Saturday,
July 21 at 8pm
Exhumed
Films presents
John
Carpenter Triple Feature!
The
Thing
dir.
John Carpenter, USA, 1982, 35mm, 109 mins, color
 Arguably
Carpenter's greatest film (the only other real challenger being
Halloween), The Thing is a remake of the
1951 sci-fi classic in name only. A
group of scientists stationed at an Antarctic research facility
must confront
a
shape-shifting alien life form that kills and assumes the identity
of other living creatures. The sense of paranoia and madness
Carpenter achieves is surpassed only by Rob Bottin's ground
breaking visual effects, which are just as impressive 25 years
later and stand as testament that CGI cannot always trump a
little liquid latex and Karo syrup. Kurt Russell leads a stellar
cast that also includes Wilford Brimley and Keith David.
Prince
of Darkness
dir.
John Carpenter, USA, 1987, 16mm, 102 mins, color
In
many respects this is almost a remake of Carpenter's own Assault
on Precinct 13, but with the marauding criminal gangs replaced
by possessed homeless people and a big vat of satanic Hawaiian
Punch. Donald Pleasance (second only to Kurt Russell on Carpenter's
list of favorite actors) is a priest who discovers a bizarre
green fluid stored in the basement of an old church and fears
it might actually be the antichrist in liquid form or something
like that. Rather than call the Vatican or the army or Ghostbusters,
he seeks assistance from a bunch of graduate students and a
math professor. Bad move, Donald, bad move. Also features Victor
Wong (hooray!) and Alice Cooper (huh?).
Escape
From New York
dir.
John Carpenter, USA, 1981, 35mm, 99 mins, color
 Thought
Snake Plisken was dead? Think again!! Kurt Russell plays
Snake, a dangerous con who is forced by penalty of death to retrieve
the president of the US (played by none other than Donald Pleasance)
whose plane has crashed into New York City - now a maximum security
prison and home to the deadliest criminals on earth!! Featuring
an all star cast of cult actors including Lee Van Cleef, Ernest
Borgnine, and Isaac Hayes as the Duke, John Carpenter's futuristic
western set a new standard of tough guy action in the 80s that
has never gone out of style.
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