranger, who also calls and torments her. A cat-and-mouse game begins.
Rating: 6.6/10
Stars: Lauren Hutton (Leigh Michaels), David Birney (Paul Winkless), Adrienne Barbeau (Sophie), Charles Cyphers (Gary Hunt)
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Rating: 6.2/10
Stars: John Carpenter (The Coroner (segment “The Morgue”)), Tom Arnold (Morgue Worker #1 (segment “The Morgue”)), Tobe Hooper (Morgue Worker #2 (segment “The Morgue”)), Robert Carradine (Bill (segment “The Gas Station”))
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In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.
Rating: 6.2/10
Stars: Dan O’Bannon (Pinback), Dre Pahich (Talby), Brian Narelle (Lt. Doolittle), Cal Kuniholm (Boiler)
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Recovering from an ambush that killed his entire team, a vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to walk in sunlight.
Rating: 6.1/10
Stars: James Woods (Jack Crow), Daniel Baldwin (Anthony Montoya), Sheryl Lee (Katrina), Thomas Ian Griffith (Jan Valek)
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After a freak accident, a company executive turns completely invisible, goes on the run and becomes hunted by a treacherous CIA official, whilst trying to cope with his new reality.
Rating: 6/10
Stars: Chevy Chase (Nick Halloway), Daryl Hannah (Alice Monroe), Sam Neill (David Jenkins), Michael McKean (George Talbot)
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Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.
Rating: 5.7/10
Stars: Kurt Russell (Snake Plissken), Steve Buscemi (Map to the Stars Eddie), Stacy Keach (Cmdr. Malloy), A.J. Langer (Utopia)
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A small town’s women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.
Rating: 5.6/10
Stars: Christopher Reeve (Dr. Alan Chaffee), Kirstie Alley (Dr. Susan Verner), Linda Kozlowski (Jill McGowan), Michael Paré (Frank McGowan)
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An institutionalized young woman becomes terrorized by a ghost.
Rating: 5.5/10
Stars: Amber Heard (Kristen), Mamie Gummer (Emily), Danielle Panabaker (Sarah), Laura-Leigh (Zoey)
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In 2176, a Martian police unit is sent to pick up a highly dangerous criminal at a remote mining post. Upon arrival, the cops find that the post has become a charnel house.
Rating: 4.9/10
Stars: Natasha Henstridge (Lieutenant Melanie Ballard), Ice Cube (Desolation Williams), Pam Grier (Commander Helena Braddock), Jason Statham (Sgt Jericho Butler)
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