106 Quotes by John Carpenter

Fears are all psychological. Being afraid of death, loss of a loved one and disfigurement are all powered by your mind, and that’s very powerful stuff.

Halloween put me on the map, and I’m very sad to hear of his death.

I enjoyed ‘The Avengers.’ I couldn’t do that kind of movie though. Superheroes aren’t my deal.

The strongest human emotion is fear. It’s the essence of any good thriller that, for a little while, you believe in the boogeyman.

You play with everything you’ve got. I’m not a lover of cheap tricks. I’ve always loved playing with people, but there’s no rule about it. You try everything you can.

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.

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.

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.

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.